autochrome process

photography

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June 18, 2026

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The Autochrome process, introduced in France in 1907 by Auguste and Louis Lumière, was the first practical color photography process. It involved a glass plate coated with a layer of minute starch grains dyed red, green, and blue, acting as primary-color filters. This layer was then coated with a panchromatic emulsion sensitive to all colors. The result was a positive color transparency, viewed by reflected light. While a significant advancement, its limitations led to the development of newer color processes like Kodachrome in 1935.12

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12 Key Dates in the History of Photography
1907: Autochrome introduced
Their method, called autochrome, used a glass plate instead of plastic film. The plate was coated with light-sensitive chemicals and granules of dyed potato starch, which acted as a color filter. The process resulted in a positive color transparency that vividly captured the world’s radiant colors. The image,…
Read More
Their method, called autochrome, used a glass plate instead of plastic film. The plate was coated with light-sensitive chemicals and granules of dyed potato starch, which acted as a color filter. The process resulted in a positive color transparency that vividly captured the world’s radiant colors. The image,…
Read More

history of photography
Color photography
The Autochrome process, introduced in France in 1907 by Auguste and Louis Lumière, was the first practical color photography process. It used a color screen (a glass plate covered with grains of starch dyed to act as primary-color filters and black dust that blocked all unfiltered…
Read More
The Autochrome process, introduced in France in 1907 by Auguste and Louis Lumière, was the first practical color photography process. It used a color screen (a glass plate covered with grains of starch dyed to act as primary-color filters and black dust that blocked all unfiltered…
Read More

Jacques-Henri Lartigue
…experimented with the recently developed Autochrome colour process, which satisfied his painterly interests. In the 1930s and ’40s he continued to capture images of middle-class leisure that, like his earlier images, display a charm and joy that is detached from the traumas of world war. He continued to photograph into…
Read More
…experimented with the recently developed Autochrome colour process, which satisfied his painterly interests. In the 1930s and ’40s he continued to capture images of middle-class leisure that, like his earlier images, display a charm and joy that is detached from the traumas of world war. He continued to photograph into…
Read More