Autochromes

Robert Hudyma (rhudyma@idirect.com)
Mon, 18 Sep 1995 07:26:54 -0400

I have been reading this mailing list for a month or so but this is the
first posting to the group.

I have long admired the colour-glass plate transparancies that were made in
the early part of this century
called Autochromes. The colours are wonderfully soft, people who have
enlarged these images onto
modern papers (R-type, like Ilfochrome) have produced some unique looking
images. When the images
are enlarged there is a prominent red, green and blue grain (dyed starch
grains) that composes the image.

I have found only very little information on how this process works. I know
that the image is produced as an ordinary black-and-white transparancy. The
colour is produced from dyed (potato?) starch grains.

That's about all I know about the process.

Has anyone tried to duplicate this type of colour imaging with contemporary
materials? If so, a brief description
of the technique would be most illuminating.

Does anyone have any technical information regarding the dyes used, the
starch size, how the starch is dyed and
finally how do you apply it to the surface of the unexposed film?

Robert Hudyma Internet: rhudyma@idirect.com