Thousands Of Hours Later, Here Are 30 Old Black & White Photos Of Famous And Ordinary People That I Colorized
Hi, my name is Mario Unger. I live in Austria with my wife and I have 2 grown-up children. I work as a photographer, photoshop artist, musician, and mentalist on stage.
I am submitting my work to Bored Panda for the second time. I'm very glad about this and want to share the latest colorizations I have done.
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Actress Marie Doro, 1902
Ella Fitzgerald, 1946, Photography By William P. Gottlieb
She had such beautiful skin and a dazzling smile! You can’t tell that in the black and white photo.
Actress And Singer Svea Textorius, 1910
Czar Nikolaus II
how can you tell specific colors from black & white? Sure a dark color could be black, or dark blue, or dark purple... But to be so specific? I just dont get it. LOL
In this example, military uniforms are portrayed through paintings in museums, Ermitage for example keeps the family portraits of Romanov. Plus maybe they've kept his uniform.
Oscar Wilde, 1882
In this picture he reminds me a little of Simon Helberg from Big Bang Theory :)
That's the knitting pattern to slim it up around the ankle..decreasing.
Load More Replies...Christmas Truce, 1914
Wow. Adding color really reveals just how much it was snowing. Accentuates just how freezing cold it was.
Female War Workers Feed The Charcoal Kilns Used For Purifying Sugar At The Glebe Sugar Refinery Co., Greenock, Scotland, 1918
I know that had to have been godawful filthy work—-not to mention inhaling coal dust all day. I’m sure they were glad to work (WWI—-all able-bodied men were all at the front) the money came in handy, plus they could wear pants for ease of movement, but at what cost?
Wolf Robe, Cheyenne Indian Chief, 1904
As a white American I can only feel shame for what my ancestors did when I see photographs like this.
Pasting the same response in two replies that itself is also regurgitated collegiate trope is a waste of time and accusing someone of shallow thinking because they don't believe in turning themselves in to victims for something done to their ancestors is in itself shallow and part of the problem. It's truly the soft discrimination of low expectations.
Load More Replies...A very wise, proud, and noble face. And, as someone who has a few ancestors who came to this country early enough to take land from Native Americans, I cannot apologize enough for the attempted genocide by whites. I am so very sorry.
Albert Einstein, His Wife Elsa And Charlie Chaplin At The Premiere Of "City Lights" In Los Angeles, 1931
Yes, he was actually very handsome without all that stage makeup
Load More Replies...THE Charlie Chaplin? Wow... (I actually just realized I've never seen him off movie, this is just wow)
Did Chaplin have terrible teeth, or was that an added element due to creative licensing?
A lot of people did. Modern dental hygiene didn't really take off til the early-mid 1900s. There used to be running jokes about teeth of British stars. The first Austin Powers movie actually references this.
Load More Replies...Photographer's Assistant, 1900
An Eleven-Year-Old Frida Kahlo By Guillermo Kahlo, June 15, 1919
Guillermo Kahlo was a fantastic photographer! Back in 2010, I think it was, there was an exhibit at the Museo de la Ciudad de México highlighting photos he'd taken in the early 1900s of famous areas and landmarks in Mexico City. Exactly 100 years later a photographer, using the same model of camera shot those exact same photos, making a lovely exposition of side by side photos with 100 years between them.
Wow- that is an intense looking child. Very striking- and very intense.
Sir Winston Churchill
Georges Méliès, Montparnasse Station In Paris, 1920s
It's amazing but in the black in white photo, I didn't even notice the shopkeeper. In the colorized photo, he's the first thing I noticed.
Why does it look brown? In this particular case, the bw pic looks to me less old than the coloured one, and in Paris buildings are in a beautiful pearl grey. I guess there's an artist decision and I'm just curious. It's not a complain or other things.
STOP DOWN VOTING QUESTIONS. PLEASE!! Just because you already know or don't want to know the answer doesn't mean everyone else feels the same. I would like to know as well. My assumption would be an artistic choice. Up voted you
Load More Replies...Is this one of THE Méliès brothers? The “Trip to the Moon”, film and special effects pioneers, Méliès brothers? Reduced to running a candy and toy shop 20 years later? Man, how quickly “they” forget, right?
Warsaw Ghetto, Poland, Photo By Joel Bellviure
Even worse when you consider how they likely ended up
Load More Replies...I never knew how much black and white photography can actually hide. The color photo makes the suffering so much more plainly visible. And harder to look at.
Taking The Christmas Tree Home, Chelsea, London, 1914
"Abbott And Costello Go To Mars", 1953
This one looks more like a coloring, instead of a actual photo like the other ones.
I agree. The colourised version looks like a postcard.
Load More Replies...okay sorry but this is just relly bad work her belly isn't even covered in the coloring, but it clearly is in the original photo i tought the sence of coloring black and whitephotos is to make them look more like it were in reality but this misses it completely. sorry
There was a law/rule in place until 1983 that basically forbade a woman showing her navel- specifically on tv/in media. Look at any image from I Dream of Jeannie or Gilligan's Island. It got a lot less strict through the late 60's and the 70's- but they were weirdly obsessive about it for a long while. Censors were not okay with lady belly buttons- which is weird because you know that they have one.
Load More Replies...Sitting Bull By D.F. Barry, 1883, Dakota Territory
A Young Mexican Farm Worker Plays Guitar And Sings In A Coachella Valley Labor Camp, 1935. Photographer Dorothea Lange, Gelatin Silver Print, Collection Of Oakland Museum Of California
An Old Navajo Brave Huddled In A Blanket, Ca. 1901
Destitute Pea Pickers In California. Mother Of Seven Children. Age Thirty-Two. Nipomo, California
The stress of watching your children go hungry can age you.
Load More Replies...The children in this photo were actually told to hide their faces bc they were laughing and giggling
Like she cried every last tear, only thing she's been left is to fight... Nothing else...
Ponca Indians, 1865
It's so sad that all this culture was erased for the sake of forcefully assimilating them into the new white culture
my ancestors narrowly made it from being part of tragedies twice. My German side came to America just before wwI. My russian side just before stalin. And then the fact we weren't a part of destroying a culture I am very proud of.
Load More Replies...American Soldier Opening Red Cross Christmas Box, 1917
Two Nasa Engineers Test A Scale Model Of A Saturn I Rocket In A Wind Tunnel, 1960s
Or a videoclip? Bowie or voyage, voyage... Which song would you put there?
Load More Replies...Sigmund Freud By Max Halberstadt,1920
Yah - he had people lie on couches because he couldn't make eye contact.
Load More Replies...Peter Tchaikovsky
Every time I see colorized black and white photos, I always feel like a hundred years was just yesterday and a lifetime is gone in a blink of an eye...
That's the reason why I do it
Load More Replies...The Three Polar Stars, 1913
i saw the serie 'Atypical' so i know who Ernest Shackleton is :-) it's the only one i didn't know about
I know who Shackleton is but I consider the other 2 far more known.
Load More Replies...North American B-25s Flies Past Mount Vesuvius Which Erupted On The 18th March 1944, Destroying The Village San Sebastiano & San Giorge, Killing 57
North American B-52's? To the best of my knowledge the B-52 was only used by the United States Air Force and NASA.
I thought planes couldn’t fly too close to erupting volcanoes because the dust fouls—-and can stall—-their engines. Or is that just jet airliners?
This might have been when they learned about that
Load More Replies...Launch Of Steamer Frank J. Hecker, September 2, 1905, St. Clair, Michigan
Yeah, almost looks photoshopped. Then again, old film didn’t pick up as much depth and detail as it later could.
Load More Replies...Just thought it looks good and adds to drama :)
Load More Replies...Miss Car Wash, 1951
The color brings out the sunshine. No matter how beautiful the weather, black and white film makes the world look eternally overcast and gray, even though it may have been overflowing with color.
Actually, that's about how bright they would've been on a new postcard or poster
Load More Replies...Billie Holiday, 1947
First Of Fair Sex To Obtain Motorcycle License In The Capital Washington, D.C., September 15, 1937
I would love to have met her. Wonder if she has descendants and if they're as badass as she was.
Grace Kelly In "Rear Window", 1954
Change her hairstyle and clothes and she'd fit right into modern society.
But...that movie was already in color...so it wasn't necessary to convert a photo to black and white and then recolor it...
Maybe the movie was in colour but these behind the scenes pictures were taken in black and white?
Load More Replies...Preparing Spring Flowers For Market, Henry Peach Robinson And Nelson King Cherrill, 1873
The original seems awfully dark....and doesn't this whole piece look less like a photo and more like oil on canvas???
It does, and it was the photographers intention, even in b&w
Load More Replies...Buster Keaton In "The General", 1926
That guy is amazing. Things that he did... holy c**p. I can't imagine doing some of those stunts.
Henry Fonda And Sylvia Sidney In "You Only Live Once", 1937
The colouring combined with the effect of the direct lighting makes them look disturbingly artificial, like androids.
Lauren Bacall And Humphrey Bogart In "The Big Sleep", 1946
Bacall looks even younger. I don't like that couples, at that time, where the man could be the father, or even grand father, of the girl.
Age gap or not, Bogie and Bacall were a true love match. I'm sure she never regretting marrying him, only that they had so little time together. I've always been an "old soul" and have been much more comfortable dating men a good deal older than myself.
Load More Replies...Banana Docks, NY, 1900
A Life Guard, Brighton Beach, NY, Ca. 1901
A Frostbitten Lieutenant Foehles Shortly After Landing From A Flight In 1916
John Wayne And Gail Russel In "Angel And The Badman", 1947
This is real beauty. Timeless. Far cry from the plastic morphed reality stars we see today.
Check her out a few years down the road and her plastic surgery rivals anything you'll see today.
Load More Replies...THe massive amounts of direct light turns the people into a mannequins. A staged scene morphs into a diorama.
Annie Oakley, Ca. 1903
Antietam, Md. President Lincoln And Gen. George B. Mcclellan In The General's Tent, October 3, 1863
I was told that I was related to Gen. Mcclellan. Love seeing this in color. Thank you.
Actress Kay Aldridge
Reminds me of Kiernan Shipka... don't know why because they're not all that similar overall.
Ugo Sivocci In Alfa Romeo 20-30 Es At The 1922 Targa Florio
Golf In Bathing Suits, 1926
Robert Falcon Scott In The Hut
There are far more colors :) but I thought it looks OK this way
Load More Replies...An 8th Air Force B-17 Makes A Bombing Run Over Marienburg, Germany, In 1943
Clam Seller, New York, 1900
It's the title given by the photographer :)
Load More Replies...Portrait Of Mary Pickford, Signed 1914
Photographer, 1909
Alfons Maria Mucha
The Officer Eslie Williams And His Henderson, Washington, D.C., August 1922,
Child Actors' Christmas Play, NY, 1912
Wow.....there is always one to point out any faults. Ridiculous!
Load More Replies...Errol Flynn In "The Seahawk", 1940
The colours in this don't seem entirely realistic, makes it look more like a drawing than a photo
Look up The Dollop podcast about Errol Flynn, he was a real s****y person
Frances Benjamin Johnston, Self-Portrait (As 'New Woman'), 1896
Mae Marsh, As A Belgian Girl, And A.c. Gibbons As A German Soldier, In Goldwyn's All-Star Liberty Loan Picture, Stake Uncle Sam To Play Your Hand, 1918
Ray Weishaar, Winner Of 100-Mile Race, Norton, Kansas, October 22, 1914
Sir John Herschel, 1867
Nadar Alexandre Dumas Père (1802-1870), 1855
Maxwell Car, 1916
Bristol Beaufighters From (No. 227 Squadron RAF) Attacking A German Ship In The Aegean Sea Near The City Of Kos, 03-10-1943
Judge Jeremiah Black, Ca. 1870
Portrait Of Leonard Bernstein, Carnegie Hall, New York, Between 1946 And 1948
Home-Cinema (Kinetoscope), 1895, Created By Thomas Edison
"Plague Of The Zombies", 1966
Orville Wright, 1874-1928
Mountain Warfare, Probably 1916
Alfred Stieglitz, 1902
Arnold Genthe, 1900
Dana Pond Is Painting A Series Of War Portraits. The First To Be Completed Is A Portrait Of General Tasker H. Bliss. In The Background There Is Of One Of The Versailles Paintings Of Napoleon At The Battle Of Wagram, 1919
"The Nibelungs" By Fritz Lang, 1924
Never mind; had to look this one up. It was way too weird of a photo. Turns out this was a scene from a German fantasy film. ~shrug~ Who knew?
Gustav Mahler, Ca. 1909
Sgt. Joseph Dore, 7th N.Y.S.M., 1860
Austro-Hungarian Imperial Soldiers Sit On The Toilet In 1916
What is that black sensor bar like situation on the first guys face, which appears in both pictures. WIT??
It's a moustache trainer https://www.flickr.com/photos/drakegoodman/4329334279
Load More Replies...Laurel And Hardy, "Their First Mistake", 1932
3 men & a baby was funny, not so much the second one
Load More Replies...Brabham At 1966 Dutch Grand Prix
Bobby Jones, 1919
"Faust", 1926
Photograph, 1913
Arthur Schopenhauer By J. Schäfer, 1859
Commodore Theodorus Bailey, Ca. 1863
David Knights-Whittome, Ca. 1900
Hispano Suiza At The 1912 French Grand Prix At Dieppe
Mathew Brady, Ca. 1875
I've always wondered how these artists found the right colour to restore these photographs
Excellent! Great skills - especially removing the scratches (pic. 21)
lot of work in the GENTRIFYING direction. most colours are artificial. just a personal interpretation of yours, mario, here in the XXI century.
I think these are very well done and I upvoted all 89 of them, love them all. My personal preferences are a little bit in those that seem realistic as if they are seen now, but I prefer normal photographs with true colors as well. That doesn't take away the quality of the others though, I really enjoyed going through the whole thread. Good luck in your further work :)
Very beautifully done! I am curious however, how do you decide on fabric colors? Sure military outfits and the like would have been described, but for regular garments? Is there a way to tell given the grayscale or is it just whatever you think suits best? Thanks!!
Just personal taste and feel for colors :)
Load More Replies...I'm a new co-editor of the Military Postal History Society Bulletin, published for 300+ members. Sadly, the last editor died in December. I have a column with a letter from a sergeant "at the Vesuvius Aerodrome southeast of Naples" to his family in California. It is the scene in your "North American B-25s Flies Past Mount Vesuvius Which Erupted On The 18th March 1944." I first saw it with (c) mario unger @ mediadrumworld.com, which is how I found you! Your image is so dramatic and powerful I had to ask if you might consider allowing us to use it and credit you as you wish in our “new” journal. If you allow, we would love to make it front cover photo. That’s not much honor for a highly skilled artist, but it is all I can offer. (No one has paid me yet!) If you agree, we would love to feature your work again. I also like your image of a World War I U.S. soldier with a Christmas box, rolling a smoke!
Wow! Fantastic work. Colours bring things to life. Congrats Mario
I've always wondered how these artists found the right colour to restore these photographs
Excellent! Great skills - especially removing the scratches (pic. 21)
lot of work in the GENTRIFYING direction. most colours are artificial. just a personal interpretation of yours, mario, here in the XXI century.
I think these are very well done and I upvoted all 89 of them, love them all. My personal preferences are a little bit in those that seem realistic as if they are seen now, but I prefer normal photographs with true colors as well. That doesn't take away the quality of the others though, I really enjoyed going through the whole thread. Good luck in your further work :)
Very beautifully done! I am curious however, how do you decide on fabric colors? Sure military outfits and the like would have been described, but for regular garments? Is there a way to tell given the grayscale or is it just whatever you think suits best? Thanks!!
Just personal taste and feel for colors :)
Load More Replies...I'm a new co-editor of the Military Postal History Society Bulletin, published for 300+ members. Sadly, the last editor died in December. I have a column with a letter from a sergeant "at the Vesuvius Aerodrome southeast of Naples" to his family in California. It is the scene in your "North American B-25s Flies Past Mount Vesuvius Which Erupted On The 18th March 1944." I first saw it with (c) mario unger @ mediadrumworld.com, which is how I found you! Your image is so dramatic and powerful I had to ask if you might consider allowing us to use it and credit you as you wish in our “new” journal. If you allow, we would love to make it front cover photo. That’s not much honor for a highly skilled artist, but it is all I can offer. (No one has paid me yet!) If you agree, we would love to feature your work again. I also like your image of a World War I U.S. soldier with a Christmas box, rolling a smoke!
Wow! Fantastic work. Colours bring things to life. Congrats Mario
