The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-10
FUTURE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
EXPERTS ARE As e. UNABLE TO
UTILIZE THE sun
A Dream of Photographers That May
Never BE Rcalized-Boon to
Counterfeiters.

'"That the sun can be made to reproduce
likenesses of objects and people in their
natural coloring is. / fear. one OF the
dreams of photographers which will never
DE fully realized" said Stanton ]. White,
a well-known expert in photography. Color
photography is. in my opinion. as shadowy
and unattainable as perpetual motion or
the philosophers stone. which is credited
with the power to transmute the baser
metals into gold. Photographers have
worked upon the problem of printing sun
pictures in natural tints ever since the days
of the daguerreotype. a certain degree of
success has. however, been attained, ana
the color photographs that have been pro-
duced have proven extremely valuable fcr
the uses to which they are put.
Perhaps the best and most improved
form of color photographs that has yet
been attained is that made by tie process
invented by Donaldson, of Chicago. Briefly,
the manner in which these pictures are
made is this: The object to be reproduced
is photographed through a prepared screen
which has been ruled with the three ele-
mentary colors-red, yellow and blue--in
lines SO fine as TO be almost indistinguiSh-
able to the naked eye. L forgot how many
Of these minute lines are contained In an
inch of space, but the number is very large.
The negative which results from this pro-
cess is given what we term the proper color
values. From this negative 4 positive is
developed on another sensitive plate, and
the positive is in turn ruled just like the
screen through which the picture was
originally taken. If you noli one of these
| prepared positives between your eyes and
the light you will see a perfect picture of
the object in it's exact natural coloring.
These photographs are used by Ilauy trav-
cling statesmen for wholesale dealers in
fine c~hinaware, in order to show the pat
terms OF the various pieces, with the colorS
in which they appear on the Original china.
This obviateS very largely the necessity of
carrying about large quantities of samples
or delicate, fragile wares. A man named
Gray. discovered the method of reproduc-
ing the natural colors of objects by a sys-
TEN which involved looking at the photo
graph through prisms, but this was not
practical. Then, too; there is a process
by which you view the picture through a
prepared screen, but the screen must be
held in a certain position or the colors will
show up g~rotesquely. For instance, in the
case OF a photograph of a woman who wore
a red dress, if you hold the screen just
right the dress will appear to be red, but If
you happen TO let the screen swerve TO one
side the woman's gown appears green, or. if
the screen veers in the opposite direction a
tri1e the color changes to blue.
Il rather think that government detec-
tives, who spend most of their time trying
TO catch up with the latest inventions of
counterfeiters would not be glad to hear
that color photography had been perfect
3D." continued Mr.. White, flor the men
who initiate the Nations currency would
be among the first to profit by the dis
ccvery. What a valuable aid to the coun-
t~erfeiter of ~greenbacks. silver and gold GER
tificates and national bank notes would be
a process by which these notes could be
exactly reproduced on paper, even to the
most delicate shading In not only the print
ing, but in the paper and the threads which
run through its fiber. The present process
of reproducing bills is painfully long and
tedious, OF course photography, as at
| present developed, is employed in obtain
ing a facsimile of the bill without regard
to the coloring. Then the die is made, and
| after this is complete the real work be-
gins. With a genuine note as d guide, the
counterfeiter goes carefully over the die,
filling in here and there the proper kind
and amount of color. Inasmuch as the
| human eye is not nearly so unerring as that
of old Sol. mistakes are frequently made
in this process. Counterfeiting would be
almost certain TO be reduced TO an exact
| science If color photography should ever
| reach the stage of perfection. OF course,
when / say that il never will / am merely
giving my personal opinion in the matter.
In view of the wonderful things realized
by inventive genius, particularly Amer
lean inventive genius, il seems almost fool
ish to say anything is impossible of fulfill
ment."