A young pre-hollywood Ava Gardner (1922 - 1990), colorized from a 1941 photo

Colorized a photo of the young Ava Gardner taken by photographer Larry Tarr in 1940 when she was just 19 years old. Gardner was visiting her sister Beatrice in New York , when Beatrice's husband Larry Tarr, a professional photographer, offered to take her portrait. He was so pleased with the results that he displayed the finished product in the front window of his Tarr Photography Studio on Fifth Avenue.  MGM talent scout Barnard Duhan spotted Gardner's photo in Tarr's studio and commented to him that the photo should be sent to MGM. Tarr did so immediately and shortly after, Ava who was a student at Atlantic Christian College was interviewed at MGM's New York office by Al Altman, head of MGM's New York talent department. The rest is, as they say, is history.

Ava Gardner 1963 Colorized from 55 Days in Peking

From just being colorized, I took the easier route and composited some ostrich feathers from the net into the head gear. Then used some Photoshop brush strokes on the background. An emerald earning was added and some camera flare to top it off.

Another colorized image at a different angle from the same film 55 Days in Peking, also stylized