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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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The method of transferring a hand-colored photograph to multiple printing plates uses separation negatives, one for each color.  The colorized original is re-photographed through different colored filters onto black and white negatives, one for each color.  The negatives are then transferred onto the printing plates.  Up to twenty color separations might be produced for one Photochrom lithograph print.  Note the progression from black ink to nine colors in these examples of the company’s postcard proof sheets from about 1900.

Larger version of image and others in progression (may be more than 50k
)
Image of poscard proof sheet with greens, pinks, yellows and oranges.
Accession ID # 37.102.126

Copyright © 2003 The Henry Ford        Last Updated: 01/17/2003