White balance in the Good Old Days: Last night I was messing around in PS trying to remove a blue tint in a Nutchaches white cheek feathers. While doing so I began to wonder how slight...

WDCash Loc: Milford, Delaware, USA

Last night I was messing around in PS trying to remove a blue tint in a Nutchaches white cheek feathers. While doing so I began to wonder how slight tint and hue changes were handled back in the days of film and darkrooms.
We're there processing "tricks" to help true up colors and make whites white?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Colored filters and / or film types balanced to the intended light source.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Dichro (adjustable) color heads on enlargers.

Leinik Loc: Rochester NY

There were only two types of film on the broad market : either daylight or tungsten which was kind of coarse in terms of color balance (but at the same time gave a more realistic (daylight film) rendition of colors at sunset and sunrise than what most people get using AWB (smart phones or cameras).
The compensation happened in the dark room with filtration.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

TriX wrote:

Dichro (adjustable) color heads on enlargers.

The dichroic enlargers I used worked quite well and were capable of repeatable results if one made good notes and let them warm up for about 15 minutes before trying to print. The process did require some trial and error.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

larryepage wrote:

The dichroic enlargers I used worked quite well and were capable of repeatable results if one made good notes and let them warm up for about 15 minutes before trying to print. The process did require some trial and error.

Yep, a warm up and a voltage stabilized power source as well as a temperature controlled bath for developing chemicals all help with consistency.

BebuLamar

TriX wrote:

Dichro (adjustable) color heads on enlargers.

And a lot of trial and error. Color analyzer helps but not a whole lot. In the early 21st century I used the film scanner in manual mode. Adjusting the white balance and exposure in manual until I get what I want on the computer sceen. Using the settings I used I can determine the dichroic filter settings and the exposure time on the enlarger. Worked quite well and better than the color analyzer.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

BebuLamar wrote:

And a lot of trial and error. Color analyzer helps but not a whole lot. In the early 21st century I used the film scanner in manual mode. Adjusting the white balance and exposure in manual until I get what I want on the computer sceen. Using the settings I used I can determine the dichroic filter settings and the exposure time on the enlarger. Worked quite well and better than the color analyzer.

Yep I had an analyzer and after a while, you knew the basic ballpark settings, but it was always trial and (expensive) error since I was mostly printing Cibachrome. Since Cibachrome is gone, I just print B&W now (love silver prints), but the Dichro head is useful for polycontrast paper.

Actually, I have a spare Dichro Besler 67 with lenses, carriers and easel base and wish I could find a buyer for it near here since I just use the bigger Bessler 4x5 anymore and it’s taking up space, but not willing to give it away just yet.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

TriX wrote:

Dichro (adjustable) color heads on enlargers.

WDCash Loc: Milford, Delaware, USA

Leinik wrote:

There were only two types of film on the broad market : either daylight or tungsten which was kind of coarse in terms of color balance (but at the same time gave a more realistic (daylight film) rendition of colors at sunset and sunrise than what most people get using AWB (smart phones or cameras).
The compensation happened in the dark room with filtration.

Thanks

WDCash Loc: Milford, Delaware, USA

TriX wrote:

Dichro (adjustable) color heads on enlargers.

Thanks
The magic of processing

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Indeed there were only two types of film at the time, daylight and tungsten. I never used tungsten film because my photography was strictly confined to daylight. I never experienced issues shooting with daylight film but especially shooting sunrises or sunsets. I did lot of color darkroom at the time but I never used filters and I do not mean that is the right way to work with color film.

Blue areas were common with slide film when shooting in cloudy days or in the shade. I used a warming filter that took care of that. With negative color film I only used a polarizer if I had to. Today we have the magic of the "digital darkroom" and we are able to do in the computer what we could not do in the darkroom. A sign of the times.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

WDCash wrote:

Last night I was messing around in PS trying to remove a blue tint in a Nutchaches white cheek feathers. While doing so I began to wonder how slight tint and hue changes were handled back in the days of film and darkrooms.
We're there processing "tricks" to help true up colors and make whites white?

The other thing that has not been mentioned i that we used M25B blue flashbulbs to balance with daylight film when shooting indoors. I believe that the small AG-1 flash lamps were also available in a blue version. Even early consumer flashtubes were very close to daylight and didn't require correction.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

WDCash wrote:

Last night I was messing around in PS trying to remove a blue tint in a Nutchaches white cheek feathers. While doing so I began to wonder how slight tint and hue changes were handled back in the days of film and darkrooms.
We're there processing "tricks" to help true up colors and make whites white?

Various filters were used over lenses at the camera for slide film. 80, 81, 82, and 85 A, B, C… series were popular, along with skylight 1A, FL-D, and FL-B. Kodak Wratten gel filters in yellow, magenta, and cyan were combined in gel filter holders for more precise control.

Color negatives are correctable in a wet darkroom by adjusting the C, M, and Y filters on the lamp house of the printer or enlarger. However, that requires skill and a video color analyzer, or a scanner and software.

Processes (E-6 and C-41) are standardized.

Compare slides with JPEGs and negatives with raw digital files. Workflows are similar within those comparisons.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Leinik wrote:

There were only two types of film on the broad market : either daylight or tungsten which was kind of coarse in terms of color balance (but at the same time gave a more realistic (daylight film) rendition of colors at sunset and sunrise than what most people get using AWB (smart phones or cameras).
The compensation happened in the dark room with filtration.

It was a “known fact” that ‘daylight’ film gave accurate colors only with the sun at your back and more than two hours after sunrise / two hours before sunset. Colors tended to be blueish under cloudy skies. Photos taken under florescent lighting tended to be greenish. Color accuracy was tricky using film. B&W simplified things.