Colored Photographs from World War I

World War I…. who would have thought there were original color photos of WWI? There are sites who contains hundreds of photos taken by the French in the last two years of World War One. Although color photography was around prior to 1903, the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, patented the process in 1903 and developed the first color film in 1907. The first experiments with color photography were carried out in 1904 near Lyon in France, where father Lumière owned a photographic factory. In 1907 the Lumière brothers patented the autochrome process they had invented. The French army was the primary source of color photos during the course of World War One. During exposure, the grains of potato starch on each plate acted as millions of tiny filters. The light-sensitive emulsion was then reversal processed into a positive transparency. When viewed, light passes through the emulsion and is filtered to the proper color by the starch grains. The resulting mosaic of glowing dots on glass gives autochromes the look of pointillist paintings. Autochromes were the first true color pictures, and the only industrial color photography process until 1935. Take a look at these great colored photographs from World War I. Enjoy.