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February 2
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There is somethings fishy with black and white photography: it got color. I have three old glass plates which I either photographed (in color) in a window (the soldier in wearing a cap) or I scanned them as non transparent plates. (the lamp in scanner won't start if I haven't got a special film holder installed, but these just plates don't fit).

What happens ( at least in he scanner) is that registers the surfaces of the plates as if they were non transparent. Yes, off course i inverter the photographs, otherwise you would haver seen the negatives. And yes, once  again, I tweaked them color wise in Photoshop, but I did not put in something new, the colors were all there, but a little subdued.

The biggest surprise I got from grandfather. I seen his stern face from the same negative most of life; having in my fathers office or in his study at home, but here surrounded by a pastel colored   frame he seems less frightening. I never met him, but I think most people  didn't smile into the camera of professional photographers in those days! (early 20th century) The last pic is the least dramatic, just a nice blush ting with some yellow red on the side. I used for a little montage called Happy Together Again! [link]

But where, in these black and white photos, do the colors come from? I am not into chemistry! Any ideas?

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:iconfanfouille:
~fanfouille Mar 5, 2013  Hobbyist General Artist
I am not a chemsit neither, but I found your question intresting, after some quick research on forums, it appears it could be three diffretn reasons :
-Some bad washing of the glass plates before taking the picture (puting finger prints before picturint eg.)
-Environmental contamination of the plates appears after age
-Bad manipulation of Sepia tone effect on the photography, after it has been made.
Very cool photographs anyway.
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:iconderkert:
Gracias! Yes, something like that. But I never seen anything like this before!
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:iconaudreysmith:
It's got to be some kind of patina due to the breakdown of whatever chemicals were used to produce them over time. That's the best that I can come up with. At the very least, the images are beautiful.
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:iconderkert:
THanks – something like that! Must be!
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:icontordo:
~Tordo Feb 6, 2013  Hobbyist General Artist
I have no idea on how that may had happened. :shrug:
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:iconderkert:
Me neither!
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:iconrichardleach:
*RichardLeach Feb 5, 2013  Professional Traditional Artist
Fine photos, Ed. I keep coming back to this and thinking about how the color got in there. I'm sure it's very logical but I can't quite put my finger on it!
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:iconderkert:
That is of course what people have done – you can see the prints all over the plates!
Stcky fingers!
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:iconrichardleach:
*RichardLeach Feb 7, 2013  Professional Traditional Artist
Just like LP records back in the day... I always held mine by the edge and the center but other people put their fingers all over the grooves :omg:
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:iconderkert:
sloppy people!
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