Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-07-13

fcuducS w ulCu hepIOuuCeS W lle Eye
the Actual Colors of the Objects Pho
tograp hed-All Accomplished by
Means of the Ordinary Camera and
Mirrors
Photography in colors is a dream
that has infiamed many besides the
mere amateur and the enthusiast. Like
several other delusioIs that will never
die, it has been reported a fait ac-
cOmpli over and over again; yet the
worst still waits for cOlOred photo
graz hS, and waits in vain, if what it
expects are correctly tinted reprOduc-
tons, taken direct from nature There
are no such things, and, in all prob
ability, there never Will be.
The best that has ever been done in
| this respect, and it is very wonderful,
is the so-called composite heliOchro-
my of Frederic Ives, which was eX-
hibited last year by special request at
the Royal institution and at the Royal
society and the Society of Arts, says
|
this process three pictures are taken
simultaneously on one plate, through
cOlOred screens of special construction
by means of which each image is made
to represent one of the three funda
mental color sensations produced on
the eye in accordance with the vision
theory of Young and Helmholtz. These
three images are superimposed one OIL
another by triple optical lantern OF
III an instrument of highly ingenious
construction called the ''heliOchrOmO
scope" of Mr.. Ives own invention, by
means of which the original object
is shown not only in apparent relief
as in the familiar StereOscope, but also
in the exact cOlors and shades CT IA
ture
No one who has seen Mr. Ives pic
lures could fail to be impressed with
the beauty, the brilliance and the alb
sOlute faithfulness to nature of these
reproductions, which are based upon
scientific principles of a very high or
der; but, speaking vulgarly, they are
not cOlored photographs. The three
actual images on each plate are black
and white as usual, with a difference
merely as regards the distribution OF
light and shade in each; it is only
when they are combined, and wheI
the proper conditions are restored, tha
the illusory effects of color are given
Wild Reports From France
Recently there have been wild re
ports of color photography emanatins
from France. The Messrs. Lumiere
mann's, with dry plates of their owl
manufacture, are said to have eclipset
this roundabout method entirely, an(
by new system to have succeeded il
reproducing exactly, in one picture, al
the delicate tints of nature. M. LeO1
Vidal, who is recognized as an author
ity on the subject in France, writes
to the Photographic News:
THE great chara cteristic of these
projected pictures is the faithful repre-
sentation of landscapes The effect i.
extraordinary on account Of the ad
mirable reproduction Of the colors OF
nature. The blue of the sky, the greer
in their various tints and gradations
with all the most delicate grays an(
whites all is here depicted with un
rivaled eXactitude."
! Similarly glOrified accounts have ap
peared in other papers, English as wei
as French, and a representative of thu
Pail Mall Gazette called upon Mr.. I've:
in order to find out how much had real
ly been done in this direction. Mr.
Ives, it should be explained, is a Phila
delphian, and is at present on visi
to England.
When the business was explained t.
him Mr.. Ives smiled his faintest. HI
is a tall and somewhat delicate-lookins
man, with eyes that show the lines Of
patient study, a thin black beard, ant
the hand of a born experimenter.
What led you to the idea of hello
chrony?"
ut is not new. Mr. COLLEEN, the
queens painting master, suggested the
idea of phOtographing three images
to represent the three primary colors
twenty-eight years ago, and various
methods Of carrying it out have beer
tried abroad by eros and Du Hauror
in France and DR.. Vogel in Germany
But they did not hit the true idea. II
has taken me eight years to perfect
my three-color screens in such a way
as to make each image when taken a
true representation of one Of the fun
damental color sensations, so that when
the three were once more blended in a
common image through similar screens
the actual colors of nature would be
returned to the eye"
And have you succeeded in this p
Look at these specimens
Here Mr.. Ives brought down his
heliOchrOmOScOne small Snuare box