Old Photos Colourised

fixXxer · 09-03-2021 10:47am #1

I've not had the time or motivation to get out with the camera for a while now so I've been looking into other photo related curiosities.

I was given Old Ireland In Colour for Christmas, and found it a fascinating process. I'm a huge black & white fan, but there is something magical to me about these old images brought in to the modern world almost. The people in it move from historical figures to contemporaries. Its a tricky think to do, seen a few examples that look more CGI than real after.

RTE has a series on the War of Independence thats work a look too.

Has anyone seen anything similar of interest?

GBX · 09-03-2021 11:01am

Check out Rob Cross - some super colourisation of old pics on Twitter - https://twitter.com/RobCross247

magicbastarder · 09-03-2021 11:22am

can i just throw my contrarian oar in and say i hate colourisation of photos? especially ones presented in an historical context?

fixXxer · 09-03-2021 11:54am

magicbastarder wrote: »

can i just throw my contrarian oar in and say i hate colourisation of photos? especially ones presented in an historical context?

You can but I need a power point presentation and it has to be done by 5pm

CelticRambler · 09-03-2021 11:47pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

can i just throw my contrarian oar in and say i hate colourisation of photos? especially ones presented in an historical context?

Shove up there a bit on that bench and let me sit beside you! :pac: As a rule, I despise the "modernisation" of old photos. The latest fad is not just to colourise them, but to turn static portraits into "living" people. :mad:

But ...

I do think the colourisation and additional interpolated frames applied to the clip below is impressive. From one of the Lumière brothers' original films (before they wrote off this "cinéma" thing as waste of time, saying it was just a gimmick and wouldn't amount to anything ... :rolleyes: )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vkY9x4rRLY

Every time I watch that, though, it bothers me that yer man rode off without his hat.

Glaceon · 09-03-2021 11:53pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

can i just throw my contrarian oar in and say i hate colourisation of photos? especially ones presented in an historical context?

I have a different view of it myself. I see black and white as a technological limitation of the time. Provided that it’s done carefully I think it’s great, it makes the photo look so much more realistic.

fixXxer · 10-03-2021 9:13am

CelticRambler wrote: »

Shove up there a bit on that bench and let me sit beside you! :pac: As a rule, I despise the "modernisation" of old photos. The latest fad is not just to colourise them, but to turn static portraits into "living" people.

Wouldn't be a fan of those either to be honest. I understand new technology coming along, but that stuff is pure uncanny valley at the moment.

That video is amazing however, thanks for sharing it.

magicbastarder · 10-03-2021 9:56am

peter jackson did similar with 'they shall not grow old', and the transition from untreated footage to treated footage was amazing - but the real power of that film was the voiceovers of the men who'd served in the trenches.

CelticRambler · 10-03-2021 10:18am

Glaceon wrote: »

I see black and white as a technological limitation of the time. Provided that it’s done carefully I think it’s great, it makes the photo look so much more realistic.

Going off on a bit of a tangent now, but that's more or less the same point my high-brow father-in-law made about "authentic reproductions" of musical instruments. He argued that if Mozart or Beethoven or any of those lads were alive today, they wouldn't be at all happy hearing their music played on the crappy instruments of the 17th or 18th century, let alone "authentic reproductions" of same. They'd be pushing the limits with what's available today.

But the very process of creating and/or recording sound and light using the limited technology of back then is a story in itself. To make it "more realistic" by remastering the original doesn't actually change the limitations that applied back then - you're only taking someone else's work, stripping it of what we see or hear as noise, and creating something that is arguably less realistic than the original.

magicbastarder · 10-03-2021 10:30am

in an historical context, it seems to be hated by historians. it's applying guesswork to what is essentially an historical document so strips it of historical veracity. in the same way doctored images are (generally) verboten in journalism.

and i would still certainly enjoy taking photos on b&W film (if i had the time); if i'm shooting on b&w, it changes the way i shoot, so to add colour back in after the fact would be odd, because it's adding something to a photo which may well have been taken in a specific way precisely because of the lack of colour.

rhonin · 10-03-2021 10:49am

fixXxer wrote: »

I've not had the time or motivation to get out with the camera for a while now so I've been looking into other photo related curiosities.

I was given Old Ireland In Colour for Christmas, and found it a fascinating process. I'm a huge black & white fan, but there is something magical to me about these old images brought in to the modern world almost. The people in it move from historical figures to contemporaries. Its a tricky think to do, seen a few examples that look more CGI than real after.

RTE has a series on the War of Independence thats work a look too.

Has anyone seen anything similar of interest?

Marina Amaral does amazing work in this area. Worth a follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/marinamaral2?s=20
She also was involved with The Colour of Time book

Gregor Samsa · 10-03-2021 1:27pm

My great-grandmother worked as a colourist for Lafayette (Ireland's oldest photography business, founded in 1880) in the early 1900s. She hand painted the photos with semi-opaque ink. Unfortunately, I don't have any examples of her work.

fixXxer · 10-03-2021 2:44pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

in an historical context, it seems to be hated by historians. it's applying guesswork to what is essentially an historical document so strips it of historical veracity. in the same way doctored images are (generally) verboten in journalism.

and i would still certainly enjoy taking photos on b&W film (if i had the time); if i'm shooting on b&w, it changes the way i shoot, so to add colour back in after the fact would be odd, because it's adding something to a photo which may well have been taken in a specific way precisely because of the lack of colour.

You're speaking in artistic terms though. It changes the way you shoot because you have a choice. When its the only option then that doesn't factor in, which is why I think the colourisation can be illuminating, showing every day life as it was.

CelticRambler · 10-03-2021 5:25pm

fixXxer wrote: »

When its the only option then that doesn't factor in, which is why I think the colourisation can be illuminating, showing every day life as it was.

But it doesn't. The classic "stern, unsmiling" portrait pose from the early days of photography is the way it is because of the need to use long exposures - so adding colour (or movement) to those photographs doesn't make them any more accurate. Similarly the photographs of city streets and small town squares are typically devoid of people. But that's not what everyday life was like - it is, again, the effect of long exposures making the people "disappear".

By adding colour to a technically limited image, you are, in fact, passing off the effect of those technical limitations as a false version of reality. It's the visual equivalent of a singer using auto-tuning software on their voice.

Deja Boo · 25-08-2021 9:45pm

fixXxer wrote: ...I think the colourisation can be illuminating, showing every day life as it was.

CelticRambler wrote: ...By adding colour to a technically limited image, you are, in fact, passing off the effect of those technical limitations as a false version of reality. It's the visual equivalent of a singer using auto-tuning software on their voice.

From the ancestral images I have dealt with, I would agree with fixXxer, can be rather clarifying and illuminating.

From my limited perspective, colourizing can be likened to auto-tuning since we can't truly replicate reality except thru mimicking - excessive colourization is truly off-putting! But subtle colour shading can add depth and clarity to facial features. Having looked at modern imagery, in reverse: colour to black & white, it's clear that bw (appearing flat, unrealistic) loses depth and certain nuances present in 3d (coloured) reality.

I don't think subtle colouring destroys much historically, simply enhances and restores a bit of detail of the times... Reminds me of a country song: "You shouldve seen it in colour"

Old Photos Colourised

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