When Did Color Photography Start

Revolutionary Kodachrome: Birth of Color Photography

Color photography, as we know it today, began to take shape in the early 20th century. The ambition to capture the world in color had long been an artistic and technical aspiration, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that practical color photography became widely accessible. The first commercially available color film was introduced by Kodak in 1935, known as Kodachrome. However, color photography had been experimented with decades earlier, utilizing techniques such as additive color systems or capturing multiple exposures with tinted filters.

French Professor Revolutionizes Early Color Photography

One of the early pioneers in the field was French professor Louis Ducos du Hauron. In 1868, he patented a method called trichromacy, which involved capturing three separate black-and-white images through filters of red, green, and blue. These images were then combined to recreate a full-color image. Although Du Hauron’s technique was groundbreaking, it was still far from practical as the process was complicated and required specialized equipment.

Lumière Brothers Revolutionize Color Photography

Another significant advancement came in 1903 when the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, introduced the first practical color photography process called the Autochrome Lumière. Using potato starch grains dyed in red, green, and blue, the Autochrome plates could capture color images. This technique became quite popular, and many renowned photographers like Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz experimented extensively with it, creating stunning color images during the early 20th century.

Kodachrome: A Color Photography Revolution

Finally, in the mid-1930s, Kodak introduced Kodachrome film, which marked a major milestone in the history of color photography. This film utilized a complex chemical process to produce color images directly on the film with vibrant and accurate hues. Kodachrome soon became immensely popular and remained one of the leading color film choices for photographers until its discontinuation in 2009. From that point onward, color photography started gaining widespread adoption, revolutionizing the way we capture and perceive the world around us.