Not only is it laborious but the materials such as the matrix films are no longer produced by Kodak or any other manufacturer. It's a shame since the dye transfer process when properly done produces an image with a unique quality that cannot be duplicated by any other means. Many years ago when I taught classes emphasizing photography as an art form, I had the opportunity to buy a portfolio of Icelandic images produced by Eliot Porter. The portfolio consisted of 12 prints for $1200. I didn't buy it and I've been kicking my ass ever since.

A fascinating - and, to my eye, tedious - approach to staying out of trouble! ;-) I thought the shack image looked pretty good, but not much different than the SOOC, for whatever my opinion is worth. My question is this: after you've buried yourself in all the details, how do you think your images might improve? I recall enjoying Porter's work a great deal, and I had some idea that he did dye transfer work - though I really had no idea what that involved - but I don't recall his color quality being what grabbed me about his images. One image sticks out in my memory; it was a bunch of trees in the woods, one of which had particularly reddish leaves, and those leave really stood out in a way none of the trees in any of my images of the woods ever did, whether Kodachrome or Ektachrome or Fujichrome. Do you imagine he could control the dye transfer process in such a way that made that tree's color stand out markedly from the rest? And, if so, do you imagine that your method would give you any advantage over, say, selecting the leaves in PS and applying selective alterations?

My inspiration for this was born years ago upon seeing photographs by William Eggleston and Eliot Porter. They used the dye transfer process to produce stunning color photographs. The dye transfer process essentially takes three black and white photographs simultaneously using red, green, and blue filters. These negatives are then registered and combined to produce a color photograph.

My intent was to simulate that process through the use of Ps instead. I lacked a blue filter, it's on order and expected to arrive Nov. 24. So, as a proof of concept, I used photographs I'd taken with digital cameras. So, after researching the nuances of the Channels Layer it was time to give this a try. It would seem the secret to the process was not opening photographs in Ps but instead creating a photograph using the color channels instead.

I used minimal processing, entirely done in ACR to produce as close to a properly exposed photograph as I could. That "SOOC" photograph would be the basis for any further process related work.

I used a color to black and white conversion process that would produce a photograph as if it were taken through a colored filter. This conversion was done three times to simulate the use of the red, green, and blue filters. Instead of opening the photographs conventionally, I copied each to its respective color channel of a New photograph created in Ps. Thus producing a color image. The results are interesting enough to pursue this further.

I'm hoping for similar results when using film and filters. Stay tuned.
--Bob

First off, this was more of a proof of concept than a final approach to doing digital work. Though it can be applied to digital, as shown here. The drover's shack in the "dye-transfer" image had some tonality that the original didn't, especially the tree leaves.

As I noted, this was a proof of concept step, led by a bit of impatience. The final filter I need to do this with film won't arrive until Tuesday. That's when the real attempt will be made. Three separate black and white negatives each exposed through the red, green, and blue filters, then scanned, then placed in the appropriate channels to produce a color image.

I saw an improvement with the canyon photograph as the colors of the walls were more true to life. The overall looked more like a Kodachrome image.

As to the advantage, yes, if it works definitely. I can then produce color photographs, when needed, from a medium format or 4x5 using black and white film.
--Bob

My inspiration for this was born years ago upon seeing photographs by William Eggleston and Eliot Porter. They used the dye transfer process to produce stunning color photographs. The dye transfer process essentially takes three black and white photographs simultaneously using red, green, and blue filters. These negatives are then registered and combined to produce a color photograph.

My intent was to simulate that process through the use of Ps instead. I lacked a blue filter, it's on order and expected to arrive Nov. 24. So, as a proof of concept, I used photographs I'd taken with digital cameras. So, after researching the nuances of the Channels Layer it was time to give this a try. It would seem the secret to the process was not opening photographs in Ps but instead creating a photograph using the color channels instead.

I used minimal processing, entirely done in ACR to produce as close to a properly exposed photograph as I could. That "SOOC" photograph would be the basis for any further process related work.

I used a color to black and white conversion process that would produce a photograph as if it were taken through a colored filter. This conversion was done three times to simulate the use of the red, green, and blue filters. Instead of opening the photographs conventionally, I copied each to its respective color channel of a New photograph created in Ps. Thus producing a color image. The results are interesting enough to pursue this further.

I'm hoping for similar results when using film and filters. Stay tuned.
--Bob