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The First Color Photograph

Photography Milestones

In 1861, photographer Thomas Sutton produced a color photograph of a tartan ribbon at the request of physicist James Clerk Maxwell, made as three separate monochrome exposures shot through red, green and blue filters and recombined by projection. It demonstrated in practice the three-color principle Maxwell had proposed in 1855, decades before a true single-exposure color process such as the Lumiere Autochrome reached the market.

Facts
Milestone Year
1861 1
When
Photographer Thomas Sutton produced the image, a tartan ribbon, at physicist James Clerk Maxwell's request, as three separate monochrome exposures taken through red, green and blue filters and recombined by projection, demonstrating the three-color principle Maxwell had proposed in 1855. 1
Location
London, United Kingdom (Royal Institution) 1
Connections

Associated With

Credited To

Thomas Sutton, Figures

Sutton made the 1861 exposure at James Clerk Maxwell's direction; Maxwell, a physics and optics figure, is out of this atlas seam per the DataBrief.

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Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Three-color processes section
    The first color photograph made according to Maxwell's prescription, a set of three monochrome 'color separations', was taken by Thomas Sutton in 1861 for use in illustrating a lecture on color by Maxwell.
  • James Clerk Maxwell, colour photography demonstration section
    During an 1861 Royal Institution lecture on colour theory, Maxwell presented the world's first demonstration of colour photography by this principle of three-colour analysis and synthesis.
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