Colour in photographs and connection to the past

[Rhiannon]

This has made me think. I hadn't realised the difference that colour makes to something seeming 'real'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-40523826/the-colourist-changing-the-appearance-of-historical-photos

[floo]

This has made me think. I hadn't realised the difference that colour makes to something seeming 'real'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-40523826/the-colourist-changing-the-appearance-of-historical-photos

Fantastic. I have photos of relatives from the  1870s onwards, I wish they were in colour.

[ippy]

This has made me think. I hadn't realised the difference that colour makes to something seeming 'real'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-40523826/the-colourist-changing-the-appearance-of-historical-photos

I'd love to be there when whoever is doing the colourizing, they make such a good job of it, I think it's done using the same method that almost everything else is these days, gigs and gigs of computing power.

It's certainly amazing how the colourizing seems to pull forward in time most events recorded on these very old photos and even old black and white films.

I have photos of my three sisters that went through some sort of colouring process by hand they all date from just after WW2, I believe this was all the rage about then, they have stood up to the test of time and still look very good but not as subtle as the pictures are when using this latest process.

The first time I saw this colourising process used was on some 'Laurel and Hardy' films some years back at least 20- 30 years ago. 

ippy

[floo]

The colour photo of that poor girl at Auschwitz makes it all the more horrific. How some people can deny the Holocaust happened when there is so much evidence to confirm it, beats me!

[Maeght]

Having seen some of the colourised films of WWI it really does make it look like it is modern day rather than 'history'. It can be done in photoshop or there are colourising systems online.

[floo]

I have hanging in our lounge a photo of my paternal grandfather taken in 1914 in his army uniform, just before he went off to war. He was gassed and never fully recovered, he died in 1943.

[jeremyp]

While I don't dispute the power of colourising to make photos seem more real, I would question the historical validity of doing so. How do you know the colours are right? What if adding the wrong colour subtly alters the message of the photograph?

[Rhiannon]

While I don't dispute the power of colourising to make photos seem more real, I would question the historical validity of doing so. How do you know the colours are right? What if adding the wrong colour subtly alters the message of the photograph?

I agree with this. I think it has to be approached as art and not history, with the originals kept intact. I do think the power of the image makes colouring worthwhile because somehow I can relate to the people in the images more. Rightly or wrongly.

[floo]

While I don't dispute the power of colourising to make photos seem more real, I would question the historical validity of doing so. How do you know the colours are right? What if adding the wrong colour subtly alters the message of the photograph?

You make a good point. It would be interesting to see all my vintage photos in colour, but only if colour photography had been around at the time.