Why does the past look black and white if color photography existed?
In short: We often perceive history before the 1960s as monochromatic because of the prevalence of black and white media. However, color technology existed long before then. This video explores the scientific breakthroughs and early experiments that allowed us to capture the world in full color.
While hand-tinting was common, true color photography required understanding human vision. In 1850, Hermann von Helmholtz proposed the trichromatic theory, suggesting the human eye uses three types of receptors for red, blue, and green light. This insight became the foundation for capturing color.
In 1861, Thomas Sutton and James Clerk Maxwell successfully created the first color photograph by capturing a tartan ribbon through red, blue, and green filters. By projecting these three images back through their respective filters, they produced a full-color result. Although this early additive process could not be fixed onto a physical medium, it laid the groundwork for future developments in the field.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Inventing Color in a World That was Black and White
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