Autochrome Lumière
1907–1935The first practical color photography — potato starch grains dyed red, green, blue as a pointillist color filter.
Glass plate coated with dyed potato starch grains (RGB) then silver emulsion. Viewed as a transparency. Pointillist quality.
French
Invented by the Lumière brothers. The starch-grain filter creates a dreamy, impressionistic quality unlike any other medium.
The random distribution of dyed starch grains acts like a Seurat painting — colors mix optically at distance. Visible grain gives a painterly, pointillist character.
Starch grain orange
Warm orange-amber from the red-dyed starch grains — Autochromes are always warm.
Material: Red-dyed potato starch + orange filter effect
RGB(201, 138, 74)
Autochrome green
Soft green of garden scenes — slightly desaturated due to starch grain filter.
Material: Green-dyed potato starch grains
RGB(75, 122, 74)
Autochrome sky
Muted, soft blue — never as vivid as later color processes.
Material: Blue-dyed potato starch + panchromatic emulsion
RGB(106, 138, 170)
Autochrome flesh
Warm, grainy flesh — the pointillist grain is visible up close.
Material: Mixed starch grains rendering skin
RGB(200, 168, 136)
Autochrome shadow
Dark areas go warm brown, not neutral — the starch absorbs light.
Material: Low-density area showing combined starch effect
RGB(58, 48, 40)
Flower mauve
Soft muted purple of flower photography — Autochromes excel at botanical subjects.
Material: Red and blue starch grains in optical mixture
RGB(138, 106, 138)
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