The history of photography is only about two hundred years old and the period when it was possible to take colored pictures is a lot shorter than that. However, color makes us perceive the image we view as more realistic. Fortunately, there are communities of colorizing black and white photo enthusiasts, such as r/ColorizedHistory (see our previous post), that bring us emotionally closer to the historical events with their work.
It’s often difficult to realize how close to us in the course of history are such events as the wedding day of our grandparents or WWII. Gladly, the photo restoration possibilities now let us glimpse, even a little speculatively, at our past which was, believe it or not, in color. The colorizing process of these vintage photos is no easy business and it highly depends on the colorizer’s involvement in this activity. A lot of colors can be recognized from the subtleties of greyish hues in black and white colors. Another way is to research past fashions, the coloring of the places that still exist today, and quite a lot of common sense that, for instance, let us know that the hair color of a person in a historical black and white photo is most probably a natural one.
However, one must bear in mind that an equally important part of making colorized photos is the good old fashioned guesswork. Even having all of the accessible information on the subject, in theory, you can never be 100% percent sure of the true colors and hues that could have been captured on any of the old photos. Nevertheless, a colored historical photograph, which you otherwise only would have seen in black and white, can make you feel like you could have been part of a world that you’ve never even seen.
Source: Reddit/ColorizedHistory (via: TwistedSifter)
1. Women Delivering Ice, 1918
Original photo by War Department/National Archives
Colourized by Dana Keller
2. Times Square, 1947
Original photo by William Gottlieb
Colourized by Jordan J. Lloyd
3. Portrait Used to Design the Penny. President Lincoln Meets General McClellan – Antietam, Maryland ca September 1862
Original photo Alexander Gardner
Colourized by Zuzzah
4. Marilyn Monroe, 1957
Original photo by Richard Avedon
Colourized by Zuzzah
5. Newspaper boy Ned Parfett sells copies of the evening paper bearing news of Titanic’s sinking the night before. (April 16, 1912)
Original photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection
Colourized by Dana Keller
6. Easter Eggs for Hitler, c 1944-1945
Original photo by US Army/National Archives
Colourized by Zuzzah
7. Sergeant George Camblair practicing with a gas mask in a smokescreen – Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 1942
Update: As some readers pointed out, the B&W picture we used initially was a different shot from the same photoshoot, so we replaced the previous photo with the one that was actually colourized. (Original photo by Jack Delano)
Colourized by Ryan Urban
8. Helen Keller meeting Charlie Chaplin in 1919
Original photo by Roy Export Company / Cineteca di Bologna
Colourized photo by Zuzahin
9. Painting WWII Propaganda Posters, Port Washington, New York – 8 July 1942
Original photo by Marty Zimmerman
Colourized by Patty Allison
10. Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge ca 1935
Original photo source unknown
Colourized by Dana Keller
11. Louis Armstrong practicing in his dressing room, ca 1946
Original photo by William Gottlieb
Colourized by Dana Keller
12. Broadway at the United States Hotel Saratoga Springs, N.Y. ca 1900-1915
Original photo by Detroit Publishing Co.
Colourized photo by Sanna Dullaway
13. “The Tall Cowboy”, Ralph E. Madsen with Senator Morris Sheppard, 1919
Original photo Harris & Ewing
Colourized by Photo Retrofit
14. Dancers of the National American Ballet, 20 August 1924
Original photo by National American Ballet
Colourized by Photo Retrofit
15. Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, 1921
Original photo by Ferdinand Schmutzer
Colourized by Klassixx
16. Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father and the only surviving member of the Frank family revisiting the attic they spent the war in, 3 May 1960
Original photo by Arnold Newman
Colourized by Laiz Kuczynski
17. Young Woman with Umbrella – Louisiana, 1937
Original photo by Dorothea Lange
Colourized by Manuel De Leonardo
18. Crowded Bunks in the Prison Camp at Buchenwald, April 16, 1945
Original photo by Private H. Miller
Colourized by Manuel De Leonardo
19. Peatwy Tuck of the Meskwahki, 1898
Original photo by Frank A. Rheinhart
Colourized by Photocopshop
20. Boys after buying Easter flowers in Union Square, New York, April 1908
Original photo by Bain News Service.
Colourized by Dana Keller
P.S.: be sure to check out 20 Historic Black and White Pictures Restored in Color (Part I)