Honestly adding colour to black and white photos makes the people therein seem real... Like I know they ARE real, but for some reason when I look at a past image the person just doesn't FEEL real.
Less images on a page, but instead real people.
really appreciate the effort into colorization, it sounds tedious as hell
I [I]love[/I] color/colorized historic photographs. It can be so difficult to connect with what you're seeing when it's in black and white and the color brings back a tangibility and closeness to history that you don't otherwise get.
On a tangentially related note, one thing I really hope to see in the near-future for VR is interactive historical vignettes.
I love coloring!
gotta give color a lot more credit.
meanwhile hobbyist photographers are turning their picture greyscale because "it looks better"
[QUOTE=Noob4life;52290952]meanwhile hobbyist photographers are turning their picture greyscale because "it looks better"
gotta give color a lot more credit.[/QUOTE]
Black and white is a powerful tool in art. Relying on the contrast between black and white to draw the eye can create or enhance some very dramatic moments versus having them in color! But seeing those moments in color helps ground them, too, and not everything works best in black and white.
For example:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/JrP1ua5.jpg[/img]
Color makes a big difference in the above photograph by bringing out details the eye would skip over otherwise. In black and white, this is just a framed glance at a historic country store - in color you see all the historic detail you'd be looking at if you were actually there. But what would color add to the next photograph?
[img]http://i.imgur.com/msBBgps.jpg[/img]
What matters here is the silhouettes - the glance, not the details. Draining the color from this image puts a focus on the shapes and how they interact, giving the viewer a sense of foreboding and mystery, and the sharp blacks and whites makes it more dramatic. If this image was in color, your eyes might get a little lost looking at unimportant details like the flash of color from a manhole cover, etc.
This effect can also be achieved by bathing a similar image in only one color. A popular example in noir/gangster flicks was to use brake lights from cars to cast a whole scene in red.
Man, seeing those colorized WWII pictures somehow makes them completely gut-wrenching.
[QUOTE=Grenadiac;52290955]What matters here is the silhouettes - the glance, not the details.[/QUOTE]
Ah, right, I see. It depends on the composition and the goal of the frame.
Sometimes I see a wide shot in black and white and I'm like "but why?"
almost all colorized photos i've seen look hella fake though, like they don't know how to properly simulate the way the color should react to shadows and the subtleties in skintones
most of them don't take into account color bounce either
only like 4 or 5 pictures in the whole video don't look distractingly fake right away
[QUOTE=Noob4life;52291021]Ah, right, I see. It depends on the composition and the goal of the frame.
Sometimes I see a wide shot in black and white and I'm like "but why?"[/QUOTE]
Definitely, not everyone knows how to use black and white for dramatic effect, but in modern shooting, that's what it's for.
[QUOTE=Eric95;52291034]almost all colorized photos i've seen look hella fake though, like they don't know how to properly simulate the way the color should react to shadows and the subtleties in skintones
only like 4 or 5 pictures in the whole video don't look distractingly fake right away[/QUOTE]
A lot of actual color photography from the early days of photography "looks" fake, too.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/nNFupYX.jpg[/img]
In this example the method used causes certain colors to appear too intense.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/AfC3etm.jpg[/img]
... and in this one it causes the whole thing to look like a painting with a hint of surreality. These are both true color photography, not colored in post.
Colorization is a tricky thing because you have to add data to an image that's never had it and missing slight subtleties can give the whole thing an uncanny look. But for the most part it does what it's supposed to do by reminding you that the world then was as vibrant and interesting as it is now.
[QUOTE=Eric95;52291034]almost all colorized photos i've seen look hella fake though, like they don't know how to properly simulate the way the color should react to shadows and the subtleties in skintones
only like 4 or 5 pictures in the whole video don't look distractingly fake right away[/QUOTE]
It's a difficult thing to achieve. I've been subscribed to r/colorizedhistory for a while and browsing the top posts on that is incredible. For example:
[t]https://i.imgur.com/Q3xXQz1.jpg[/t]
[url=https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/4syrh3/tower_bridge_under_construction_london_1889/]London Tower Bridge under construction in 1889[/url]
[t]https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/28775626322_5a3aa8eb3a_b.jpg[/t]
[url=https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/4z7a4j/blackfoot_piegan_native_americans_in_northern/]Blackfoot Piegan Native Americans in Northern Montana, ca. 1908[/url]
[t]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3931/33777258120_7d4375ef3e_b.jpg[/t]
[url=https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/66sle8/a_finnish_soldier_on_patrol_august_16_1944/]Finnish Soldier on patrol, ca. 1944[/url]
[t]https://i.imgur.com/ro5lwyy.png[/t]
[url=https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/40rmth/sideshow_barker_at_the_circus_klamath_falls/]Sideshow barker ca. 1944[/url]
Friggin incredible stuff there.
[QUOTE=JeanLuc761;52291074]photos[/QUOTE]
Damn, that last one is incredible.
That glacier shot was amazing.
[QUOTE=NassimO PotatO;52291106]Damn, that last one is incredible.[/QUOTE]
that last one is exactly what i'm talking about, his skintone is so flat it makes him look like a wax doll
making photos shot on film look like digital photos would be an interesting project, they'd be much easier to relate to emotionally i think
[QUOTE=Eric95;52291143]making photos shot on film look like digital photos would be an interesting project, they'd be much easier to relate to emotionally i think[/QUOTE]
i don't even know what to think of this idea, because what you're suggesting is essentially what the people in the video are doing. are you implying that you are more emotionally disconnected to photos taken on film?
a photo's medium does not inherently determine the emotional relevance of the photo itself. however, black and white presents its own challenges being the foundation of our world's photographic history. that's the reason we colorize these old pictures: to help current and future generations get a better sense of the world that was in a time before color information could be easily recorded.
the fact that colorization makes some photos a lot more historically (not necessarily emotionally) relatable is more just a side effect of our lack of understanding of a time past.
[QUOTE=Panthereye;52293312]i don't even know what to think of this idea, because what you're suggesting is essentially what the people in the video are doing. are you implying that you are more emotionally disconnected to photos taken on film?[/QUOTE]
i think pretty much everyone is, yes. at least right now in 2017
a somewhat shitty digital photo subconsciously feels contemporary and real while an analog photo with the tasteful grain and the way it treats colors feels more like a deliberate work of art or specifically something from the past. even a new analog photo feels more that way, the "film look" in general adds a layer of abstraction to it from reality
so if i could somehow make old photos look like new shitty iphone photos that would be a cool art project
what i meant about colorized photos is that to me they almost never feel more historically relatable because i can almost always spot it instantly and it becomes more distracting than anything else
but if it works for you, good for you
Eh, just about every professionally edited photo has it's colors edited from how the camera recorded them. I feel like a lot of people see a photo as a perfect representation of what is going on within those boarders. Honestly it's amazing the amount of work that can go into editing a professional photo.
Colorizing a photo perfectly is impossible, but I respect this art form a whole lot more hearing about the research that they go to to faithfully represent what they would have looked like. I don't have the sharpest eye for color, but I can respect preferring the b&w to the colorized rendition if you think it doesn't look right.
i think its crazy that there is colorized footage or black and white films. the dedication you'd need to do hundreds of frames consistently.
[QUOTE=Eric95;52294375]i think pretty much everyone is, yes. at least right now in 2017
a somewhat shitty digital photo subconsciously feels contemporary and real while an analog photo with the tasteful grain and the way it treats colors feels more like a deliberate work of art or specifically something from the past. even a new analog photo feels more that way, the "film look" in general adds a layer of abstraction to it from reality
so if i could somehow make old photos look like new shitty iphone photos that would be a cool art project
what i meant about colorized photos is that to me they almost never feel more historically relatable because i can almost always spot it instantly and it becomes more distracting than anything else
but if it works for you, good for you[/QUOTE]
If you ask me, I think that surreal look is fucking amazing. It turns all of these old photos into a true work of art, an advanced painting that captures all of the intricacies of a scene without leaving room for human error, and it looks great because of it.
When I was doing film photography I got to colorize some of my black and white photos I took. Its really cool seeing a lot of historical photos get colorized, it completely changes the entire photo and what you feel when you see it.
Good video, but it's kind of symptomatic that I sat there expected something akin to "These people are colouring black people and that's a problem" to crop up. I don't know whether that's an issue with me or the way things are going right now. And that's a problem.
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;52295957]Good video, but it's kind of symptomatic that I sat there expected something akin to "These people are colouring black people and that's a problem" to crop up. I don't know whether that's an issue with me or the way things are going right now. And that's a problem.[/QUOTE]
Overthinking it
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;52295957]Good video, but it's kind of symptomatic that I sat there expected something akin to "These people are colouring black people and that's a problem" to crop up. I don't know whether that's an issue with me or the way things are going right now. And that's a problem.[/QUOTE]
sounds like a personal problem
I do see the value in this skill, there is something about color photographs in a time of black and white that have a certain charm to them. I am very fond of Kodachrome photos, I see these photos and feel like they could have been taken yesterday when in reality some were taken as early as the late 30s.
[img_thumb]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/London_%2C_Kodachrome_by_Chalmers_Butterfield_edit.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]https://i0.wp.com/www.pavelkosenko.com/lj/048/38.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://www.codex99.com/photography/images/kodachrome/kodachrome_1964_lg.jpg[/img_thumb]
More good examples here.
[url]https://pavelkosenko.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/4x5-kodachromes/[/url]
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;52295957]Good video, but it's kind of symptomatic that I sat there expected something akin to "These people are colouring black people and that's a problem" to crop up. I don't know whether that's an issue with me or the way things are going right now. And that's a problem.[/QUOTE]
what the fuck are you talking about
[editline]1st June 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=Nazereth666;52298645]I do see the value in this skill, there is something about color photographs in a time of black and white that have a certain charm to them. I am very fond of Kodachrome photos, I see these photos and feel like they could have been taken yesterday when in reality some were taken as early as the late 30s.
[img_thumb]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/London_%2C_Kodachrome_by_Chalmers_Butterfield_edit.jpg[/img_thumb]
[/QUOTE]
what's fucked about ones like these are all the people, especially in the distance. it would take some hard core man hours and a great eye.
[QUOTE=Rusty100;52298655]what's fucked about ones like these are all the people, especially in the distance. it would take some hard core man hours and a great eye.[/QUOTE]
kodachrome is a color film, this wasn't colorized by hand
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;52295957]Good video, but it's kind of symptomatic that I sat there expected something akin to "These people are colouring black people and that's a problem" to crop up. I don't know whether that's an issue with me or the way things are going right now. And that's a problem.[/QUOTE]
why would anyone have an issue with someone colorizing a photo with a black person, and coloring that person with dark skin?
[QUOTE=JeanLuc761;52291074]It's a difficult thing to achieve. I've been subscribed to r/colorizedhistory for a while and browsing the top posts on that is incredible.
Friggin incredible stuff there.[/QUOTE]
I was exploring that subreddit and the photos that look like they came from today are amazing. This is the craziest one to me.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/NQ3vMMH.jpg[/t]
[url=https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/4vukr3/abraham_lincoln_assassination_conspirator_lewis/?st=j3e83gj0&sh=8df8c811]"Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirator Lewis Powell in custody. April 14, 1865."[/url] That's absolutely incredible.
[QUOTE=kariko;52298939]I was exploring that subreddit and the photos that look like they came from today are amazing. This is the craziest one to me.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/NQ3vMMH.jpg[/t]
[url=https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/4vukr3/abraham_lincoln_assassination_conspirator_lewis/?st=j3e83gj0&sh=8df8c811]"Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirator Lewis Powell in custody. April 14, 1865."[/url] That's absolutely incredible.[/QUOTE]
I'd kill Lincoln to have nice hair like that dude does
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