Kodak's Shirley

David Brown · Feb 8, 2015

Anybody remember this young lady?

Bob Carnie · Feb 8, 2015

Not this one in particular but many others...

laser · Feb 8, 2015

Kodak Printer Control Negatives aka "Shirley's" were made in Color Control Division later known as Photographic Technology Division. Thousands of camera negatives with "normal" and levels of over and under exposures were very carefully made. The models changed through the years and eventually had several people with a range of flesh characteristics. Later, rather than using camera negatives a digitally created negative was used. This improved "Shirley" consistency.

Some day I may write a description of the various types of scenes that were used to measure film characteristics. Shirley is just one simple but practical example.

Bob Shanebrook
www.makingKODAKfilm.com

wiltw · Feb 8, 2015

I have read that the Kodak guys at Rochester picked a blond woman for calibration in a studio using a professional flash set at 5400 Kelvin, as the original Shirley. If it was the original photo I saw, a blonde in a red evening dress.

Over the years the Kodak Color Darkroom Dataguide used a variety of models.

This one is for Ektacolor S, from the 1974 dataguide.

The OP portrayed photo is not the original Shirley, but the Vericolor II standard negative image, circa 1980.

In the 1990s Kodak switched to a multiracial mix of three ladies in a single photo.

Photo Engineer · Feb 8, 2015

We picked 3 women, a redhead Irish type gal with freckles, a brunette from central Europe, and an African American. We also included Asian subjects for these. We had dozens of "Shirleys" made up for tests.

There are several lengthy threads on this here on APUG. I believe that there is a collectors group from the degree of interest.

PE

Nodda Duma · Feb 8, 2015

Lena is the one I always see in use

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenna

AgX · Feb 8, 2015

Thank you for that hint. A most interesting article on photo technology trivia.

Prof_Pixel · Feb 8, 2015

Nodda Duma said:
Lena is the one I always see in use

Note that Lena wasn't actually used as a Kodak 'Shirley".

Prof_Pixel · Feb 8, 2015

laser said:
Kodak Printer Control Negatives aka "Shirley's" were made in Color Control Division later known as Photographic Technology Division. Thousands of camera negatives with "normal" and levels of over and under exposures were very carefully made. The models changed through the years and eventually had several people with a range of flesh characteristics. Later, rather than using camera negatives a digitally created negative was used. This improved "Shirley" consistency.

Some day I may write a description of the various types of scenes that were used to measure film characteristics. Shirley is just one simple but practical example.

Bob Shanebrook
www.makingKODAKfilm.com

During my 7 years working on the Kodak Instant System while at Photo Tech ('75-'82) I worked with several of the young ladies who served as 'Shirley' models. I just saw one of them, with her husband, in December at the GEH.

Nodda Duma · Feb 9, 2015

Prof_Pixel said:
Note that Lena wasn't actually used as a Kodak 'Shirley".

Right, however she's worth mentioning since her image is so prolific in the field of image processing.

Kodak's Shirley

David Brown

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wiltw

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Kodak's Shirley

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