How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

[minieball]

Just in case some folks haven't seen these reference images.

[Hank Trent]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

I'm surprised how light the magenta on the color patch showed up! I suppose it's due to having just a little bit of blue in the red, but it shows that not all "reds" were dark.

I guess that explains what made the red in the cloth so light, but what do you think made the lemon and orange so much darker than the bananas? The bananas look almost a "normal" shade of gray, despite being yellow, while the lemon and the orange look so much darker, yet I wouldn't expect bananas and lemons to be that much different. The orange I guess has some red in it to make it look, well, orange. Does it have something to do with the shiny (probably waxed) surface of the lemon compared to the banana, do you think?

Thanks for posting. Very cool.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[minieball]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

Hank,

As you know, daguerreotypes and wet-plate collodion imaging is primarily sensitive to light wavelengths on the blue end of the spectrum. Bright yellow typically shows black but the banana in this case is a much lighter hue and my thought is that it is not reflecting the blue UV wavelengths as much as the lemon which is a bright hue of yellow. And you are correct, the orange has a reddish hue and it shows dark as well.

Another factor to consider that can affect color is the halogen ratios in the collodion. Salted collodion uses varying ratios of metals salts (iodides & bromides) to achieve increased sensitivity and tonal range. There were many many different formulas in use in the 19th century for both positive and negative wet-plate collodion images.

The test images demonstrate more than anything that determining color in wet-plate collodion and daguerreotype images is, at best, extremely difficult unless one has supporting eye-witness or documentary evidence.

Just my two cents worth.

[toptimlrd]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

The orange and lemon also seem to have an almost metallic like look to them, is this due to the texture or perhaps the wax on them?

[Hank Trent]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

The orange and lemon also seem to have an almost metallic like look to them, is this due to the texture or perhaps the wax on them?

I think it may have something to do with them appearing with higher contrast, but I don't know why. That would mean the brighter-lit surfaces have more blue and the darker surfaces have more red or yellow, which would seem the opposite of what you'd expect--yellow sunlight, blue shadows.

Attached is a manipulation of the color photo, showing it normally in black and white and then in high contrast, and you can see some similarity to the metallic look, especially in the orange.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[toptimlrd]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

That is interesting.

[john duffer]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

If folks will forgive the semi modern reference, I just saw a 1917 photo of German planes, the author notes that the cowlings which appear jet black in the photo are known to have been chrome yellow.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

Excellent color study! It's so important for people to understand just how hard it is to "read" color from wet-plate photography, and this illustrates it extremely well.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

Thank you! I hadn't seen these and they answer a good many questions for me. The "metallic" orange and lemon are interesting.

[PieBoy96]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

Thought I'd share example photos of my friend that clearly show how some colors come out, in this case, how yellow-orange comes out virtually black.

[dixieflyer]

Re: How colors show in wet-plate collodion images

If folks will forgive the semi modern reference, I just saw a 1917 photo of German planes, the author notes that the cowlings which appear jet black in the photo are known to have been chrome yellow.

Yes John, that would be the a/c (Pfalz D.III's most likely) of Jasta 10, and the use of orthochromatic film to photograph them resulted in this. Want to start an instant argument on a WWI aviation forum? Just ask "What color was the cowling of Werner Voss' Triplane?" Then step back and watch the hilarity ensue. :o
I have an ambrotype taken of me that my wife has used in teaching the CW in her classroom, and I came out so dark, that many of her students are convinced it is an image of a black man.
Interpretation of colors from B&W images is, as has been said, dicey at best.