The Empire That Was Russia; The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated

Library of Congress ^ | August 21, 2010 | unknown

[Daffynition]

The interesting process is described here:

Making Color Images from Prokudin-Gorskii's Negatives

[oprahstheantichrist]

These were posted here a year or so ago. Fascinating nevertheless, especially considering that Kodachrome would not be invented till around the mid-thirties.

[csvset]

Nice pictures. I saw your earlier post from Boston.com. The guy did good work. It must have been a fascinating adventure.

[SkyPilot]

These are really incredible.

[samtheman]

Excellent site.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Fascinating nevertheless, especially considering that Kodachrome would not be invented till around the mid-thirties.

I was wondering if you read the article. What's interesting is that the originals were taken on a 3" x 9" ( 76 mm x 278 mm) black and white plate divided into three 3" x 3" regions each photographed through different color filters. The exposures were taken sequentially in rapid succession. Too bad he couldn't take all three simultaneously. Notice all the pictures are still life and how blurry the stream is in #2 in this series. Originally they were viewed by projection, using the same color filters.

These views were recreated digitally and involve considerable 'touch work' to compensate for limitations in the surviving negatives. I find the original technique more impressive than the digital recreation, though both are pretty awesome.

[Daffynition]

Especially when you consider that when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun.

[Daffynition]

That post didn't last long, eh? LOL

I mentioned to the admin mod that the article from *The Big Picture* had actually been excerpted and a search revealed that other posted *Big Picture* articles exist, some w/out excerpting. Oh well.

The Prokudin-Gorskii expedition was rugged and had to be fraught with peril.

[sayuncledave]

I saw these a couple of years ago, very cool. The photographer came up with a really imaginative process. Even with all the challenges involved with the digital recreation, I love it. Old photos have always called to, as windows to a moment in the past (that’s why I love shorpy). My elder kids always poo-pooed the black and white photos, because they were used to color only. But with these photos, suspension of time, even for the young, is relatively easy. Seriously, thank you for posting again. After I finish today’s teachings, I’m gonna have to go back and look at these some more. ;)

[Daffynition]

Amazing under the times and circumstances.

*He used a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. The high quality of the images, combined with the bright colors, make it difficult for viewers to believe that they are looking 100 years back in time.*

[Daffynition]

One of the few good uses of our tax dollars. ;)

[Daffynition]

Glad you enjoy them ...here's another good link.

You'll be gone for a week [or more], checking these out! ;)

[Sawdring]

Smokey Bear might suggest a smaller fire ring in our #8 post.

[Daffynition]

You're right. LOL Can't help but notice that!

And your keen observation was the raison d'etre of the original article that I posted [that was deleted].

**With images from southern and central Russia in the news lately due to extensive wildfires, I thought it would be interesting to look back in time with this extraordinary collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912. In those years, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook a photographic survey of the Russian Empire with the support of Tsar Nicholas II................**

[Sawdring]

Did you look at the picture of the workers preparing the sluice for concrete? The sluice is still there on Google Earth. They apparently did a good job laying the concrete.

[Daffynition]

Amazing. And look at the size of those timbers!

[SunkenCiv]

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[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Just amazing! Thanks for posting.

[oprahstheantichrist]

Indeed. Kodachrome is (was) essentially three layers of B&W film, each one sensitive to either the red, green, or blue spectrums.

[oprahstheantichrist]

Don't forget Autochrome

http://www.flickr.com/photos/george_eastman_house/sets/72157606226772243/with/2678243048/