20 Historic Black and White Pictures Restored in Color (Part II)

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

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Original photo by War Department/National Archives

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Colourized by Dana Keller

2. Times Square, 1947

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Original photo by William Gottlieb

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Colourized by Jordan J. Lloyd

3. Portrait Used to Design the Penny. President Lincoln Meets General McClellan – Antietam, Maryland ca September 1862

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Original photo Alexander Gardner

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Colourized by Zuzzah

4. Marilyn Monroe, 1957

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Original photo by Richard Avedon

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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)

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Original photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection

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Colourized by Dana Keller

6. Easter Eggs for Hitler, c 1944-1945

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Original photo by US Army/National Archives

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Colourized by Zuzzah

7. Sergeant George Camblair practicing with a gas mask in a smokescreen – Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 1942

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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)

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