Terpentintollwut Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 Between 1909 and 1912, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook a photographic survey of the Russian Empire with the support of Tsar Nicholas II. 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 - when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun. Collected here are a few of the hundreds of color images made available by the Library of Congress, which purchased the original glass plates back in 1948. http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russia_in_color_a_century_ago.html taken 1910 taken 1910 taken 1909 taken 1910 There are many more on the site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ruiagnelo Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 looks like they have been taken yesterday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 looks like they have been taken yesterday That's what makes them so weird to me. After a while you sort of internalize this image of everything from 100+ years ago being b/w & grainy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tidbit Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 wonderful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atop Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 amazing indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essines Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 this is fucking awesome. a wet dream for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sprigg Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 Whoa... that's one of the most impressive things I've seen in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ruiagnelo Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 what i find amazing is that my recent olympus camera takes way worst pictures than this 100 year old one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wake Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 This is really hard for my brain to comprehend. I am in love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Calx Sherbet Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 you gotta be shittin me and ruiagnelo, i was just thinking the same thing. these pics are way better than any camera i've ever used Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nene multiple assgasms Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 the landscapes look great. I wonder how long the exposure times were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berk Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 this is amazing indeed it makes the past seem much more real suddenly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tontonz1 Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 Surprised no one has said S'cool though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essines Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 fuck off you cunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perunamuusi Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 this reminds me of that thread from a couple of years ago spot the ghost ^^^ http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2007/01/25/russian-people-100-years-ago-in-color/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 how they can have colors in 100 years ago?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berk Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 This one's also interesting, if you look at the water, it has that same effect which HDR photos also have. That's because HDR is also achieved by putting multiple pics together, if I'm not mistaken. The water is "blurry" because of the slight time differences in the pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Franklin Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 i wonder how big the computer they uploaded these pics into was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr lopez Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 i so created this thread like two years ago. jazz. but still, prokudin-gorsky is brilliant and thank god for the gigantic inflated ego of pre-revolution russia. he apparently took like three different exposures, one in red, one in green and one in blue, or summat. so sometimes people are ghosts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dilbthelame Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 regards what people be saying about the quality, has anyone seen the pics of Endurance from Shackleton's expedition? roughly same time (i think?), they're black and white but look fantastic. apparently it's because the film plates were so big then - they weren't done on what we'd call regular size film so they didn't have to be blown up or something. this may be the same. still, they're fucking cool edited cuz i put the wrong boat name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAXIMUS MISCHIEF Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 fake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spratters Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 This is new to me and I'm loving in. It's funny how in all old photos no-one ever wants to smile. It can't have been all that bad can it? Surely these people didn't have on their minds all what seems to consume our lives today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpentintollwut Posted September 25, 2010 Author Share Posted September 25, 2010 the landscapes look great. I wonder how long the exposure times were. probably rather short, the only things that are "ghostly" are fast moving things like the reflections in the water, and that is probably only due to the time between the different pictures being taken. how they can have colors in 100 years ago?? Three different pictures were taken. I think through a filter of sorts, to only let specific kinds of light through. Kind of like when using 3D glasses. Then he must have had a way to bring them together, "calculate" the colors the way they looked and combine them in one picture using some chemicals or whatever. This is new to me and I'm loving in. It's funny how in all old photos no-one ever wants to smile. It can't have been all that bad can it? Surely these people didn't have on their minds all what seems to consume our lives today? A bit of starvation here, a little plague there - not so bad Nah but I guess the whole "smile for the camera" is a more recent thing. Could be social changes too, maybe they thought they would look silly or vulnerable when they smile on a photograph. Also I imagine it took quite a while for these pictures to be taken, preparation, tripod, people would probably be curious at first and then quickly get bored once the photographer would take a couple of minutes putting it all together. And then it's harder to remain still while smiling for cameras with long exposure time. As for why the kids don't seem to smile either - they were probably told to have a serious face and not joke around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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