Layering filters allowed this photographer to take a colored pictures before they were invented
People began experimenting with color in photography pretty early on. However, the color-sensitive film’s widespread use began during the 1970s. Most colored photos of the era were actually painted over after the print was developed. Russian photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky found a different way of creating vibrant pictures over a century ago.
He took three photos and overlayed a filter on each one: first a red one, then a blue, and finally, a green one. That allowed him to create a high-quality composite image that portrayed reality’s colors pretty accurately. The figure you see in the middle of the field is the photographer himself.