Colorized Civil War Images

[Eric Tipton]

Greetings!

As I perused Pinterest this morning, I cam across many colorized images that I did not realize were out there. Let's find more of them and post in this thread. To see our Civil War images on Pinterest, just click on this link: http://www.pinterest.com/ACampaigner/civil-war-colorized-images/

[Eric Tipton]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

We have added a lot of new "colorized" images this morning on Pinterest. Check it out:

http://www.pinterest.com/ACampaigner/civil-war-colorized-images/

[Tyler Underwood]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

The federal corporal in the forth picture down appears to be wearing corduroy trousers.

[Erich]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

Wow, very nice.


Erich Bruning

[DougCooper]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

Somebody please explain the technology at work here. How in the world do we know the color of the uniforms of the dead of Starke's Brigade (not Stonewall) along the Hagerstown Pike? Saw a colorized version of one of the series of the New Jersey dead at Gettysburg colored gray and brown, vice dark and sky blue. Is it just guess work? And if so, what's the point?

[Coatsy]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

Todd Harrington did a great job explaining how the colors are seen in the wet plate process. Check this thread for some very solid information: http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...422#post194422

Also, Todd posted period accounts of how color was reflected using plates and snippets from Google Book selections. http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...655#post194655


The point of all of this effort? Well, armed with the knowledge that people like Mr. Harrington posted, why not do it?

[Eric Tipton]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

Doug:

I think what you bring up should be part of the discussion. This is a relatively new thing, other than the photos we have all seen that were touched up not long after they were taken. Like anything else, there are good colorized versions and bad ones. For instance, in the Lincoln photo I posted, was he really wearing a blue suit? I don't know. Maybe he was, but it looks out-of-place. I wondered what documentation was used to determine the color. Was it based on the method that Herb mentions or does the coat still exist and that's why it is blue?

I really like the concept of the colorized photos. It is really interesting to see a person in living color vs. the black-and-white images. However, I would love to see some challenges of some of these photos for "authenticity" sake. That is what we are good at, right?

[FlatLandFed]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

Re the young powder monkey photo, that's the image my son used in restoring a 100 pounder Parrot for his Eagle Scout project. Some lads thought the finish should be dull, even though I had three photos of this model either in forts or afloat that had enough "sheen" to imperfectly reflect men nearby. To the point of the link, to see those of this time period in "living color" is intriguing -- as long as there is some documentation as to the original colors. Just adding color for the sake of color is worse IMHO than the trend to take a modern full color photo and trying to Photoshop it resemble a sepia-toned image. It somehow seems "off."
Cheers,
Paul Hadley

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

Hallo!

I just finished watching a six hour series on WWI, "World War I in Colour." And had seen all of the multi-part 'WWII in Color."

As with Ted Turner colorized B & W movies, much at times is based on limited knowledge and guess work. And they do get it wrong.

And sometimes it is what is expected. I see that George Custer, a natural freckled red head, is stereotypically 'Yellow Hair" blond. And it looks like red headed Jeb Stuart is brown haired.
Sherman could be a bit more red-headed too. ;)

But again, much of "color" is in the mind and eye of the colorizer artist.

Curt

[DougCooper]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

The thing I find fascinating is how my mind processes the detail of an original vs colorized version of the same photo. Now I get it. We see detail we never saw before obviously, but it's more than that. Even if the colors are off a bit, we can still learn more. I guess I got a little peeved when I saw the Union dead at Gburg colored as if they were Rebs for the same reason we get mad at bad impressions - lack of research :)

[John Gibson Parkhurst]

Re: Colorized Civil War Images

Sometimes this can be a taboo thing. But I love the idea. I've been working on several images. Here's one of Champ Ferguson with his guard (whom I believe is Louis E. Springsteen, Company C, 9th Michigan Infantry). Though Springsteen was a 1st Sergeant as of 5 February 1865 and this guard does not have any chevrons on his uniform, the photograph is a copy of auction that is also in a lot of images within the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan.


What does everyone think? I'll be working on Ferguson next.