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Artist Colorizes 30 Old Photos, And It Might Change The Way You Perceive History
Interview With Artist
Keeping memories alive can be done in many ways, but photographs are probably one of the most common ones. Photos capture a moment in history, memory and serve as a reminder of how it used to be. However, really old photographs are in black and white, so it's often hard to relate to them and see yourself in that time.
That's where digital artist Sébastien de Oliveira comes in. Sébastien uses Photoshop to color old photographs and give them more life. The people in the photos look much more realistic and the pictures become so much more inviting.
Sébastien told Bored Panda: "Sébastien de Oliveira, French, father Portuguese and mother French, I live in Paris, married, two daughters. For my background, I studied in a school of fine art in Orléans, with my specialization in illustration and photography, then I moved to Milan where I lived for 7 years and worked as an illustrator for architects and as an assistant for a fashion illustrator. I moved to Paris 17 years ago to become a retoucher for the fashion industry."
More info: Instagram
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#1
GoddessOdd 4 years ago
I seem to remember fabric almost identical to this in an old quilt I had. My grandmother would have pieced it together from old dresses and shirts from my aunts and uncles. The colors of the plaid were almost exactly the same, down to the little yellow stripes
Marie Peckham 4 years ago
I love this coloured version. It looks very modern, except for his hair . This was after the war when couples were marrying and buying a home. Could be an advertisement for that.
"I began 5 years ago to colorize some images and it became unstoppable. My three passions can combine themselves in colorization: painting, photography, and history. I spend lots of time finding images that tell a story. After spending some time on WW1 and WW2 images, now I am more interested in simple street views or peaceful 'tranche de vie' (pieces of everyday life) or colorizing portraits of actors from the golden age of Hollywood. I like to get into all the details that can be found in a photo and try to give my own interpretation."
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#2
Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
The woman lighting a cigarette has SUCH strong arms. I wonder if she works on the trapeze.
A B C 4 years ago
The one in the front with the polka dot shirt is ahead of her time, she looks SOOOOO 50s (and it suits her)
Tamika Love 4 years ago
It’s is 1949, fashion is usually a gradual shift so it makes sense
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Marie Peckham 4 years ago
Yes the coloured version is much more dramatic. Even the posters look more interesting in colour.
#3
NOLAHusker 4 years ago
Wow. I was in Blue Island a few months ago. Don’t recognize this theatre, though.
Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
How does he know it is the Senise family? (Maybe their names were written on the back of the photo?)
Mark Karol-Chik 4 years ago
I am bringing back style to how I dress every day. My goal is button don shirts, clean and sharp Lev's, lace-up shoes, only Converse high tops, and shorts during hot days.
Mishimoqua 4 years ago
Jack Delano besides being a photographer, he was a composer and he lived and died in Puerto Rico. He was a really great guy
"I collect old color photos as references to inspire me and to avoid anachronisms, but my colorizations are more a dreamed version of the reality than a will to give the perfection of what would have been seen by a modern camera. My references are more the saturated colors of the cinema from the ’50s, or the Autochromes of the Lumière brothers, where the color is more impressionist than realistic. I recently worked for the Vuitton book Extraordinary Voyages, where 20 colorizations were published. I mounted an exhibition in Dunkirk with 40 colorizations of photos of a woman photographer from the town during the German Occupation in WW2. I began to share my work only 3 months ago on Instagram and already have encountered really good feedback."
#4
Marie Peckham 4 years ago
The photo comes alive with colour and reminds me of the film The Sting. I almost expect Robert Redford and Paul Newman to appear any minute!
#5
Scott Baysinger 4 years ago
This is her personal Northrop Gamma, which she successfully raced. Howard Hughes wanted to buy it but she refused. She leased it instead!
Scott Baysinger 4 years ago
A remarkable aviatrix and leader. So much more than the famous Earhart.
Sébastien de Oliveira told us why he colorizes photos and how he got into it: "At the beginning, it was my hobby, but it is becoming a big part of my activity now, I am a photo retoucher and I work for the fashion industry in Paris. I have a background in Fine Arts studies so I paint and I take photos. My other passion was history, so I found a way to combine my three passions in one."
#6
Mongoose Jones 4 years ago
I THINK this is Althea Gibbs the first great female Black tennis champion.
A B C 4 years ago
Except for a minor variation the surname (Gibson instead of Gibbs), that's exactly what the title says...!?
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#7
A B C 4 years ago
I know, don't you just love it when your salad tastes like coated in tar and ash?
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Miss Cris 4 years ago (edited)
She was always with very much older than her men.
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Christopher Walkies 4 years ago
This is a photo of someone with salad in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. Only Hepburn could pull that off.
Robert Levinson 1 year ago
Smoking? Thank heavens AND the Feds for forcing the posting of it’s lethal danger.
The artist shares the most difficult part of colorizing photos: "I have a method so all the different stages are under control and not really difficult by themselves but the most difficult is always to choose a color for people's clothing, because of the immensity of choice."
#8
Sébastien shared his favorite and least favorite time periods to work with: "I love the street views from the ’40s and ’50s with rounded cars and people wearing costumes, it is always so cinematographic! My favorite time period is the American ’40s and I don’t know why, but I like that era for the lack of plastic, the beauty of the cars and clothes, and the link it makes with the cinema of this period. My least favorite would be the beginning of the century 1900, you never know how to color the people's clothes!"
#10
Marie Peckham 4 years ago
Life was tough for this family by the look of it. It does remind me of the photos taken in the 1930's when the Dust Bowl happened. Look at the mother she looks worn out ....they probably live and sleep in that vehicle.
Holly Hofmann 4 years ago
The red-headed kid has seen things... things you don't wanna know about
Robert Levinson 1 year ago
Look at the tortured soul of the boy sitting on the running board. Crushing
#11
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago
I wonder what her story is and where baby could still be well alive!!
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago
Why doesn't she have a pram? How is she getting around with that baby in such a huge basket? At least get a luggage cart. It's hard enough getting around with kids these days. I can't imagine what a nightmare it must have been back then
"I started these colorizations 5 years ago and don't want to stop any time soon. I inspire myself with old color photos, autochromes, cinema pictures from the past, so my style is quite saturated, with vivid colors. My research is not realism, it is more pictural, impressionist, the subjects are often happy and peaceful. What also inspires me is the immensity of the black and white photos, great photos, beautiful photos, that are fantastic as they are but can also get rediscovered with the process of colorization."
#12
Wilf 4 years ago
It's a fairly famous photo taken in summer 1940 in Southern England. The British army had retreated from Dunkirk and was anticipating a German invasion. It was part of a series of photos used in the British press to make it appear that life was going on as normal and people shouldn't fear an invasion attempt.
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Marie Peckham 4 years ago
I remember my mother saying they put barbed wire around the beaches in Wales where she lived, people were not allowed on the beach, I think some may have been mined.
Seán Baron 4 years ago
It long after this photo was taken, all the beaches ended up being closed to public use. Which in turn helped a wading bird - the Avocet - re-establish itself as a British bird as it had been hunted until it no longer existed in the UK sometime in the mid 19th Century. What with all the horror on the European coastline, a group of Avocets basically reintroduced themselves to British beaches. Clever.
Me 4 years ago
I could think of worse places for a soldier to be during a war.
Load More Replies... Robert Levinson 1 year ago
PLEASE. What the F is this supposed to be, British beaches during WW II?
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago
Yet some still tried to live as normally as they could despite the barriers in WW2 times. The caught fabric on the wire?
Robert T 4 years ago
A rifle is only any use if you have amunition for it. Well you could use it as a club, but a pointy stabby thing on the end is much more effective. Plus it gives you something to open tins of beans with.
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#13
Jane Considine 4 years ago
He is actually from Pittsburgh, so that could a happened, lol.
Load More Replies...Sébastien gives advice to people who want to colorize pictures as well: "My advice would be to observe the reality, the light, the reflections, the effects and interaction of the colors in the real life to collect old color photos from the past and use them as references, but also open your eyes to the painters that have already done this work and transposed it in their paintings."
#14
Robert T 4 years ago
Intrigued as to what the metal band is between them. You can see the tyre and innertube and the wheel rim is still on the car behind them. I run innertubes on wire wheels on my classic (which is probably 30-40 years younger than this) and the tyre goes straight on the rim.
jk nbt 4 years ago
its the wheel... the innertube goes on with the outer tire... then air up the innertube to make everything tight. then back on the car
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Howard Moody 4 years ago
Should not be colorized. This is like a scene from "The Grapes of Wrath". It's power lies in the stark black and white.
A B C 4 years ago
Then just don't look at the colorised version, but let us enjoy it.
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Evelyn Petisce 4 years ago
This reminds me of the scene in A Christmas Story when they got a flat and Ralphie said the "F" word.
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago (edited)
I wonder how she came across them to take this photo? The dad looks to have the situation in hand but not too pleased at the prospect.
Dorothy Parker 4 years ago (edited)
The original image evokes the Joads. The second isn't dusty enough.
#15
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago
How shiny and clean the cars are( maybe the ute is from out of town or a tradies):+}
Sébastien shares what he looks for in a photo before deciding what to colorize: "I look for a story to tell, like a moment of a movie, and also a good composition, but also a good definition because the better the definition is, the more beautiful the colorization will be."
#16
A B C 4 years ago (edited)
Awwww, thanks for pointing that out, I would have missed it
Load More Replies... D S 4 years ago (edited)
The top right corner table with the girl in red... what were they talking about? Everyone is so focused on the girl that they´re the only table where no one is looking away to see the commotion happening near them.
D S 4 years ago (edited)
This is my favourite photo here so far btw. It´s such a bland picture before when compared to the colorized version. The colours, the set, the expressions,... everything pops up and it´s like they´re coming alive.
Load More Replies... Marie Peckham 4 years ago
I like the colourised version. Central Park cafe - maybe that's where the dogs have been walking and are being made a fuss of by the sailors. Great photo and love the angle its been shot from too, lots of things happening and we watch as it all unfolds.
Dorothy Parker 4 years ago
In the original you see it as a whole. The colorful image may have been framed differently or composed in a different way because there is no focal point, no place for the eye to rest.
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago
I don't know why, but I am surprised to see the women in such brightly colored clothing. It's very pretty!
Miss Cris 4 years ago
Yes! I'm sure they wore other colours but I like these.
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Marie Peckham 4 years ago
Caught in time, the girl is not too keen on that fish being waived in front of her! Fashions of the early 60's can be seen in that pretty rubber bathing hat also.
matthew owen 4 years ago
She's just topless, only Americans are obsessed with hiding bodies.
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the redqueen 4 years ago
Yep, those bend over girls-fallin out- peek a boo- boobies that he saw growing up as a child drove him to have a heart of coal, and run around slashing people with a chainsaw. That's why, today, schools have dress codes, can't have any shoulder popping out...too much skin.( ha ha it's always the woman's fault that the man can't control himself, makes you wonder what Ted Bundy saw...But it's never the men's fault. *cough cough bull$#it*)
Load More Replies...The artist tells us more about himself: "I come from the French countryside near Chartres, completed art studies in Orléans, I moved to Milan and lived there for 7 years. I found my future wife there and we moved to Paris. I now have two daughters. I worked as an illustrator for architects, assistant of a fashion illustrator and now as a photo retoucher. I would be pleased if I could do colorization as my main activity!"
#18
-michael_the_trans_demon- 4 years ago
Same. The girl in the back doesn't entirely look like she enjoys the guy's company...
Load More Replies... Ella Blackwood 4 years ago
Sailors always creep me out. My grandfather's sister was murdered by one. He tried to seduce her and she trusted him but he killed her instead
Hot Babushka 4 years ago
that's horrible, i'm so sorry for your and your family's loss... and now looking at the picture the sailor in the back with the girl in the blue and white dress looks kinda predatory
Load More Replies... Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
I had never heard of Marjory Collins before this list! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjory_Collins
Marie Peckham 4 years ago
I hadn't heard of Marjorie Collins before seeing this photo. I like the way she has caught the moment in this bar. The use of colour has brought it to life, even the green walls and darkish interior of the bar.
Cranky Pants 4 years ago
I dont think these were “their” girls. Most likely just women they met while on leave.
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Jennifer Hargett 4 years ago
OK, so I see here that D.C. traffic has always been insanely congested.
Crochet lady 4 years ago
Is this possibly Washington state? Not sure DC had trolleys. I don't remember ever seeing any but I was also a young child at the time.
Load More Replies... Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago
So busy . No marked pedestrian crossings then?Love the dark blue Silver Cloud (?) Rolls Royce
"I worked recently for a Vuitton Book 'Extraordinaries voyages' where 20 colorizations were published and for Oppo and Getty Images for collaboration with Wimbledon, where 9 images were produced. I have done already 4 different exhibitions, the most important was in Dunkirk where 40 colorizations were shown. The project was colorizing images from a woman photographer called Adeline Debaene-Kiscoms who photographed her city Dunkirk and the habitats during the German occupation of WW2."
#20
Seán Baron 4 years ago
Also, Eve Arnold, is an incredible photographer. I saw an exhibition of hers a few years ago and it was incredible.
Seán Baron 4 years ago
This was the last completed film that would star Marilyn, Clarke and Cliff. As for her being a diva, yeah maybe, but everyone was, even the men. Clarke Gable may have had initial doubts about filming with Marilyn Monroe on this, but he ended up being really impressed with her acting ability. He became very protective of her by the time the film wrapped up. As for her death, well that is suspicious as hell. All sorts of inconsistencies.
Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
she was addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs by this time, using them heavily, and would die a year and a half later.
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#21
Marie Peckham 4 years ago
I like the coloured version, and the way the posters come to life because of that use of colour. Grace Kelly is in the poster on the left, wonder if she posed with all these sun bathing girls?
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago
So much beauty that may never have made the screen. Same as today. Still luck of who you know I reckon..:+}
Jo Falkinder 4 years ago
So the idea was to just parade the actresses around in small amounts of clothing rather than try to sell the film? Sounds about right
Miss Cris 4 years ago
I like the coloues choosen for towels and bath suits, knowing that they probably were very different!
Katrina O'Connor 4 years ago
A computer program is usually used to interpret colour from greyscale, especially if extant items can be used to pick a colour from (e.g. from the posters) Then manual tweaking can be done for hue and saturation.
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#22
Csaba Hegedűs 4 years ago
When you come home from war after three years to see your one year old daughter :P
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago
Beautiful elegant mother and a baby yet to recognise her dad...The wistful gaze of the man in the train what was he thinking?
#23
Marie Peckham 4 years ago
I like the colour version. Loving this crowd photograph and the colour makes it live!
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago
Everyone dressed so nicely back then. Even for casual events and even if they weren't wealthy.
GoddessOdd 4 years ago
They always look so stylish, even elegant, in their chic ensembles and matching hats. When I was a toddler, I can remember that my mom didn't leave the house without a hat and sometimes gloves, and that was more than 20 years after this photo. I don't know that I would want to be as repressed as they were, and I would probably quickly learn to hate having to dress this way, if this kind of style ever comes back again, but they sure look great, don't they? I think sweat pants are here to stay though.
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago
Reminds me of the school regatta times in Sydney on the Nepean River. Was all sat on the grass overlooking the river as we cheered our rowers on.
#24
Marie Peckham 4 years ago
Love this colourised version, and the picnic food - all real plates and no plastic in sight!
Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
Beautiful Photograph. Had never heard of this photographer before https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Post_Wolcott
Mark Karol-Chik 4 years ago
Judging by that guy's hands and forearms, I bet he was a mechanic.
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago
Could be any decade still, with her hippie style and his outfit!! I wonder if they are still alive?
Anne Gillingham 3 years ago
My magic 8 ball says almost certainly deceased.
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#25
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago
Some can't spell Humphrey LOL an iconic photo when movies were movies...not just repetitions of life.
Mosheh Wolf 4 years ago
Bogart was standing on a box or something, since he was an inch shorter than Bergman
#26
#27
Nadine Lynch 4 years ago
Still in the Great Depression. Probably no jobs.
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Chrissie Mörbe 4 years ago
That totally looks like a street corner in Blackwater from Red Dead Redemption 2 - the cars would be horses, though.
Cybele Spanjaard 4 years ago (edited)
Old men and attitude..and a blonde tiny tot..... all opposites..One might thinks the men in the rear were looking at their cell phones LOL
#28
Cranky Pants 4 years ago
Unlike at the end of the Vietnam war when the soldiers were treated horribly
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Marie Peckham 4 years ago
I like the fashions of the girls. Wartime fashion, making things from materials that one had and often re-used still really smart though.
#29
#30
Marie Peckham 4 years ago
Somehow the coloured version of this photo is more real. They all look exhausted poor guys.
Dave P 4 years ago
well this is their break from combat, so I Imagine they are tired
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-michael_the_trans_demon- 4 years ago
The sad thing is that I didn't notice...
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QuotedPrawn7490 4 years ago
Did the French soldiers have red on their uniforms during wwi? I know they didn't by wwii and don't remember what their Napoleonic colors were
Paul Pallansch 4 years ago
The early uniforms had bright red pants and red caps. The French army had already authorized the " bleu horizon" color for the new uniforms, but the war started before enough could be produced to make a significant change. It wasn't until spring of 1915 the troops generally wore the light blue uniform. The argument made for this color was that it blended better with the sky over an open field.
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#31
D S 4 years ago (edited)
Probably training how to help someone not drown and to drag them out of the water (I might be wrong but the maneuver looks like the one we were taught to save people from drowning)
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#32
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago (edited)
Yep. No good. They have bad news written all over them.
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#33
#34
Giles McArdell 4 years ago
These men would rather play with their balls than watch a beautiful dancer.
Tiny Dynamine 4 years ago
She seems more than happy to watch them do that.
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#35
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#39
Ella Blackwood 4 years ago
They really do. They even look too old for college.
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#48
Nora12 4 years ago
This is more than colorized, people have been added, where did the policeman or couple in front come from?
Arden Rain 4 years ago
I'm guessing they probably found several photos, and chose that one
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Joel Moore 4 years ago
Photoshopped. Look at the woman with the umbrella behind the cop. No change between the two photos.
#50
Anne Gillingham 3 years ago
Some did but the purples are questionable. The 1940's color palate was brick red, seafoam green, a neutral baby blue, a couple of earth tones, dusky roses, a couple of beiges and an off-white. Funky purples were edgy in the 60's and 70's and went into full force and effect in the 80's.
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Suzanne Clark 4 years ago
Some of the colors are a bit questionable: I never saw saddle shoes with that shade of blue and based on the older women I knew (as a kid), not one of them would have been caught in purple pumps.
D S 4 years ago
It´ll probably vary from the process the person used to colorize the photos and they might´ve done it differently but most people use a shade they know was a certain colour (i.e grass, sky, uniforms, buildings, etc) and then they process the other colours based on that and based on the slight differences of the grey-ish tones.
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Sarcastic Cow 4 years ago (edited)
Besides the fashion, this looks like some photo from the eastern bloc from the 70's
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GFSTaylor 4 years ago
I'm torn on these. I know some people find it easier to relate to images from the past if they see them in colour. It is a valuable reminder that the past was just as colourful as the present, not not literally sepia-toned. But it's easy to overcompensate. I feel the colours in these particular images are just a shade too intense. They look a little stylised, as though put through an instagram filter. And colourizing black and white movies is wrong. Those films were lit and composed to work in black and white. Adding colour loses the true beauty. If possible, try to see at least one black and white movie in the cinema, rather than on TV. No TV can ever reproduce the look of film on screen - you'll see why it's called the Silver Screen.
Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
I prefer the black and white---but it's interesting to see what they might have looked like and he did a good job. He's not ruining any of these photos (I believe)because he's not colourizing originals. Many of these are famous, published photos. That said, I feel the same as you do about black and white films--they should never be colourized.
Load More Replies... Tara 4 years ago
What strikes me is how 'in shape' everyone is, at least compared to today's standards. Interesting how much the us population has changed
Gabby M 4 years ago
Well, also consider that the photographers likely wanted to photo people who were young and attractive, according to society's standards. Notice how there aren't many old people either.
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Avocadorable 4 years ago
I feel like these images help make history more real. Making these people and times more relatable, seeing how it may have looked through their eyes, not an old camera.
Howard Moody 4 years ago
This was definitely one of the best articles of the last few days. I love old photos.
Hannah Edwards 4 years ago
I really enjoyed looking at these, especially the fashion! would be nice to know where and when they were taken.
Davis the Greatest 4 years ago
They look so much more real in color, much like smartphone photos
GFSTaylor 4 years ago
I'm torn on these. I know some people find it easier to relate to images from the past if they see them in colour. It is a valuable reminder that the past was just as colourful as the present, not not literally sepia-toned. But it's easy to overcompensate. I feel the colours in these particular images are just a shade too intense. They look a little stylised, as though put through an instagram filter. And colourizing black and white movies is wrong. Those films were lit and composed to work in black and white. Adding colour loses the true beauty. If possible, try to see at least one black and white movie in the cinema, rather than on TV. No TV can ever reproduce the look of film on screen - you'll see why it's called the Silver Screen.
Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
I prefer the black and white---but it's interesting to see what they might have looked like and he did a good job. He's not ruining any of these photos (I believe)because he's not colourizing originals. Many of these are famous, published photos. That said, I feel the same as you do about black and white films--they should never be colourized.
Load More Replies... Tara 4 years ago
What strikes me is how 'in shape' everyone is, at least compared to today's standards. Interesting how much the us population has changed
Gabby M 4 years ago
Well, also consider that the photographers likely wanted to photo people who were young and attractive, according to society's standards. Notice how there aren't many old people either.
Load More Replies... Avocadorable 4 years ago
I feel like these images help make history more real. Making these people and times more relatable, seeing how it may have looked through their eyes, not an old camera.
Howard Moody 4 years ago
This was definitely one of the best articles of the last few days. I love old photos.
Hannah Edwards 4 years ago
I really enjoyed looking at these, especially the fashion! would be nice to know where and when they were taken.
Davis the Greatest 4 years ago
They look so much more real in color, much like smartphone photos
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