WW1 in color

[Sal Williams]

I have been watching the history hannel series WW1 in color where they have colorized footage of the Great War. I was wondering what all my gurus thought of the accuracy of the uniforms and planes and tanks?

Best, Sal

[Ulsterman]

I have not seen the series. I am no guru, but there were a few color photos taken-mostly French, in WW1:

[Ulsterman]

Another one: A French Priest:

Edited October 13, 2005 by Ulsterman

[JensF.]

These are some of a few real color photographs. They are not re-colored.

Edited February 14, 2006 by JensF.

[Christophe]

Are you sure ? I had in mind that the color film had been "invented" by the Germans later than WW1... in the 20s. Maybe am I wrong...

But, these pics are colorized. And the film "World War 1 in colors" clearly claims its pictures and views are colorized...

Cheers.

Ch.

[Dave Danner]

Are you sure ? I had in mind that the color film had been "invented" by the Germans later than WW1... in the 20s. Maybe am I wrong...

But, these pics are colorized. And the film "World War 1 in colors" clearly claims its pictures and views are colorized...

Cheers.

Ch.

Photography and film are not the same.

Color photography was developed in France before World War I. The Autochrome Lumi?re process was patented by the Lumi?re brothers in 1907. The photos Ulsterman shows above were done by that process. Agfa developed Agfacolor, a better process, in Germany in the mid-1930s; Kodachrome arrived about the same time, but was not as easy to use, so color photography was more widely seen among Germans in World War II.

There was no color film in World War I. The film footage referred to in Sal's original post was, as Christophe notes, colorized.

[Dave Danner]

French poilus in the trenches:

[David Gregory]

Are you sure ? I had in mind that the color film had been "invented" by the Germans later than WW1... in the 20s. Maybe am I wrong...

But, these pics are colorized. And the film "World War 1 in colors" clearly claims its pictures and views are colorized...

Cheers.

Ch.

Christophe,

The "World War 1 in colors" film may have been colourised, but the images shown above seem to come from a series of autochrome pictures that belong to a French archive and can be viewed online.

Autochrome was a photographic transparency film patented on 5 June 1906 in America (patent no. 822,532) by Auguste and Louis Lumi?re of Lyons, France (French patent number 339,223, 1903).

David

Edit: Dave beat me to it while I was distracted by another thread.

Edited February 14, 2006 by David Gregory

[Christophe]

Photography and film are not the same.

(...)

Dave,

You are perfectly right. I should have done my post more precise ...

Cheers.

Ch.

[Scott Powell]

This site is dedicated to the colour photo's of WW1,very interesting!

http://www.poiemadesign.com/wwi/

[Stogieman]

Interesting photographs and interesting website. The French uniforms really "stick-out" against the background and must have made (unfortunately) good targets in daylight.

[JensF.]

Verdun in (real) color:

[JensF.]

No. 2:

[JensF.]

And No. 3:

[David Gregory]

Verdun in (real) color:

Jens,

Nice image. We normally sit on that quay and eat a D?ner last thing in the evening after a few beers before going back to the camp site.

I'll try to remember to take a modern picture for a "then-and-now" comparison in early May.

David

[Tony]

Make sure you get that camera sorted first David.

Does look different today doesn't it.

Tony

[David Gregory]

Make sure you get that camera sorted first David.

Does look different today doesn't it.

Tony

Yep, there is no large dog in the pictures above.

[Kenneth Whitcomb]

Another one: A French Priest:

Is it possible to purchase a copy of this photo? Ken