The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-05
P~HO3OGRGPHEG IN COLORs
LIMITATIONS or THE CAMERA.
YET TO BE OVERCOME.

A Fortune Awaiting the AIan VIE Dlscovefa
How 70 DO lt-jThe Az or COmmaFcial
value In Itu Present State, EsRPrsRtly
In ~RepFOduciHG the Famous PulntIpa4
There is a fortune awaiting the man who
will show the world q commercially pr
teal scheme Of color photography that vHl
make II possible 10 reproduce an outdoPr
scene or a human face in its natural coloTa,
Color photography Is pretty successfully
applied in a commercial way TO the repro
ducton OF painting and Of lifeless objects
generally. II has even been applied with
some success 10 the reproduction Of living
flowers.
A Persian rug may be photographed by
the three color process and n picture that
reproduoes very closely the oolors OF the
original may be obtained. Many Of the
pictures. however. which the public 6up-
poses to have been made directly from The
object by means Of color photography hAve
been made in another fashion.
Time is the great problem in commercial
color photography. The quick lens that
gives you in an instantaneous exp6sirA
the image Of a landscape with waving treea
and moving animals n be applied ID
color photography. II has been found
egain and again in photographing flowers
by the three color process that the subtle
changes in the delicate structure Of The
blossom that takes place during the relR-
lively long operation result in great damage
to the reproduced picture.
Even the human face cannot be success-
fully photographed because of the change
that every lace undergoes with slight die
ftrrAonnNa A. of-~,.to As1n ,-;sL .It-ks -
voluntary movements and the like. The
best that can be done with outdoor scenes
and the human face is to photograph thems
paint the photograph as nearly as may be
in colors Of the scene or the face. rephotc-
graph the painted picture by the processes
Of color, photography and then print 1t by
means Of pigments that conform az closely
as possible to the three primary oolors
used.
Even the photog raphing Of interiors ia
which no living object appears may be-
embarrassed by changes in The subject
produced by alterations in, the arrange
ment Of lg BIT and shade CONSEQUENT upon
lapse OF time The jar caused by n
passing vehicle. vibrations produced by
the movement OF persons about the room
where the work goes On, anything that
tends TO make the slig htest change in tho
aspect Of the object to be photogrsphsd.
may seriously interfere with the result
The Photographic lens takes note Of and
the sensitive plate records changes that
the keenest human y could detect.
In spite Of all the difficulties color photof<
raphy. which has been commercially pos
sible for less than twenty years, has within.
the last ten years grown to be commercially
important, It was necessary that with the
development Of color photog raphy thA
should be an improvement in color printing
Not many years ago illustrators waited
painful apprehension for the appear
OF the mag azines in which their piot-
ures were 10 be reproduced in colors.
Hamilton Gibson's book on mushrooms
rave the publishers the utmost con Germ
by reason Of the difficulty Of reproducing
the illustrations in colors. 1t islnot an Old
book. but the same thing could be done
now with much g reater certainty and psFs
haps one-tenth OF the trouble.
The illustrators still complain that thet
in colors never reach the ma6as
zine readers with quite the truth Of tia
riginal, but even the artists own TINT
,uch work has been transformed within a
years, Already several European and
concerns are competing IN the
application Of color photog raphy and color
TO the reproduction OF famout
,aintinT rs.
Every gallery in Europe that will permit
he reproduction Of its paintings Is visited
~ the agents OF the color photography
concerns, n the pictures reproduced
re sold all over Europe and America. Sons
are unwilling to grant favors Ia .
he photographers, and many Old World {
masterpieces are % placed that it Is prao-
ically impossible to make satisfactory
Photographic copies Of them.
The difficulties Of the process, ever whera
are willing to permit copies to hi
made. interfere with the work. Profes.
ional copyists make something out OF &
he troubles OF the color photographers,
or a skilled copyist can paint a fair copy
Z a masterpiece and the picture thus made
an be taken TO a place where 10 may be-
under the best possible con- Y
American homes in the middle West are
out Of the chrome stage and into
color photography stage, Copies Of
from Old World galleries,
rinted In the colors OF the original. or
early 30, appeal to the people for whom
colorless photograph OF the same pic (
Ire would have no charm. :
Travelling Americans with money 20
pend sometimes pay pretty good prices to
10 copyists for copies in oil OF famous (
but color photography 10 bring
" Old World masterpieces into the homos
Americans who do not travel abroad
: who are not rich enough 20 be the cuss 1
'mers Of the oopyists. Meanwhile chs !
productions by means Of color ph6toE-
Iphy are far from cheap.