By FRED. E. IVES.
It is well known that the ordinary photographic processes do not reproduce colors in the true proportion of their brightness. Violet and blue photograph too light; green, yellow, orange and red, too dark. For a long time it was believed to be impossible to remedy this defect; and even when it became known that bromide of silver could be made more sensitive to yellow and red by staining it with certain dyes, the subject received very little attention, because it was also known that the increase of sensitiveness was too slight to be of practical value in commercial photography.
Dr. H.W. Vogel, who was one of the first, though not the first, to devote attention to this subject, announced, in 1873, that he had succeeded in making a yellow object photograph lighter than a blue or violet one, by using a silver-bromide plate stained with coraline, and exposed through a yellow glass. The plate showed no increased sensitiveness to red, and the experiment, although of considerable scientific interest, did not indicate a practically useful process.
In the spring of 1878 I became interested in this subject, and tried to discover a method of producing plates which should be sensitive to all colors, and capable of reproducing them in the true proportion of their brightness. I commenced by trying nearly all the color sensitizers which had already been suggested, in order to learn which was the best, and then, if possible, why it was the best, as a guide to further research. Chlorophyl was the only thing I tried which was sufficiently sensitive to red to offer any encouragement in that direction; but the solution which I obtained was weak and unstable, and far from being a satisfactory color sensitizer. Hoping to obtain a better solution with which to continue my experiments, I made extracts from many kinds of leaves, and found that a solution from blue myrtle leaves looked better and kept better than any other, and when it was applied to the silver-bromide plates they became remarkably sensitive, not only to all shades of red, but also to orange, yellow, and green. By placing in front of the lens a color-screen consisting of a small glass tank containing a weak solution of bichromate of potash, to cut off part of the blue and violet light, I obtained, with these chlorophyl plates, the first photographs in which all colors were reproduced in the true proportions of their brightness. But my chief desire at that time was to realize a method of producing from any object in colors a set of three negatives, in one of which the shadows should represent the blue of the original, in another the yellow, and in another the red, in such a manner that transparent pigment prints from these negatives—blue, yellow, and red—would, when superimposed on a white surface, represent not only the lights and shadows, but also the colors of the object. This had already been attempted by others, who failed because their plates were not sufficiently sensitive to red and yellow.
Having succeeded perfectly in my undertakings, I published my discovery in 1879,[[2]] explaining how to prepare and use the chlorophyl plates, in connection with the yellow screen, for the purpose of securing correct photographs of colored objects.[[3]]
So far as I know, nobody tried the process. Nearly five years later Dr. Vogel announced that, after eleven years of investigation, he had at last realized a successful process of this character, and that this new process of his was the "solution of a problem that had long been encompassed with difficulty." This publication attracted a great deal of attention, and gave me occasion to again call attention to my process,[[4]] and point out that it was not only the first practical solution of this problem, but the only truly isochromatic process ever discovered. Dr. Vogel's new process was not only no better in any respect, but the plates were insensitive to scarlet and ruby-red, and therefore would not photograph all colors in the true proportion of their brightness.
My method consists in treating ordinary collodio-bromide emulsion plates with blue myrtle chlorophyl solution, exposing them through the yellow screen, and then developing them in the usual manner. The emulsion which I have employed is made with an excess of nitrate of silver, which is afterward neutralized by the addition of chloride of cobalt; it is known as Newton's emulsion. I now prepare the chlorophyl from fresh blue myrtle leaves, by cutting them up fine, covering with pure alcohol, and heating moderately hot; the leaves are left in the solution, and some zinc powder is added, which helps to keep the chlorophyl from spoiling. I have a bottle of this solution which was prepared about six months ago, and now appears to be as good as when first made.[[5]] A glass plate is flowed with the emulsion, and as soon as it has set, the chlorophyl solution is applied for a few seconds, after which the plate is washed in pure water until smooth, when it is ready for exposure.
My color-screen consists of a small plate-glass tank, having a space of 3/16 of of an inch between the glass, filled with a solution of bichromate of potash about one grain strong. I place the tank in front of the lens, in contact with the lens-mount. The advantage of this tank and solution is that it can be more easily obtained than yellow plate glass, and the color can be adjusted to meet any requirement.
The plates require about three times as much exposure through the yellow screen as without it, and may be developed with the ordinary alkaline pyro-developer.
