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Color Photography (1861)

The world's first color photograph

Scientists had theorized that a color photograph could be created by combining red, green and blue light, but the first person to prove this idea was James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879). Maxwell created the first color photograph by combining three black and white versions of the same image. Each image passed through a different color filter (red, green and blue) before exposing a single screen.

CreditImage Credit

[1] Maxwell, James Clerk, & Sutton, Thomas. Tartan Ribbon – 1861. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed: 22 July 2010.

ReferenceReferences

[1] The Impact of James Clerk Maxwell’s Work. clerkmaxwellfoundation.org. 23 Jun 2010