colorization of Lewis Powell's mug shot

[Lincoln Wonk]

If you scroll to the bottom of this Irish newspaper's piece on colorization of historic photos, they discuss Lewis Powell's mug shot.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-a...-1.3599624

[L Verge]

I can only make one observation, based on my experiences years ago as a teacher: Even fifty years ago, students (and I suspect the general public) wanted color in their lives -- and that included historical photos, films, slides, etc. I can still hear the groans when I turned on a projector and the film was in black and white!

We live in a world of color, and in my opinion, if adding color makes historical events more interesting to the people in our world today, bring on the color.

[RobertLC]

I agree with Laurie.

I remember back in 2014, MaddieM posted a colorized version of the hanging of the conspirators. Her work brought an entirely different feeling to the event.

I looked for that picture, but was unable to find it.

Bob

[RJNorton]

(08-25-2018 04:17 PM)RobertLC Wrote:  I agree with Laurie.

I remember back in 2014, MaddieM posted a colorized version of the hanging of the conspirators. Her work brought an entirely different feeling to the event.

I looked for that picture, but was unable to find it.

Bob

Good memory, Bob! I went back, and I think I found the link/image you refer to, but it's no longer working.

Dave Taylor has a page on this topic that contains many colorized images:

https://boothiebarn.com/2014/10/20/the-a...-in-color/

[RobertLC]

Thanks, Roger!

What a job it must be to colorize the old black and white pictures, but I think the colorized pictures do add more depth of emotion.

Thanks again for your help.

Bob

[LincolnMan]

I like the colorized pics too. Are the choices of colors to use “best quesses?” Or how is a particular color to use decided on?

[civilwarincolor]

(08-27-2018 06:42 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  I like the colorized pics too. Are the choices of colrs to use “best quesses?” Or how is a particular color to use decided on?

Speaking from my experience I do a great deal of research for the colors I use. The colors I use have a couple of factors:

1. Standard items. Such as uniforms, grass, brick, sky, etc. We know what they are and can find the color easily. For uniforms I have have images of period uniforms (both Union/Confederate) as well as modern reproductions (which helps with faded uniforms to get the right shades). I keep a variety of Confederate uniform colors since the consistency varied through the war more the Union.

2. Things I can find. There are times when working on an image that I fill find that the items still exists and I can get a picture of it. Examples of this are things like Brady's chair that he posed people in for photos, eye color of historical figure, etc. Sometimes this is just a description. The Surratt house was kind enough to put me in touch the the biographers for each of the conspirators and I was able to get clothing notes from them. The image for Michael O'Laughlen (for example) has his vest being green with purple stripes as referenced from the trial documents. I would not have realized this without the Surratt house.

Other times I have reached out to an expert and they have shared their findings. For example the Lincoln Funeral Car. The original car was destroyed in a fire however some of the windows had been replaced and the ones that had been removed survived. A university professor obtained a paint sample and had run a rather intense study showing the colors used on the original car.

I managed to track him down and convinced him to share the report so I could match the color. He did ask that I keep the report, sample images, study and his contact private, which I have done.

One of my earliest (and best finds) was a member that sent me a reproduction sample of the cloth from Lincoln's chair at Ford's Theatre so I could get the proper shade.

On numerous occasions I have reached out to a museum and asked about the color for a certain item to see of they could give me some idea and when I show them the B&W photo they let me know that the item exists in their collection and they will send me a photo so I can get it right.

Once you get past those there is a large amount of "best guess". This includes things like civilian clothes for non-historical persons, color for jewelry, buildings, etc. For these I will try to do something that is appropriate to the period, but will often decide to do something with a little more color if possible. For example, if I feel the item was probably black, I may make it brown or dark blue, just to add color to an image. If I have several people in civilian clothes I may mix the colors up so that I do not have a bunch of people all next to each other in one color.

Hopefully with the combination of these things that I can bring back much of the color so that you can visualize yourself at that time vs. just looking at a period photo.

Hope that helps answer how I choose color.

David

[L Verge]

(08-27-2018 05:31 PM)civilwarincolor Wrote:  

(08-27-2018 06:42 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  I like the colorized pics too. Are the choices of colrs to use “best quesses?” Or how is a particular color to use decided on?

Speaking from my experience I do a great deal of research for the colors I use. The colors I use have a couple of factors:

1. Standard items. Such as uniforms, grass, brick, sky, etc. We know what they are and can find the color easily. For uniforms I have have images of period uniforms (both Union/Confederate) as well as modern reproductions (which helps with faded uniforms to get the right shades). I keep a variety of Confederate uniform colors since the consistency varied through the war more the Union.

2. Things I can find. There are times when working on an image that I fill find that the items still exists and I can get a picture of it. Examples of this are things like Brady's chair that he posed people in for photos, eye color of historical figure, etc. Sometimes this is just a description. The Surratt house was kind enough to put me in touch the the biographers for each of the conspirators and I was able to get clothing notes from them. The image for Michael O'Laughlen (for example) has his vest being green with purple stripes as referenced from the trial documents. I would not have realized this without the Surratt house.

Other times I have reached out to an expert and they have shared their findings. For example the Lincoln Funeral Car. The original car was destroyed in a fire however some of the windows had been replaced and the ones that had been removed survived. A university professor obtained a paint sample and had run a rather intense study showing the colors used on the original car.

I managed to track him down and convinced him to share the report so I could match the color. He did ask that I keep the report, sample images, study and his contact private, which I have done.

One of my earliest (and best finds) was a member that sent me a reproduction sample of the cloth from Lincoln's chair at Ford's Theatre so I could get the proper shade.

On numerous occasions I have reached out to a museum and asked about the color for a certain item to see of they could give me some idea and when I show them the B&W photo they let me know that the item exists in their collection and they will send me a photo so I can get it right.

Once you get past those there is a large amount of "best guess". This includes things like civilian clothes for non-historical persons, color for jewelry, buildings, etc. For these I will try to do something that is appropriate to the period, but will often decide to do something with a little more color if possible. For example, if I feel the item was probably black, I may make it brown or dark blue, just to add color to an image. If I have several people in civilian clothes I may mix the colors up so that I do not have a bunch of people all next to each other in one color.

Hopefully with the combination of these things that I can bring back much of the color so that you can visualize yourself at that time vs. just looking at a period photo.

Hope that helps answer how I choose color.

David

Thank you for all that information. Once you decide on the colors to use, how long does it take you to colorize just one photo (of medium size)? BTW: Did you once give a program on your process at a Surratt Society banquet?

[civilwarincolor]

(08-27-2018 06:53 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Thank you for all that information. Once you decide on the colors to use, how long does it take you to colorize just one photo (of medium size)? BTW: Did you once give a program on your process at a Surratt Society banquet?

Laurie -

Yes, I did give a program to your organization. It was through your help that I found most of the colors I used for that presentation. Thank you!

To answer your question of time. It is not so much a matter of size, but complexity. A studio image with just one person is going to take far less time than complex outdoor scene with lots of subjects and a varied background. My typical time for a studio image can be a few hours. For a complicated outdoor scene with significant damage, several days.

David

[LincolnMan]

Really good information. All of your efforts in colorization are applauded!

[civilwarincolor]

(08-28-2018 07:58 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Really good information. All of your efforts in colorization are applauded!

Thanks Bill

Just an FYI. Can't say too much, but I am currently working on a commission for a Civil War museum display that will open next year. Exciting stuff coming!

[jonathan]

I love the colorized photos, to me it makes the subject seem more real. I also think it helps a lot that the colorization usually seems to be done very well. I don't go around looking for these pictures, but of all the ones I've seen over the years, seems like it's very rare to come across a hack job. I can imagine the concentration it must take to get it right. I love the black and white photos too, but of course there's room for both.

[civilwarincolor]

Thank you for your comments. It may seem odd, but I really love the B&W photos and colorizing them is my way of paying tribute to them. I remember one of my early images that I did of the USS Monitor one of the guys was staring directly into the camera. I worked on the image for a week and every time I passed by that sailor I felt as if he was looking at me and imploring me to do justice to their image. Since then (2009) I have tried to do tribute to any image I work on. There are a number of images that people will ask me to work on that the condition is too bad, size too small or something else that will make me unhappy with the finished image so I will pass. I remember how that sailor made me feel (I am a Navy vet as well) and if I work on an image I am going to put my best into it.