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3000 Hours Later, Here Are 102 Old Black & White Photos Of Famous People That I Colorized
Hi, my name is Mario Unger, I'm a photographer and digital artist from Austria. Last year my main work was restoring and colorizing old photographs. In this post I show some of my favorites.
The reason for doing all of this work was to reduce the felt distance in time a little bit. I love B&W photography, but for some images I think, color is needed and most of B&W photography was done for one reason, there just was no color film!
If you want to see more, please follow me on social media.
More info: unarts.at | Instagram | Facebook
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Albert Einstein
Final score:
173points
RELATED:
#2
Mulberry Street, New York, 1900
Final score:
148points
Ladies and Gentlemen 7 years ago
Man.. this one would have taken ages to achieve this perfection!
#3
Adrienne Ames ("From Hell To Heaven", 1933)
Final score:
146points
#4
Walter Catty Allen CA 1900
Final score:
139points
#5
Maud Wagner CA 1905
Final score:
139points
Emma Jayne 7 years ago (edited)
Her name was Maud Wagner, she was the first known female tattoo artist in U.S.
#6
Grace Kelly
Final score:
131points
#9
Texas Couple, Early 20th Century, Heavy Restoration
Final score:
128points
#10
Evelyn Nesbit CA 1900
Final score:
118points
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
Why is her hair blonde? Evelyn Nesbit famously had very dark auburn hair. There are a number of photographs of her in which the harsh lighting makes it look as if her hair is lighter than it actually was, but she was ever blonde!
besides, if you look at another image from the same series, of her posing as "Thisbe", you will see her hair is definitely dark: large.jpg 
#12
Oscar Wilde
Final score:
94points
Rich Auntie Skeleton 7 years ago (edited)
Oscar Wilde would be the King of Instagram if he were alive today. You all know it.
#16
In Honor Of A Great Person. Sophia Magdalena Scholl (1921-1943). Executed 75 Years Ago By The Greatest Criminals Humanity Has Ever Seen
Final score:
86points
April Simnel 7 years ago
We could learn a lot today from these kids. Look at Sophie's face; she is absolutely down for the cause. They knew they could pay the ultimate penalty, yet they were willing to face that and do what was right in spite of that, God bless their souls.
#18
Greta Garbo
Final score:
80points
#19
Edmund Hillary, 1953
Final score:
79points
Ladies and Gentlemen 7 years ago
I refuse to believe its colored, but at the same time I know it is. You are one talented human sire!
#20
Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski
Final score:
73points
#22
Grace Kelly
Final score:
69points
#23
Tsar Nikolaus Ii
Final score:
68points
#24
Mark Twain, 1907
Final score:
66points
#25
"Arsenic And Old Lace", 1944
Final score:
64points
Elisabeth Blackwood 7 years ago
This movie is hilarious, if you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend it.
#27
Hellen Keller
Final score:
63points
#30
Arthur Conan Doyle, 1922
Final score:
58points
#31
Mary Badham And Gregory Peck In 'To Kill A Mockingbird' (1962)
Final score:
55points
#32
Babe Ruth CA 1920
Final score:
55points
Sheila Lovelace 7 years ago
He was a big smoker. Babe Ruth died from nasopharyngeal carcinoma in 1948.
#33
Silvia Sidney And Henry Fonda In "You Only Live Once" (1937)
Final score:
53points
Turnip and a Frog 7 years ago
Just a detali, really, but Fonda’s eyes were blue. But the whole selection is just fantastic :-)
#34
Victor Hugo, 1876
Final score:
53points
Destiny Rose 7 years ago
One of my favorite authors. His imagery and story-telling is incredible. He was a true literary artist.
#37
Louis And Grace
Final score:
49points
#38
Colley, Mrs. F. & Bell, Mrs. C.M. 1901
Final score:
48points
Rich Auntie Skeleton 7 years ago
I'mma say it. I know it was the style back in the day, and they look AWESOME, don't get me wrong. But something about them gives me a Harry Potter vibe.
#39
Grace Kelly With Robert Cummings, Famous Bruegel Painting On The Wall
Final score:
47points
Mimis Nachbarin 7 years ago
That's quite an impressive work to make the dress that shiny green. Sehr beeindruckend.
#40
Heffner, Mrs. T.M. 1900
Final score:
45points
#41
Buffalo Bill, 1906
Final score:
45points
#42
Grace Kelly
Final score:
43points
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
Sorry, but that dress was actually yellow. She wore it in the 1956 film "High Society" which was shot in Technicolor: http://www.cinestylography.com/film-style-high-society-1956/
#44
Laurel & Hardy, 1933
Final score:
39points
rustic raven 7 years ago
Hey what are we suppose to do with these silly things now that I have pulled this piece out of it ? Hey I don't know what does NITRO mean to you ?
#46
Fridtjof Nansen
Final score:
38points
Mick Fowler 7 years ago
Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Brilliant work!
#50
Errol Flyn
Final score:
38points
#51
Toulouse Lautrec
Final score:
37points
Nadja Lambacher 7 years ago
I always adored his work. But like many artists he had a sad and lonely life. He thought he was unlovable because of his short stature.
#52
Julie Adams In "Creature From The Black Lagoon", 1954
Final score:
37points
#53
Margaret O'Brien (1937-) In "Lost Angel" (1943)
Final score:
36points
#54
Albert Einstein
Final score:
36points
Eric Spence 7 years ago
He was a perfectionist, prone to temper, and was so into his work as are a lot of geniuses nowadays.
#56
Greta Garbo
Final score:
35points
Mimis Nachbarin 7 years ago
Her eyes in the picture match beautifly the green of the emerald ring - but Greta Garbo was famous for her blue eyes. Nevertheless: amazing work.
#57
Walt Whitman CA 1860
Final score:
34points
#58
Kaiser Wilhelm II From Germany
Final score:
33points
#61
Punlun, 1870
Final score:
32points
Mimis Nachbarin 7 years ago
No. Pun Lun was the famous chinese fotographer who took that picture. The woman is one of his models. There are serveral pictures like that showing mother and and child.
#63
Ellen Terry At Age Sixteen, By Julia Margaret Cameron, 1864
Final score:
32points
#64
Crown Prince Rudolf Of Austria, 1889 (Year Of His Suicide)
Final score:
32points
#65
"Once Upon A Time", 1944
Final score:
32points
Connie Martin 7 years ago
James Gleason on the left. Wonderful character actor. Unforgettable voice.
#66
Old Tom Morris, 1867
Final score:
30points
#68
Franz Liszt, 1886
Final score:
30points
April Simnel 7 years ago
Well, this is a long way from Lisztomania! Would love to see a version of him as the young pianist and composer who made teenage girls and young women swoon.
#69
Marlon Brando As Marc Antony, 1953
Final score:
29points
#70
"Lotion" Tar Bishop
Final score:
29points
#73
Belcher Johnson By Olive Edis CA 1910
Final score:
28points
#75
Henry Ford, 1863-1947
Final score:
26points
Conni Robertson 7 years ago
"...In the Dearborn Independent, a local newspaper he bought in 1918, Ford published a number of anti-Semitic writings that were collected and published as a four volume set called The International Jew. Though he later renounced the writings and sold the paper, he expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and Germany, and in 1938 accepted the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the Nazi regime’s highest medal for a foreigner."https://www.history.com/topics/henry-ford
#77
Portrait Of The Photographer Dr. George Wharton James (1858-1923) CA 1908
Final score:
25points
#79
Charles Baudelaire, 1853
Final score:
25points
#81
Egon Schiele, 1914
Final score:
23points
#82
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 1893, Elephant Hunting, India
Final score:
22points
Zenozenobee 7 years ago
Stop downvoting this one. It also hurts me to see this poor animal with those "hunters" sitting on him as if he was nothing. But it's definitivly a good reason not to hide the pic ;) It won't erase what has been done. When you read that elephants are endangered because of poaching it could be fun if it wasn't so sad. The poachers are distoying what is left (and it's bad of course) from all those legal hunts that have lower the number of individual so drastically. Works for so many species. Hunting to eat is understable. Hunting to sit on a body to mean "Hey, I'm proud I killed this one" is not new, is a shame and shouldn't be hidden.
#84
Lewis (Powell) Payne Minutes Before He Was Executed, 1865. He Was A Conspirator In The Lincoln Assassination
Final score:
22points
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
No, that's not "minutes before he was executed", that's a photograph taken aboard USS Saugus by Alexander Gardner, on April 27, over two months before the actual execution, which took place on July 7, 1865.
#86
Walt Whitman, 1858
Final score:
21points
#87
Stewart Granger CA 1933
Final score:
21points
#88
C. M. Bell Jung CA 1865
Final score:
20points
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
I'm not quite sure what uniform this is, but it looks a lot like the service uniform of a Lieutenant of Marines around the 1880s rather than the 1860s. In which case the stripe on the trousers would be RED. The shoulder boards are ok. s-l1600.jpg 
#89
U.S.C.P. 60 Policeman CA 1890
Final score:
20points
#90
General Oglesby CA 1862
Final score:
20points
#91
Mercer Washington, Baseball Player, 1896
Final score:
19points
#92
US Civil War Admiral David Dixon Porter CA 1860
Final score:
18points
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
David Dixon Porter had dark hair and beard and the shoulder straps on his uniform were BLACK, not RED, which was the colour for the artillery! I get it you like to add a splash of colour here and there, but just making stuff whatever colour with no regard for context and authenticity, just makes this a half-assed effort at best.
#93
Chaplin And Sousa Not Exactly Fitting The Post, But Sousa Is Wearing A Uniform At Least
Final score:
18points
Alice Heitland 7 years ago
Alexandra Bucur, were you a time traveler and there for these pictures? Surely you must have a low opinion of yourself if you feel the need to tear apart every picture
#94
Thomas Wodrow Wilson, 1913 -1921
Final score:
17points
#96
German Naval Officer, WWI, CA 1915
Final score:
17points
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
I get it that you're from Austria, but the K.u.K uniform was completely different. This guy's a German, so the cap roundel should have been BLACK-WHITE-RED, because those were the state colours. As for the medals - from the right, the Württemberg "Order of Friedrichs" had a LIGHT BLUE ribbon, the Saxon "Order of Albrecht" had a GREEN ribbon and a GREEN wreath with a BLUE enamel medallion, the Bavarian "Royal Merit Order of St. Michael" has a PINK and BLUE ribbon and the medal itself is SILVER with BLUE enamel on the cross, the 1897 Prussian Kaiser Wilhelm Centennial Medal has a YELLOW ribbon, the Boxer Rebellion Medal ribbon is striped WHITE-BLACK-RED-YELLOW, the Herero Rebellion medal is BLACK-WHITE-RED, the Prussian 25-Year Long Service Cross has a BLUE ribbon, the Prussian Royal Order of the Crown has a LIGHT BLUE ribbon and medallion and the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle has an ORANGE-WHITE ribbon and the cross is silver, not gold.
#97
Roger Fenton As "Zuave", Crimean War, 1856
Final score:
16points
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
The French Zouaves very famously had RED trousers and it's something they kept until WW1! How can you even get this wrong?!? http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W_ceSTr5SwE/ULTGANAN88I/AAAAAAAAARA/AOisyLwBL8A/s1600/100_0942.JPG RaczynskiA...e.1858.jpg 
#98
Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
Final score:
15points
Kimberly Davis 4 years ago
I'm related to him. I can actually see a resemblance between Martin and my dad. 01c6e90a-e...bd0f27.jpg 
#100
Rasputin CA 1910
Final score:
15points
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
Come on, Rasputin with GREEN eyes, when everybody who met him commented on just how piercing the gaze of his BLUE eyes were? You made him look less like the madman mystic he was and more like he's stoned!
#101
Kaiser Franz Joseph, 1895. The Second To Last Austrian Emporer In His Military Uniform
Final score:
15points
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
His general uniform had two broad red stripes running down each pant leg: des-kaiser...formen.jpg 
The decorations are also a bit off, here is how they should have looked like: Galaunifor...seph_I.jpg 
#102
Gustav Mahler
Final score:
13points
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Devon Delzine 7 years ago
Great i think too much people here comments want perfect but they them selves need practice being perfect before stating it should be
Mark D 7 years ago
IKR? It was almost like “How fake! His mole was 16cm not 15cm”😂🤣😂🤔
Load More Replies...
Kenny Kulbiski 7 years ago
Enjoyed this very much. I have no idea how it's done but it seems it would be tedious and very difficult. I'm impressed.
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
Thank you. Yes it is a bit difficult, but with a lot of practice it is not :)
Load More Replies...
Bonnie Fullerton 7 years ago
These are astounding, I don’t care what your critic says. You bring these people vibrantly to life.
stellermatt 7 years ago
love them! here's one I did of Richard Pryor (I've also done a few of Marilyn Monroe...) rich-5b8f9...8647b3.jpg 
Steve Minino 7 years ago
@MarioUnger Great work! Crazy how critical ppl can be of the project, I think it's an artist at work and the representation is what your mind makes it. Cool process!
Ged Maybury 7 years ago
I'm pleased to see Edmund Hillary in your collection. I met him - just once. A true hero!
Edwin Lesperance 7 years ago
Mario Unger, your work is amazing! You are quite an artist! I was quite moved by many of your colorizations.
Nancy Massi 7 years ago
This is amazing work. There were some comments regarding eye or hair or dress color on some but the plain truth is you colored these beautifully.
Zeus Sampson 7 years ago
well done, I hope you get a shed load of money or whatever else it is you dream of for this
Chet Golik 7 years ago
Wonderful images Mario, thank you. I have tried colouring black and white images myself in Photoshop with limited success, nothing that comes even close to your images, but you have inspired me to try it again. Would you be willing to share your technique, or is there a article somewhere that could help me? I started retouching and tinting black and white photographs when I was younger. Using a set of old Kodak oil tints my father gave to me. The manual that came with the tints suggested sepia toning the prints first. Now, working with digital Images, I start by sepia tinting a grayscale (black and white), image, convert it to C M Y K and select areas that I want to color and adjust levels using curves in the individual color channels. I hope I'm not being too bold to ask how you achieve your results, or if you if you have and instructions for how one could attempt coloring black and white photographs. Thank you again for your beautiful images, and inspiration.
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
Hi, thank you for your kind words. I produced a video last year, but it is in German language
Load More Replies...
Tres D 7 years ago
For the most part they look pretty awesome. As a digital artist of 18 years myself, my only criticism would be that the use of color fills or gradient mapping should rarely, if ever, be left at 100% opacity. The results are usually unnatural looking.
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
There is really absolutely nothing at 100% :)
Load More Replies...
Sophie Knight 7 years ago
Surely if you're being paid to do this you should research the colours of the uniforms and do them correctly. If you were commissioned to do them whatever colours you like you should make that clear. Historical accuracy is important.
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
I try my best in researching, which one of the uniforms is wrong?
Load More Replies...
Aslı Hitit 7 years ago
It's amazing...Just curious ? How much time give or take do you spend on an average photo ?
Caren Johnson 7 years ago
Colorizing makes one realize that people haven't changed that much. Beautiful fantastic humans come alive when one sees them in human color
Eunice Probert 7 years ago
Very nice. But if I have one criticism, it's that the women's faces are too tanned. Actresses tended to have paler skin, especially their faces.Tanning is a modern thing.
Michela Dorman 7 years ago
Awesome work! Now if BusLady and Alexandru would just walk away from their keyboards so we cN just enjoy the photos. Dang Siskel and Ebert of Bored Panda!
Jean Jenns 7 years ago
I think you should have researched more.....appreciate the comments of Alexandru Bucur who seems to know what he is talking about....historically famous people DESERVE to be shown as they actually were, not as you or anyone else thinks they "should" have looked. Yeah, no one is perfect but that totally misses the point!
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
Some of these are good, but you should have done a lot more research before you started adding colour to stuff. These were real people, not random images from a colouring book so you can paint them as you like. If you can't be bothered to get the details right, it just means you don't care about your subject matter.
Netanya Smith 7 years ago
You are a total b*****d, an irritating and irrelevant b*****d, seriously shut up, no one cares.
Load More Replies...
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
sorry, but not true ;) you dont understand the reason why i do it.
Load More Replies...
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
Discovery of Photoshop? You ever tried? :)
Load More Replies...
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
Because I love to do it, wanted to learn it and because of the payed commissions I got :)
Load More Replies... Devon Delzine 7 years ago
Great i think too much people here comments want perfect but they them selves need practice being perfect before stating it should be
Mark D 7 years ago
IKR? It was almost like “How fake! His mole was 16cm not 15cm”😂🤣😂🤔
Load More Replies... Kenny Kulbiski 7 years ago
Enjoyed this very much. I have no idea how it's done but it seems it would be tedious and very difficult. I'm impressed.
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
Thank you. Yes it is a bit difficult, but with a lot of practice it is not :)
Load More Replies... Bonnie Fullerton 7 years ago
These are astounding, I don’t care what your critic says. You bring these people vibrantly to life.
stellermatt 7 years ago
love them! here's one I did of Richard Pryor (I've also done a few of Marilyn Monroe...) rich-5b8f9...8647b3.jpg
Steve Minino 7 years ago
@MarioUnger Great work! Crazy how critical ppl can be of the project, I think it's an artist at work and the representation is what your mind makes it. Cool process!
Ged Maybury 7 years ago
I'm pleased to see Edmund Hillary in your collection. I met him - just once. A true hero!
Edwin Lesperance 7 years ago
Mario Unger, your work is amazing! You are quite an artist! I was quite moved by many of your colorizations.
Nancy Massi 7 years ago
This is amazing work. There were some comments regarding eye or hair or dress color on some but the plain truth is you colored these beautifully.
Zeus Sampson 7 years ago
well done, I hope you get a shed load of money or whatever else it is you dream of for this
Chet Golik 7 years ago
Wonderful images Mario, thank you. I have tried colouring black and white images myself in Photoshop with limited success, nothing that comes even close to your images, but you have inspired me to try it again. Would you be willing to share your technique, or is there a article somewhere that could help me? I started retouching and tinting black and white photographs when I was younger. Using a set of old Kodak oil tints my father gave to me. The manual that came with the tints suggested sepia toning the prints first. Now, working with digital Images, I start by sepia tinting a grayscale (black and white), image, convert it to C M Y K and select areas that I want to color and adjust levels using curves in the individual color channels. I hope I'm not being too bold to ask how you achieve your results, or if you if you have and instructions for how one could attempt coloring black and white photographs. Thank you again for your beautiful images, and inspiration.
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
Hi, thank you for your kind words. I produced a video last year, but it is in German language
Load More Replies... Tres D 7 years ago
For the most part they look pretty awesome. As a digital artist of 18 years myself, my only criticism would be that the use of color fills or gradient mapping should rarely, if ever, be left at 100% opacity. The results are usually unnatural looking.
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
There is really absolutely nothing at 100% :)
Load More Replies... Sophie Knight 7 years ago
Surely if you're being paid to do this you should research the colours of the uniforms and do them correctly. If you were commissioned to do them whatever colours you like you should make that clear. Historical accuracy is important.
Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
I try my best in researching, which one of the uniforms is wrong?
Load More Replies... Aslı Hitit 7 years ago
It's amazing...Just curious ? How much time give or take do you spend on an average photo ?
Caren Johnson 7 years ago
Colorizing makes one realize that people haven't changed that much. Beautiful fantastic humans come alive when one sees them in human color
Eunice Probert 7 years ago
Very nice. But if I have one criticism, it's that the women's faces are too tanned. Actresses tended to have paler skin, especially their faces.Tanning is a modern thing.
Michela Dorman 7 years ago
Awesome work! Now if BusLady and Alexandru would just walk away from their keyboards so we cN just enjoy the photos. Dang Siskel and Ebert of Bored Panda!
Jean Jenns 7 years ago
I think you should have researched more.....appreciate the comments of Alexandru Bucur who seems to know what he is talking about....historically famous people DESERVE to be shown as they actually were, not as you or anyone else thinks they "should" have looked. Yeah, no one is perfect but that totally misses the point!
Alexandru Bucur 7 years ago
Some of these are good, but you should have done a lot more research before you started adding colour to stuff. These were real people, not random images from a colouring book so you can paint them as you like. If you can't be bothered to get the details right, it just means you don't care about your subject matter.
Netanya Smith 7 years ago
You are a total b*****d, an irritating and irrelevant b*****d, seriously shut up, no one cares.
Load More Replies... Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
sorry, but not true ;) you dont understand the reason why i do it.
Load More Replies... Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
Discovery of Photoshop? You ever tried? :)
Load More Replies... Mario Unger (Post author) 7 years ago
Because I love to do it, wanted to learn it and because of the payed commissions I got :)
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