In 1861, during a lecture on color theory at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, James Clerk Maxwell presented what is considered the first color photograph.   

He asked Thomas Sutton to photograph a tartan ribbon using three different color filters - red green and blue.  The resulting transparencies were then projected onto a screen using three projectors which resulted in the first color image.  His findings were the basis for all subsequent advances in color photography.

Interestingly, Thomas Sutton developed the first wide angle panoramic camera in 1859 and the first single reflex camera in 1861.

Over the next 46 years color photographs were made using a wide variety of filters and equipment.  The first commercially successful process, the Autochrome Lumière, was brought onto the market in 1907 by the Lumière Brothers of France.  

The Autochrome Lumière was a glass plate coated with a mosaic of colored grains of potato starch.  The grains were large which gave the images an impressionistic feel.  Though a huge step forward it required long exposures so motion could not be stopped and the camera could not be handheld.

The first modern color film was introduced to the market in 1935 by Kodak.  Kodachrome had three layers of emulsion coated on a single base.  Each layer was sensitive to one of three colors - Red, Green, and Blue.

150 years after James Clerk Maxwell presented the first color photograph today's digital cameras continue to build upon his original theory.  Here is one of the filters in use in today's cameras.  It is the Bayer Filter named after its inventory - Bruce Bayer of Eastman Kodak. 

                                          Cabin Dawn

                                           Morning Colors

                                  Redbuds Along the Rails