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How to Color Photographs:
Detroit Publishing Company photographs were initially shot in black and white.  The photographer would take notes describing the scene and the colors.  After he developed the photograph, the production manager would mark up the color instructions on a print and a retoucher would color the print.  Color prints were then produced by lithography, a process of printing from a flat surface on which the image to be printed is ink-receptive and the blank area is ink-repellent.  The Detroit Publishing Company held the exclusive North American rights to Photochrom, a Swiss-patented method of color lithography.

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These three working copies of Atlantic City, New Jersey, about 1902, show the application of cropping, retouching, and colorizing to make a final print.


Version 1. This is the un-retouched print.

Larger version of this and other two images (may be more than 50k)
Image of Couple on Beach with Donkey, original black and white photograph
Accession ID # P.DPC.09127

Copyright © 2003 The Henry Ford        Last Updated: 01/15/2003