Color Film:
Blue Sensitive Emulsion |
Yellow Dye |
Green Sensitive Emulsion |
Magenta Dye |
Red-Sensitive Emulsion |
Cyan Dye |
Antihalation Layer |
Base |
As light travels through the film, silver halide crystals in each layer of emulsion becomes reactive and form an image. The dye layers are in place to filter the light impacting the emulsion to produce a more clear image in the emulsion underneath it. The primary reason for this, I believe, is because silver halide is reactive to only blue light naturally. This is why the blue emulsion has no dye over it. Halide may be treated to become sensitive to other colors of light but is not as sensitive to them as it is to blue, thus the dyes.
