Colorized JFK & Jackie

A colorized tandem studio photo of JFK and Jackie presumably during their first years in the White House. The original has sever moire patterns when enlarged, requiring some smoothing both before and after colorizing.  Again, some liberties and guesswork were used on their clothes and the background.

Coloized JFK & Jackie as Newly Weds 1953

Here;s a colorized JFK and Jackie on their wedding day at the Kennedy estate in Newport, Rhode Island in Sept 12,1953 just a few months after John gifted Jackie with a 2.88ct diamond engagement ring from Van Cleef & Arpels.

Someone pointed out the month of the wedding was September when the leaves and the grass start to yellow. Did a slight modification on the JFK-Jackie wedding day colorization to make the grass a bit yellowed from the earlier colorization I made below.

Colorized John F. Kennedy

Used some liberties to make the background more colorful with my colorized version of JFK.

Colorized Joan Crawford 1945 Mildred Pierce

Here is a colorized Joan Crawford for a photo promoting her 1945 Mildred Pierce. Joan and her eyebrows left MGM for Warner Bros, home of Bette Davis, in 1943, desperately wanting to play the title role of a suffering mother in Mildred Pierce The movie was originally offered to Bette Davis who turned it down Joan got the role and won her first Oscar for best actress in that movie to the chagrin of Bette who already had two Oscars for Jezebel (1938) and Dangerous (1935).



Interesting to note that Joan Crawford feigned illness and absented herself from the 1946 Academy Award ceremony, fearing that she would lose to Ingrid Bergman for The Bells of St. Mary’s. After learning that she had won, Joan applied her makeup and invited the press into her bedroom as she accepted her Oscar in bed.

Colorized Joan Crawford & Clark Gable in 1931 Possessed

Acclaimed as one of the most electrifying love teams of all time, here are Joan Crawford & Clark Gable (minus the moustache), colorized for their promotional stills in the 1931 film "Possessed" Joan would star opposite Clark in 8 movies between 1931 and 1940, the most of any actress, and fueled rumors that they were having extramarital affairs with each other, but they remained just good friends. (Never mind that Clark did screw every leading lady he appeared with.) After Clark's wife Carole Lombard died in a 1942 plane crash, Joan took her place in the move "They all Kissed The Bride" and Clark went on to serve the US Military throughout the rest of WWII justr to get his mind off his tragedy.

Colorized Joan Crawford in 1935 No MoreLadies

The early-mid 1930s saw Joan Crawfor at the height of her popularity as among the most sought after actresses along with Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer and Jean Harlow. This is a colorized promotional still of the screen legend for her 135 film "No More Ladies with Robert Montgomery. Based on a stage play, the movie was a modest success but was panned by many critics. At around this time, Joan had already appeared 6 times with Clark Gable, the most of any actress, creating what was the most electric couple in early movie history, eclipsing the tandem of Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in the late 20s.

Colorized Joan Crawford c1935

Colorized a portrait of the screen legend Joan Crawford in her early Hollywood career that competed directly with Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow.

Colorized Joan Crawford 1964

Aggressive colors for a strong-willed fiery actress and a former CEO of PepsiCola - Joan Crawford (1905 - 1977). Her journey from dancer to Hollywood star was a class act from obscurity in depression USA to one of the highest paid actresses competing with Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, etc. of the 30s. Spanning a 4-decade career, she was declared at least twice as box-office poison and each time making a triumphant re-entry.

This is my colorized take of 59 or 60-year old Crawford taken in 1964, 2 years after her critically acclaimed tandem with long time arch-rival Bette Davies in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" her last career resurgence at a time when actresses her age were already consigned to history.

Colorized Young Montgomery Clift c1936

Some old Hollywood stuff. Here's the young Montgomery Clift (1920 - 1966), taken in his late teens. Considered one of the most handsome actors to grace the screen, he was often paired with Elizabeth Taylor (Raintree Country, A Place in the Sun & Suddenly Last Summer) to create the loveliest couple on earth in the late 50s. Critically acclaimed in nearly all the pictures he starred and nominated 4 times in the Oscars for best actor, he was regarded by critics as the only one who directly competed against Marlon Brando as the most sought after leading man in the 50s. With his highly praised method acting, and his meticulous choice of roles, Elizabeth Taylor once said that had he lived longer, Montgomery Clift could have been the greatest actor of all time.

Colorized Vintage Cleo de Merode 1903

Here is another colorized vintage portrait of the famed French ballerina Celo de Merode (1875 - 1966) taken in 1903. A specimen of natural beauty with a rather pedestrian coiffure and unadorned by any piece of jewelry.

Colorized Senator Wetmore & Wife in a Horseless Carriage c1906

This is a colorized vintage photo of a US Senator and his wife riding a Krieger Electric Landaulet (referred to as a "horseless carriage") dated 1906.  Significant guesswork went into the colorization, covering the color of the vehicle, the time of the year, with autumn colors preferred, and the colors of the cloths of the people depicted.

Colorized Native America Indian Chief Porcupine

The state of vintage photos of Philippine tribes is just deplorable. There is not much you can find online. And about the only ones worth colorizing are actually in the US Library of Congress. How about that? In trying to find one, I stumbled again on a large vintage scan (2200 pixels) of an American Indian who went by the name of Porcupine (ends not as pine as in pine cone, but peenee as in itsy bitsy teeny weenie) from the US Library of Congress.  Colorized in two flavours.

Colorized Young Bagobo Warrior of Southern Philippines c1920s

This is a vintage portrait of a young Bagobo warrior of Southern Philippines taken in early part of the 20th century.  Not much else is known.  There are just too few online vintage photos of Philippine ethnic groups good enough to colorize. Stumbled on this one from a foreign Pinterest page.

Colorized_Igorot at Papatayan, Malegoking, Bontoc, Phils, circa 1949

An ethnic scene of an Igorot overlooking the mountaina of the Cordilleras in the Bontoc Province of Northern Philippines. The is presumably a photograph of the Filipino-Spanish photographer Eduardo Masferre taken in 1949. Extesive creative liberties were made to use setting sun (or a rising sun) behind the mountain where the original hinted at a cloudy vista.

Colorized Vintage Young Beauty IV

Another anonymous young beauty colorized from her vintage portrait circa 1900s.  If anyone knows her name, please let me know.

Colorized Vintage Portrait of Cleo de Merode (1875-1966)

Another colorized vintage dark beauty (dark as in darkly photographed), a deadringer for the young Isabella Rosellini, daughter of the late Ingrid Bergman,. This time, someone quite popular during her time - the French Ballet Dancer Cleo De Merode (1875 - 1966) taken in 1903 . She was more known for her legendary beauty than dancing skills and at 22 became the mistress of 61-year old Belgian King Leopold II after attending one of her ballet performances. The model of choice among painters, sculptors and photographers (considered the most photographed woman during her prime) she was the first elite ballerina to dance with the Follies Bergere creating a sensation and a more modern following.

I made extensive creative liberties as you can see in the comparative. I threw out historic accuracy to get the outcome I want. In the first place, I have no information on her eyes and hair color.as the online sources I visited didn't have them (No problem as I can alter this when I have the information.) As it is, black hair and blue eyes are rare among peoples, but they do exist mostly in northern Europe. (Elizabeth Taylor who was British by birth, had raven hair and violet eyes. and was an example of a rare DNA mix.).

Her jewelry was a bit pathetic so I composited one from an online gold chain file. I added a rear bun on her head just to echo the red on her blouse which was also composited from a red mink coat. Her eyelashes which were only hinted at in the original were further detailed.

Colorized_Students of a Catholic school w dog circa 1900s

For my Lenten retreat - I colorized a vintage class picture in a Catholic school taken around the turn of the 20th century, along with the nuns and a few teachers. (Plus a dog said to follow one of the students to school and wait outside patiently and then followed her or him again back home every day.)

51 people and a dog to colorize in 3 days, a Hail Mary for each one to complete the 5 decades, give another 2.

I like the unstructured and very casual arrangement of the people in the lineup, even as the nuns so placed created symmetry.. So relaxed, unlike the class pictures I had in high school where the arrangement was stiff.

Colorized Vintage Portrait of Cissy Fitzgerald c1910

I came across this decently preserved vintage of a smiling woman which is rare considering that most vintage portraits often have serious looks.(http://petapixel.com/2016/03/12/video-people-never-smiled-old-photos/)  This is a portrait of a certain Cissy Fitzgerald sporting a full smile. And it's not a contrived smile, showing an imperfect but healthy set of front dentures that was also rare at a time when fluoride toothpaste has yet to be marketed.


I couldn't make out the flowers on her hat which was hinted only by an outline as I colorized the leaves. So I just guessed and composited a couple of white carnations from another file.

Colorized Fitz Guerin's Lady Libertine 1902

At the other extreme, this vintage portrait invites some gay abandon in colorization thanks to a riotous background and a woman who looks like a Gypsy minus the usual trinkets and the dieting. The vintage photo is from a post-American Civil War veteran Fitz Guerin who took up photography after the war. It was titled "Lady Libertine" one of his so-called metaphorical maidens taken in 1902, just a year before he died. I have no idea what the metaphor was about, but the vintage photo is well-preserved as an excellent specimen for colorization.

This portrait shows a very healthy woman puffing cigarette at a time when the habit was considered unlady-like. (While cigarettes had been hand-rolled even before the civil war, the first commercial mass produced cigarettes appeared in 1881 and cigarette smoking was first advertised for women in 1920). And what is that on her right hand? Looks like an Amarula or a Bailey's Irish cream liquor coffee, one of my favorite beverages that I can no longer afford. With 18% alcohol content, liqueur is stronger than champaigne with just 12% alcohol. This lady certainly knew how to be drunk in style though cheaper. However, It has to be an earlier version, since neither the Amarula nor Bailey's existed prior to 1970.

Fitz Guerin's Lady Libertine is one of the few vintage photos where I have 3 colorized versions. Colorization may be the only luxury I have today when I don't have to decide and make a choice. I just do what I like in as many versions. Well, I lied. I did have to decide that 3 was enough. There are several more colors and I am sure other colorists will have other ideas. Here are the two other more aggressive (garish) variants.

Colorized Vintage Young Beauty III

Colorizing can often bring the subject to stand out using subtle colors in the clothes or background. The vintage photo itself suggest what colors to use.  Here is a colorized vintage portrait of an unnamed beauty circa 1900s where pastel hues in the dress is a natural choice.  I used off-white with a slight greenish hue (may not be apparent depending on how your monitor is calibrated).  Used a little creative liberty to put on an eyeshadow.  There have been colorized renditions of similar subjects using faded colors to retain the vintage look. It is not the same thing.  I don't subscribe to the philosophy of retaining the vintage look in colorizing. Like I said elsewhere in this blog, colorization is not about restoring.  It is not about the photo.  It is about re-creating a real-world scenario behind the photo.

Colorized Vintage Beauties I & II

A little erotic subject for a change. Came across this lovely specimen of the female persuasion that simply refused to be glossed over. Her sensuous youthful innocence represents precisely a lost irreplaceable period in time. I saw no specific name in the vintage file, nor in the site, simply referring to the photo as that of an unnamed beauty circa 1890s. Could be a stage actress. Doesn't really matter, she is timeless beauty personified. And now colorized.

Sometimes a vintage b&w registration gives a strong hint it has no place for subtleties. This one cried out for a little aggressive coloring. Some would call it garish colors. (garish as in red, lavender, fuchsia, and green, the kind you would expect Batman's arch nemesis Joker to wear.) But her aggressive beauty requires it. I went with dark hair with dark green eyes this time. Again, this is another unnamed beauty from late 19th or early 20th century.