Color Photography Turns 150

Back in 1861 a physicist named James Clerk Maxwell and a photographer named Thomas Sutton captured the first ever color image. It's a shot of a colored ribbon and it's as basic as you might expect.

The work that Maxwell did has been used in nearly every photographic application to date and forever changed the way we take and view pictures. Interestingly, the initial process called for the use of red, blue, green and yellow slides, but the yellow slide was not used in the final photo.

The actual anniversary of the day the photograph was first shown is May 17th, but we're fairly sure that no one will mind if you host your Color Photography Sesquicentennial party over the weekend instead.

(via BBC)