Before and After Colorization

[zkogut]

Hi Everybody,

So I've been practicing my coloring on old family portraits in PS CS6 for the past few months. This photo is my Great Grandparents, my Grandpa and his younger brother Great Uncle George. Anyways, I felt like sharing the results since I think it came out pretty well. As always, if you have any tips on the subject please feel free to share!

Thanks,
Zak

[Manfred M]

Wow! Nicely done, Zak. The colourized image looks great!

[FrankMi]

I did some colorization many, many years ago using oils but none came out as nice as this one Zak. I like the fact that you took the time to do the backdrop as well.

[GBO25]

I think it came out pretty well.

I think it's a step or two above a simple "came out pretty well" Zak. To my eye it's absolutely spot on. A very professional job.

[zkogut]

I think it's a step or two above a simple "came out pretty well" Zak. To my eye it's absolutely spot on. A very professional job.

Wow, thank you for the nice compliment!

[zkogut]

I did some colorization many, many years ago using oils but none cam out as nice as this one Zak. I like the fact that you took the time to do the backdrop as well.

Thanks! The backdrop was the hardest part since I don't really know where everything begins and ends. I'm really happy I'm getting the hang of this.

[mknittle]

Very good Zak looks great.

[RhondaH]

Hi Zak, I've never tried colorization - but I am with the others - this looks great!!! I do have a question - how do you decide what colors to use in a black and white? I would image that the level of intensity in the bnw would indicate a stronger color, but wow... I just that this is so neat and the colors look like they belong so well!

[chauncey]

Zak, the word "superlative" comes to mind regarding your accomplishment, well done my friend.

Aside from that...what strikes me is that the differences in style/technique/posing used then.
Can you conceive of a professional trying to get away with that "look" in today's world?

[bnnrcn]

Hi Zak, great work

[Shadowman]

Looks very good.

[FootLoose]

I find that very impressive, too, Zak. Do you know when the photo was taken?

[rpcrowe]

Zak, congrats, a great colorization job. The advantage of B&W images of that (apparent era) is that they were silver based and have withstood the ravages of time. I fear that we will lose a great amount of color imagery from the 1950's through the 1990's which are dye based and are losing a great amount of quality at an alarming rate.

If people care about their family images, IMO, it would behoove them to scan the images so that they have digital copies which will keep the quality.

Another plus for surviving B&W photos is that many of them were taken by professional photographers using large format cameras and thus, the quality was quite good!

[Mike Buckley]

I'm really, really glad I don't have the talent to envision the colorization that makes sense. If I did, I would probably feel compelled to spend a lot of time making it happen.

Please, please don't tell me this took you very little time.

[IzzieK]

Zak...absolutely gorgeous work here. I know I do not have the patience to do one, even just one...

[zkogut]

Hi Zak, I've never tried colorization - but I am with the others - this looks great!!! I do have a question - how do you decide what colors to use in a black and white? I would image that the level of intensity in the bnw would indicate a stronger color, but wow... I just that this is so neat and the colors look like they belong so well!

Hi Rhonda, thanks for the compliment! I usually start with a pale peach color for the skin and then change the fill level so that it's subtle. From there I'll add the reds, browns, yellows etc and blend them accordingly so that they look "normal." I used to just use one color on each area but I was finding that my images were 1 dimensional and that my subjects looked dead (no blood in the face). If you're ever interested in learning how to color I'd suggest you check out the Colorization section of Reddit.

[zkogut]

I find that very impressive, too, Zak. Do you know when the photo was taken?

Mid to late 1930's from the math I did. My Grandpa died at 88 years old 2 weeks ago and he looks to be around 10 in the photo. Thanks for the compliment!

[zkogut]

I'm really, really glad I don't have the talent to envision the colorization that makes sense. If I did, I would probably feel compelled to spend a lot of time making it happen.

Please, please don't tell me this took you very little time.

Took me about 10 hours total spread out over 3 days to complete. I've done about 6 photos from our family album so far. Each one has looked better than the last which means I'll eventually start over lol.

[zkogut]

Zak, congrats, a great colorization job. The advantage of B&W images of that (apparent era) is that they were silver based and have withstood the ravages of time. I fear that we will lose a great amount of color imagery from the 1950's through the 1990's which are dye based and are losing a great amount of quality at an alarming rate.

If people care about their family images, IMO, it would behoove them to scan the images so that they have digital copies which will keep the quality.

Another plus for surviving B&W photos is that many of them were taken by professional photographers using large format cameras and thus, the quality was quite good!

You're absolutely correct. This family portrait was taken in the 1930's and I know that my Great Grandpa spent money on photographers all through the depression as well. He had the money since he was employed the whole time as a blacksmith for the railroad, plus he owned some property he built. It's been a lot of fun learning my family history in Upstate NY and Poland lately.

[zkogut]

Zak, the word "superlative" comes to mind regarding your accomplishment, well done my friend.

Aside from that...what strikes me is that the differences in style/technique/posing used then.
Can you conceive of a professional trying to get away with that "look" in today's world?

I swear that the photographers through the 1930's said "Ok, now everybody look miserable" CLICK "Ok, great!"