The Role Of The Silver Image In Determining Colour Potential Of Finlay Plates : Preliminary Investigations

AbstractEarly forms of colour photography used additive techniques to record colours, as opposed to the subtractive techniques of modern processes. Additive processes employed a microscopically fine screen of red, green and blue filters, and a silver image which allowed varying degrees of light through these filters. Research centred on the Finlay Plates housed at the Australian War Memorial which were taken in the final years of World War I. In order to more fully understand the role of the silver image and its contribution to the colour and the form of the final photograph, a number of positive silver images were made from an original World War I Finlay negative. Initial experiments were aimed at establishing the role of the developer in forming the image and the effect these would have on the final colour. Further investigations centred around manipulation of the already developed image to alter its microstructure and therefore the overall colour of the final Finlay Plate. It was found that the microst...