Over 5900 Rare Photochrome Images
on CD-ROM
(see Detailed Description and sample images
Below)
THIS CD HAS OVER 5900 BEAUTIFUL PHOTO CHROME
IMAGES FROM 1890-1905 OF ARCHITURE, WATERFALLS, SCENIC VIEWS, TOWN VIEWS,
OLD SHIPS, AND MUCH MORE FROM EUROPE, NORTH AFRICA, AND THE MIDDLE
EAST.
These images can be printed from the disk, or saved
to your disk for use in other graphic software. The images tnhemselves are
free from copyright (the CD itself is copyrighted as a complication and may
not be reproduced) and you may use them freely for any purpose.
WHAT IS PHOTOCHROM(E)?
There were many ways of colorizing images
before real color photography appeared by 1930. Among them, the Photochrom
process stands out for its high quality. In 1900, The Detroit Publishing
Co. called it ". . . the only successful means yet known of producing directly
a photograph in the color of nature."
A Photochrom (photochrome) is a color
photo lithograph, produced from a black-and-white negative. The final prints
were created using different color impressions from multiple lithographic
stones. The stones used were coated with a special Syrian 'asphaltum' substance
that would be chemically sensitized to light, put in contact with a photographic
negative, exposed to the sun for up to several hours, then "developed" in
oils of turpentine.
The areas of the very thin asphalt gel most
exposed to light would harden, becoming insoluble; the less exposed residue
would be washed away. Tonal values of the remaining positive image could
be manipulated by varying the chemistry and development times. Technicians
could do the equivalent of burning and dodging by retouching the brush and
polishing with fine pumice powder. The final steps in preparing the stone
were an acid etch to bond the remaining image with its very fine grain, and
a glycerin bath.
A separate stone would be made for each color
to be used. A minimum of four stones and as many as fourteen stones might
be used for a given image. A transparent ink would be applied to the stone,
then transferred to high-quality paper whose texture resembled the smooth
photographic printing paper of the day.
The final steps was a varnish which gave each
print added depth and richness. Because the process involved a number of
crafts people and because the stones had to be re-ground occassionally
substantial variations may be noted between different editions of the same
image over the years.
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