Photo History in the News

Are there any stories in the news about folks using nondestructive reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to study the earliest color photographs? You bet, but first there's a story about a possible previously-unknown photograph of Abraham Lincoln.

Purported Photos of Lincoln at Gettysburg Discovered

"The photos show a man in a black suit and Lincoln's trademark "stovepipe" hat, looking away from the camera. Some experts say they believe the man is indeed President Lincoln, although not all are convinced."

Other experts believe it is actually a piece of blue fluff on the lens.

Was the Inventor of the First Color Photograph a Genius, or a Fraud?

"... the Rev. Levi Hill of Westkill, N.Y., claimed for the first time to have invented a way to produce naturally colored daguerreotypes, or Hillotypes, as they became known. When Hill refused to release the details of his process until a patent was filed, the profession denounced him as a fraud. In 156 years, no definitive evidence has been presented to suggest that Hill was or was not an imposter, until now."