The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-16
STRANGE COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS.
No Pigments or Coiored Washes OF
Combinations of Glass Are Ised.
London Times


A private exhibition was given n day or
Two ago OF some of the results obtained
Dy the new process OF color photography
which has been devised by a Cornish gen
tleman Mr.. Bennetto. The methods and
indeed the principle employed remain the
secret or the inventor. and IL is intended
that tney snail remain until several
more details and applications of the in
Nention have been more fully worked out
All that Il at present known is that the
inventor. who has been occupied with the
subject for the last eight years claims to
have discovered the first true and direct
system OF color photography by which can
De transferred to a Photographic negative
ana thence printed on glass or paper the
exact natural colors OF the object toward
which the camera has been directed. He
employs no pigments. his plates have not
10 be washed with various colored solu-
tons. and IL Is not necessary TO view his
pictures through any combinations Of tint
ed glasses. The colors are imprinted on the
plate just as are the light and shade in
an ordinary monochrome photograph and
are directly visible TO the eve. Ii may be
mentioned that Mr.. Bennetto in his earliest
experiments could get no effects with
less exposure than three minutes. now he
Is able 10 work with exposures of sixteen
seconds
In strictness. of course. it is not possible
10 know for certain that-a particular result
Is produced by particular process unless
the nature of the process is also known
ana from that point of view il is perhaps
allowable to regard Mr. Bennetto's pictures
with some degree of philosophical suspicion.
But he has been put TO tests which il is
difficult to suppose he could have satisfied
did he not in fact do what he claims TO do.
He was requested 20 focus his apparatus
on an easel When he had done he was
blindfolded and on the easel was placed an
impossible picture. painted in impossible
colors. which he had never seen before. This
he photographed and developed. still with
out seeing the original with the result that
the impossible colors were reproduced in
the photograph obtained. although they
were. in Mr.. Rennettos own phrase. some
what degraded" owing TO sufficient ex-
posture not having been given.
Whatever may have been the methods
used. the pictures produced by them attain
a high standard of excellence. one of the
best specimens shown was a study of
sunrise, taken early one morning in the
middle of June. 1895. i'm which the fiery
orange OF the dawn and the heavy masses
of clouds were admirably represented The
clouds. again. were excellent IN a typlcal
picture of Cornish seashorc scenery. and
reflections in the pools Were faithfully re-
produced In the case of a rock picture with
wonderfully brilliant coloring, il was stated
that when the glass plate on
amined under microscope. not only
could each individual mussel on the rocks
in the foreground be clearly discerned. but
shells were plainly distinguishable. Among
the other photographs were two pictures OF
hues came out very well: a study of a bank
of trees in their autumnal foliage. and
view in a garden with trees on one side
while the checkering Of the path by the
patches of bright sunlight streaming
through the trees beautifully shown.
the flowers appeared almost too hard and
brilliant In their coloring, which was little
suggestive of the fierce effects OF chrome
photography. On the other hand i'm some
pictures the flowers were rather lacking
in luster Possibly this is question Of ex-
posture. Perhaps the picture which best
illustrated the capabilities of the process
was one of champagne bottle standing on
a white tablecloth and surrounded with va
rious fruits. Here there were three or four
different whites which were all distin-
guishable but which AZ would probably
have taxed the powers OF any artist to rep
resent by painting. The gold foil on the
bottle was exactly rendered and IL was
possible to tell that il full by the pris-
matte CLEAN of the lGIlid. The one unsat-
isfactory thing in the picture was "A spoon.
whose sparkle was quite lost; il looked
if il might have been made OF cardboard,
covered with dull silver paper. The inven-
tor looks forward. among other things. to
revolutionizing by his process the illustra-
ton of books and magazines. and hopes 10
show in the future how to flash picture
screen so that permanent copy may
be left behind