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top 200 commentsshow 500

[–]cropythy 89 points90 points ago

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I remember first seeing the burning monk picture, and that one is still as powerful as when I first saw it.

[–]Cyril_Figgus 11 points12 points ago

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My god, I have seen that picture many times before but it took me until now to realize that the monk is the burning guy on the Rage Against the Machine album cover. I feel like such an idiot.

[–]tomkaa 1 point2 points ago

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Yeah this one really stood out. The flames look incredible.

[–]Desekt 1165 points1166 points ago

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TIL Abraham Lincoln was abandoned after the London bombings.

[–]evilted 170 points171 points ago

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That's grade school stuff.

[–]timmy2step 28 points29 points ago

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He/she/me wumbo, wumbology: the study of wumbo.

It's first grade, Spongebob!

[–]Desekt 76 points77 points ago

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Not Canadian grade school stuff then, I suppose.

[–]evilted 82 points83 points ago

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Oh c'mon! Canadians know more about US History and Geography than we do.

[–]0mgrzx 100 points101 points ago

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I'm from Sweden, and I can name more US presidents than Swedish prime ministers.

[–]jostler57 41 points42 points ago

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Uhh, you could probably name more US presidents than most Americans... seriously, we're dumb here.

[–]MyrddinEmrys 118 points119 points ago

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seriously, we're dumb here.

Hey Listen...

[–]jostler57 22 points23 points ago

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I love you.

[–]Lumb3rJack 73 points74 points ago

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Have some dignity, man.

[–]Shoola 20 points21 points ago

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High school student here, I can name the around 35 US presidents.

[–]jostler57 10 points11 points ago

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That's actually awesome! Upvote for your brain.

Ask around your school and see if anyone else can do that; including your teachers.

I'm willing to bet they cannot!

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago*

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I'm in 9th grade, I can name almost all of them because this song. All you gotta do is tack Obama on the end.

[–]Tiop 26 points27 points ago

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High School student here, I don't give a flying fuck about naming U.S presidents.

I prefer Astro-Physics.

[–]StochasticOoze 22 points23 points ago

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Astrophysics is one word.

But I'm going to guess you don't care much about English, either.

[–]stilesja 2 points3 points ago

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I think he mean Astro the dog from the Jetsons. Like how does he fly around and such.

[–]tavernkeeper 9 points10 points ago*

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I can name more Americans than US Presidents.

Because all US Presidents are also American, this is true for anyone who can name an American who was not also a US President.

[–]onezerotwo 1 point2 points ago

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I used to know all the states, state capitols, and major policies of the last ten presidents.

But I have no idea what John Diefenbaker did or when he was Prime Minister. Canadian history is sooooooooooooo boriiiiiiiinnggg...

[–]trunksbomb 14 points15 points ago

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That caption made me chuckle, then things got all serious with the burning monk and the Viet Cong picture and all that. Glad he ended us on some nicer imagery!

[–]akuzin 14 points15 points ago

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Scumbag Redditor:

Looks through entire awesome original post...

...to find something wrong.

[–]KillahHills10304 2 points3 points ago

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That's not Abraham Lincoln. The child abandoned after the London bombings just looked a lot like Abraham Lincoln.

[–]limer 2 points3 points ago

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TIL Abraham Lincoln was white

[–][deleted] ago*

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[deleted]

[–]tivo17 230 points231 points ago

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You should create a how-to video for youtube. I would LOVE to see this considering your photos look better than most on reddit.

[–]KlepticKukumber 46 points47 points ago

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I too would love a tutorial video on how to do this kind of stuff.

[–]YourOldBoyRickJames 29 points30 points ago

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I third. Motion passed. Your work really is brilliant. Keep it up.

[–]dougja 2 points3 points ago

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I fourth. Please please please!

[–]woodysortofword 15 points16 points ago

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it mostly involves mygrapefruit mumbling to himself about happy little trees.

[–]rockerbabe28 1 point2 points ago

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I agree!

[–]m1zaru 36 points37 points ago

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isn't the point of those layers to make it easy to re-adjust some colors or correct minor mistakes later on?

[–]being_ironic 19 points20 points ago

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Yes. Using masks instead of erasing, and using layers is how you work non-destructively. I don't know why you'd ever chose to work in a linear fashion on a computer.

[–]killiangray 1 point2 points ago

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Maybe OP just uses the history in Photoshop to undo small mistakes?

[–]being_ironic 6 points7 points ago*

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If you fuck up 1001 brush strokes ago, you lose 1000 good strokes to fix it.

That said, now that I think of it, I don't know how you fuck up painting in colour mode, you're just altering hue information - in his case he needn't even undo, all he's doing is painting colour - you can't fuck up the a black and white values of a picture with your brush set to colour mode. Painting over with black resets it.

[–]Victawr 13 points14 points ago

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I just use overlays and set them to color. That way I can enable/disable different colors at a time to check on progress and correctness. Works like a charm.

[–]Holybasil[!] 29 points30 points ago

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You're working destructively and you should feel bad!

But you should also feel great because of the results.

[–]KilgoreTroutQQ 7 points8 points ago

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I think I told you a couple months ago, but that color restoration of my grandfather's photo (the kissing sailor) is absolutely fantastic. It blew his mind when I showed it to him. And he said it was almost spot-on from what he remembered.

[–]Oddgenetix 7 points8 points ago

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Dude, I see a LOT of restoration work on old film, working at a post house we see artists smash through period photos and footage all day every day, coloring, restoring, repainting, etc. I see it every day and am never impressed by it anymore. with that said:

These are FUCKING INCREDIBLE. Some of them look as though they were taken yesterday. I'm VERY impressed. Enough to OVERUSE caps!

well. fucking. done.

[–]James1991 4 points5 points ago

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On the migrant mother, you left her hand uncolored. It is on the tree on her right, a finger and thumb showing. Great coloring though, I just thought you should know so you can really perfect it!

[–]ISayWhatIWantToSay 2 points3 points ago

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You are a wonderful person.

[–]michellereno 1 point2 points ago

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I looked at each one at great length, which says a lot since I don't have much patience. You, mygrapefruit, have an amazing talent.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

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the whole grapefruit?

[–]orthag 1 point2 points ago

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The one you said is of the viet cong isn't the viet cong, it's the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.

[–]ArthurRemington 1 point2 points ago

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Magnificient work! You seem very passionate about this.

I thought I'd give you some ideas about shading, since you say you're learning about it.

I do a bit of photography and something I've noticed is that skin tones and other colours, especially those in shadow, are affected by colour reflections from the environment and clothing. It's not just the light source's colour that sets the tone but, for example, a well lit red flower near a face will act as a little red lightbulb and paint the face a bit more red. A blue dress can give the subject's neck and under-chin areas a strong bluish tint even if the general tone of the picture is very warm.

If you ever feel like you can't seem to get the skin tones to quite feel realistic and don't know why, you could try thinking about where the light comes from, how it hits strong colours and how the colourful reflection subtly tints other surfaces in the picture.

[–]dahmerBundy 1 point2 points ago

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Fair play man! these are incredible, me & my colleges (CGI production) were talking about how you could of done them, (before I read the comments) theory's were: masks in photoshop, some sort of plugin, creating separate RGB channels & putting them back together, adjustment layers, tinting etc. NOPE. one man & one brush, brilliant work. Just thought I'd let you know you both stumped and amazed us!

[–]burkey0307 1 point2 points ago

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I'm glad you colored the baby the Migrant Mother is holding. Last person to colorize this photo completely skipped over the baby and colored it the same color as the cloth. ಠ_ಠ

[–]Sindragon 1 point2 points ago

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That's really nice. Not only nice work, but a great choice of iconic photos. I really enjoyed looking at them and definitely wouldn't have guessed that some of them weren't originally color photos (apart from the inescapable historical fact that color film wasn't around, or in wide use at the time they were taken). Was just about to go to bed, and I caught your title and thought I'd just read one more thing. What a pleasant way to end the evening. Thanks.

[–]Polky 138 points139 points ago

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The Roosevelt one blew me the fuck away.

[–]MirthB 2 points3 points ago

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Absolutely 100% same for me.

[–]two2teps 6 points7 points ago

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Because he looks like Wilford Brimley?

[–]neekneek 4 points5 points ago

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Because he looks human, can't explain it,but the color grounded him for me.

[–]they_call_me_dewey 1 point2 points ago

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It looked so real it got me thinking... If I were suddenly thrust back in time, would I recognize these people off-hand? Besides context clues I'm not so sure I would recognize them if they walked past me on the street.

[–]treebeard189 1 point2 points ago

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The Anne frank one was very eery. It looked like she could have moved and I wouldn't have been surprised. Scary knowing what she went through.

The "harvest of the dead" I think he called it was good but would have been very powerful if it didn't look like a movie set with such bright light.

[–]ImDaTruth 41 points42 points ago

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That monk picture is really one of the more powerful pictures on the internet.

[–]nightfan 7 points8 points ago

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The color really makes that picture extremely haunting.

[–]Kuftubby 124 points125 points ago

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I've always wondered, how do you determine what colors to use? Like for Lincolns bowtie you used red, how did you know it wasn't a different color?

I am honestly interested and not trying to troll.

This perplexes me.

[–]rrwrwx 64 points65 points ago

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Fun fact, blue and red look the same when converted to black and white.

[–]toxicFork 46 points47 points ago*

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[–]Scythels 5 points6 points ago

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Fun fact, digital sensors (and silver-halide film) are +/- as sensitive to blue as to red, but much more sensitive to green.

[–]Rigelface 1 point2 points ago

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That description contains an error. The piece is called "Impression Sunrise."

[–]rrwrwx 1 point2 points ago

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at some point see if you could provide a complete source, I'd very much like to read it.

[–]slowy 39 points40 points ago

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I am pretty sure if you have no idea whatsoever, you just choose a colour. I remember someone getting a photo of their grandma colourized and did not know the colour of the dress, and she couldn't remember, so I think they just went with pink or something.

[–]AcornPancake 43 points44 points ago

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Yeah, I think the OP likes blue considering how much is in there. You might also use historical context to figure out which colors were popular for the period.

[–]Lepthesr 79 points80 points ago

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opens book "Four score and seven years ago, when I wore the blue bowtie..."

[–]ThisOpenFist 8 points9 points ago

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Baby blue is a safe color in almost any period.

[–]kaett 1 point2 points ago

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i noticed that unless the photo had obvious racial or other color clues, the eyes were all done as bright blue. seems biased, somehow.

[–]jhaluska 5 points6 points ago*

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He doesn't know for sure.

Well RGB (ie color) images are often converted to Greyscale by taking the average of the three colors red, green and blue. You lose information in this conversion, but the grey colors would restrict the possible original colors it could map back to. A dark grey can't map to a bright yellow for instance. Using this restriction and some human intuition (grass is normally green, eye's aren't purple, etc..) you can re-colorize the photo.

[–]autochthonous 6 points7 points ago

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My guess is that it's just a choice. It could be a green tie, for all we know.

[–]BarrySpug 18 points19 points ago

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Truth be told - it was probably black to start with given the period.

[–]HussyTussle 2 points3 points ago*

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All I know is that if Lincoln where actually gay he would never have worn a navy suit with a brown vest.

[–]imperialviolet 7 points8 points ago

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I was also genuinely wondering this.

[–]therealndb 5 points6 points ago

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He's just making it up. Which is funny because he got it wrong. Little known fact, people use to have green skin which would help photosynthesize when food wasn't plentiful. After GM foods became widespread, we didn't need to collect food from the sun and our skin turned white-tan-yellow-black. This just happened to occur at the time photographs were changing from black and white to color.

Knowledge is power. Now you know.

[–]Shoola 1 point2 points ago

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kind of confused as to why he chose blue as the suit color as well...

[–]J_theHM 1 point2 points ago

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My guess is picking colors that match the time period.

[–]ThirdFloorGreg 1 point2 points ago

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Judging by his work, he personally seemed to go with "When in doubt, make it blue."

[–]canyouhearme 1 point2 points ago

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It's one of the issues. I'm betting that Churchill and Che Guevara didn't look like they had the same skin colour in real life. Not only genetically were they different, but Churchill wouldn't have been tanned, and Che would.

Probably more: http://www.ramentertainment.com/SiteAssets/images/artists/full/winston%20s%20churchill%20III.jpg vs http://rt-now.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/fidelcastro1.jpg

[–]last1wins 1 point2 points ago

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I was wondering if you researched eye color, or just went with what felt natural.

[–]whatever_idc 76 points77 points ago*

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I think you're an amazing artist. I love your colorizations. One of my favorites is one you left out, a wedding photo.

[–]dazedconfusedlost 33 points34 points ago

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the woman, with the dog, is absolutely gorgeous

[–]The_Quiet_Earth 18 points19 points ago

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Definitely. She's stunningly beautiful! Looks so peaceful and relaxed wherever the picture was taken. OP, do you know the background story to this picture? Thanks

[–]Mozzy 2 points3 points ago

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I remember when it was requested. Top comments likened her to a MILF.

[–]frickindeal 1 point2 points ago

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I know people always say things like "there was a dog in that picture?", but I honestly completely missed the dog and had to go back to look.

Something about her pose, her peacefulness...I want to be there, by that lake with the beautiful lady and the dog.

[–]CCMSTF 114 points115 points ago

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Damn good work!

Though Hitchcock just doesn't look like Hitchcock when he's not in b&w.

And Nansen looks more like an 90's euro pop star.

And the attack on Pearl Harbor looks like a Bob Ross painting. (We'll put a happy little explosion right over here).

[–]jaronjaronjaron 56 points57 points ago

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And the attack on Pearl Harbor looks like a Bob Ross painting. (We'll put a happy little explosion right over here).

Lost my shit at that. Thanks.

[–]stumo 4 points5 points ago

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Though Hitchcock just doesn't look like Hitchcock when he's not in b&w.

I dunno, he looked like Hitchcock in all those cameo appearances in his colour films.

[–]spunkypug 1 point2 points ago

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Nansen looks like Techno Viking.

[–]Renbail 23 points24 points ago

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Cliché / Unoriginal post title my ass, this should be on the top list of posts of Reddit! These works are amazing!

[–]Neonimous 47 points48 points ago

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Awesome stuff!

But you have Churchill labeled as Hitchcock.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]Flywn 74 points75 points ago

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Also the abandoned boy after the London bombings seems to be Americas 16th president. Your work is good! Labeling skills...

[–]bleunt 15 points16 points ago

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I think you're Swedish. Or at least Scandinavian.

[–]Sketchetera 8 points9 points ago

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Strindberg... Swedish for sure.

[–]sebastiansboat 4 points5 points ago

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Yeah but Strindberg is a big name world wide, the give away should be Boye or his great grandmothers(?) clothes.

[–]xhandler 2 points3 points ago

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Strindberg and Boye

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]PoisonLily 3 points4 points ago

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Jag blev så fantastiskt lycklig över att se Karin Boye.. Fan vad duktig du är. Bilderna var helt mindblowing.

[–]lightheat 7 points8 points ago

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As an ignorant American:

Blah blah blah fantastic blah blah blah Karin Boye.. Blah blah blah blah blah blah mindblowing.

Agreed!

[–]Didorian 2 points3 points ago

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Mer potatis

[–]alienomega 27 points28 points ago

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Absolutely amazing work on all accounts! I admire you!

[–]nigel45 26 points27 points ago

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Excellent work. My only criticism is that if the Civil War dead are Union soldiers, their pants should be a sky blue color, not brown.

Otherwise these are all really fantastic.

[–]reallyrandomname 16 points17 points ago

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When they are issued, they are the same color as the jacket, but when the soldiers are in encampment and such they would take off the jacket. As such the pant's color faded more than the jacket over time. The modern US Army dress uniform lighter blue pant are a homage to that period's uniform.

[–]lotsocows 21 points22 points ago*

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Nope, they were issued as sky blue. Early on (until December 1861) they issued dark blue trousers that matched the jackets, but blue dye is one of the most expensive types, so they switched to the sky blue trousers quickly to save costs of dyeing them. Many officers still wore the dark blue trousers throughout the war.

Great job on the pics by the way!

Edit: date correction, I guessed 62 for the change, but located the reference in the Echos of Glory, Arms and Equipment of the Union Army.

[–]reallyrandomname 18 points19 points ago

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Look like I was misinformed then, thanks for the info.

[–]ISmokeCigars 1 point2 points ago

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Yeah, that one threw me off. It's still a fantastic album, though.

[–]Vitalstatistix 34 points35 points ago

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These are pretty great. Just FYI you have Lincoln on here twice (under the grade school boy part).

Want to have a go at my great great great uncle? That picture is from around 1870 I'd imagine.

[–]bigtreeworld 20 points21 points ago

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Just for shits and giggles I tried your picture with the how-to that mygrapefruit posted. How'd I do? http://imgur.com/CDWL8

[–]frickindeal 3 points4 points ago

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I'd say not bad at all. The color of the shirt bothers my eyes a little (is it white or very light blue?), but for a first shot you did quite well.

[–]xcforlife 2 points3 points ago

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missed a spot on the right side of his face where the beard is. otherwise, nice job!

[–]Vitalstatistix 1 point2 points ago

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That's pretty awesome, thanks!

[–]dlink 16 points17 points ago

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I spent literally tens of minutes on this.

http://imgur.com/uWh70

[–]teutonic 1 point2 points ago

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Interesting to see the different choices you and bigtreeworld made.

[–]YOUR-UNCLE 46 points47 points ago

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Nice picture, kid.

[–]JustHere4TheDownVote 2 points3 points ago

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Can never have enough Lincoln.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points ago

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It's amazing how much it removes the psychological distance to see a historical photo in color instead of black and white.

[–]jessicatron 1 point2 points ago

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I was thinking the same thing. The 30s always seems so foreign and magically weird to me, but looking at the one photo of the woman with dark hair and bangs... it looks like I could see her in a coffee shop tomorrow.

[–]XXengineer 18 points19 points ago

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It's like a coloringbook for adults!

[–]amoodie 7 points8 points ago

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I tried colorization once, it came out looking more like I had a seizure during the process and the saturation was increased to the point of an island tourism poster. Awesome work.

[–]LyssaBrisby 4 points5 points ago

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I'm a graphic designer who lives in photoshop and man, I know how hard this is to make naturalistic. BRAVO.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]movzx 2 points3 points ago

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If he's from the US he has all rights over the created images, regardless of source, since they are artistic works.

[–]kwangqengelele 14 points15 points ago

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Some of these are amazing. I notice the blues seem to be hard to get right, like they seem to be more vibrant than they'd be in an actual picture. The Che Guevara one just looks like a painting to me but the original black and white looks a lot like a pencil drawing.

Still, these are some of the best I've ever seen, you should be paid to do this type of work.

[–]fancytalk 4 points5 points ago

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I think the problem is that some of the colors are too saturated for the level of contrast in the pictures. Meaning, the originals have soft blacks and off-whites while the colored ones are very vivid which makes the colors seem like blocks without enough detail inside.

[–]Radio_Flyer 7 points8 points ago

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This is so well done. Only one thing…didn't Twain always wear all white suits?

[–]hamboned 4 points5 points ago

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Not going to lie, I had to wiki Fridtjof Nansen...

[–]PruneSlicker 3 points4 points ago

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[–]Johnno74 2 points3 points ago

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Same, I'd never heard of him... but he looks like such a badass in that photo I had to look him up.

"Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate"

Yup. Confirmed badass.

[–]AppleDane 2 points3 points ago

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Same. And I'm Danish and a history teacher. Don't feel bad.

However: He looks as badass as he was.

[–]ABitCurious 9 points10 points ago

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Why does EVERYONE HAVE BLUE EYES?

[–]Rampant_baconator 7 points8 points ago

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Apparently everything was blue back in the day

[–]Arab81253 1 point2 points ago

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Amazing. I love colorized pictures. History is brought back to life and given so much more meaning. So instead of saying "oh a pearl harbor picture" you say "holy shit this actually happened".

History is so cool

also I was wondering if you would take a shot at [this one] http://desiringlife.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/d-day.jpg

also I have a poster of the bikini atoll b&w. Do you have a standalone of the colorized one? I'd love to replace my poster with that one

[–]friedeggplant 12 points13 points ago

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the operations crossroads picture is the bomb in color.

[–]TrowthePlow 14 points15 points ago

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I don't think words can describe how awful of a pun that was

[–]dakst3r 6 points7 points ago

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Very nice! You should do this for a living.

[–]Catfactsdaily 7 points8 points ago

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These are all absoloutely amazing. Fantastic job. Thank you for bringing history to life.

[–]RackballJoe 5 points6 points ago

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Actually you're not the first to colorize "Harvest of Death." To be a history troll the soldiers' pants probably were light blue as they were Union soldiers, rather than the brown you colorized them as. But this colorizing technique is pretty impressive!

http://www.gdg.org/images/Research/Authored%20Items/HarvestofdeathColorized.jpg

[–]townshend445 2 points3 points ago

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Boye looks like a man. Nothing wrong with your work, she just looks like one.

[–]sigaven 2 points3 points ago

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This is absolutely wonderful work. The civil war photo was particularly stunning, just 'cause, I dunno...I had never pictured that war in color before.

Anyway, how do you decide what colors to use? You probably use historical knowledge to detail the hair color, eye color, skin color etc of the famous people but what about their clothes? Do certain shades of gray hint at being certain colors or do you just leave it up to your creativity?

[–]imabannana 2 points3 points ago

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1070 people downvoted this? What the fuck is wrong with you people? Seriously.

[–]briandilley 2 points3 points ago

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Colorize this please: http://i.imgur.com/FOvtd.jpg

[–]PedroDelCaso 1 point2 points ago

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Love these, do you have a tutorial or anything? I've been wanting to try this with shots I take in monochrome and colour on purpose.

[–]thechoiceisclear 1 point2 points ago

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Fantastic stuff - love the Hitchcock one :-)

[–]mshimoura 1 point2 points ago

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This may be my favorite thing I've seen on reddit, thus far.

[–]jollytrolley 1 point2 points ago

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That's like magic. Thanks for sharing

[–]StockmanBaxter 1 point2 points ago

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The coloring is so perfectly done!

I'd like to see a youtube tutorial. Especially with the bent and cracked photos.

[–]ilovetime 1 point2 points ago

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Anyone else think this guy has some sort of secret hookup to a stash of magical 200 year old photos and he just put them through a black and white filter?

They're tooooo good!

[–]one_is_enough 1 point2 points ago

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Awesome work . . . I smiled at each of the "redditor request" photos, because I know each of those touched many hearts.

[–]ETmussa 1 point2 points ago

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I'll probably get downvoted but... Could you do a picture of hitler?

[–]Rayne_Storm 1 point2 points ago

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Dat Churchill gaze T_T

[–]Apex_Series 1 point2 points ago

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Is it possible to get a wallpaper sized copy of your colorized Bikini Atoll?

[–]Corpsman223 1 point2 points ago

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Amazing. Thanks for sharing with us.

[–]ragincarnage 1 point2 points ago

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Darwin looks like the shovel guy from Home Alone.

[–]iflyplanes 1 point2 points ago

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Having been to Anne Frank's hideout in Amsterdam and the Holocaust museum in DC... there's just something about seeing her like that. Humanizing.

[–]ironclownfish 1 point2 points ago

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The Anne Frank one almost made me cry. Thank you for the tiny bit of life you gave back to that little girl.

[–]Moatman 1 point2 points ago

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Wow, they need you for the Gears of War series!

[–]Tanspriter 1 point2 points ago

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Now colourize GREYS OF WAR DOHOHOHOH

[–]lefthomerow 1 point2 points ago

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Awesome - can you do Walt Whitman when you're bored/so inclined?

[–]kabukistar 1 point2 points ago

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Ah, the past. Where everyone wore blue and brown.

[–]Jewzilian 1 point2 points ago

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Bravo for colorizing everyone in the background in the Dorothy Counts picture. That must've been a bitch.

[–]groovyat33rpm 1 point2 points ago

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Out of curiousity, do certain shades of grey correspond to different colors, or do you have to use your intuition to select the color of a grey photo?

[–]TrollNumberOne 1 point2 points ago

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Is there any high res version of the colorized version of the atomic explosion ?

[–]lakotian 1 point2 points ago

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This is amazing. End of story.

[–]chapisbored 1 point2 points ago

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Your a genius. How did you learn to do this?

[–]CurrentsConvulsive 1 point2 points ago

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For some strange reason, every time I see the VJ day kiss, I'm filled with a flood of happiness and I wonder if I could ever have a moment where I'd feel the same amount of joy. Well done, these blew me away.

[–]pmbuko 1 point2 points ago

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You really nail the skin tone in these. Great stuff.

[–]Zerg0 1 point2 points ago

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I don't have a witty comment or a pun. I just want to say, wow. This is amazing. Thank you for posting!

[–]ayrainy 1 point2 points ago

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Fridtjof Nansen looks like the baddest bad ass I've ever seen This lead me to google him, and his accomplishments are about as badass as he looks.

[–]ThePuppeteer 1 point2 points ago

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So many blue eyes

[–]BentRods 1 point2 points ago

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I am incredibly impressed. Just thought I would tell you that.

[–]EAVBERBWF 1 point2 points ago

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I sometimes forget these people lived in color

[–]thesalemdit 1 point2 points ago

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How do you determine clothing colors?

[–]AfalloutAdcit56 1 point2 points ago

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So... Probably a stupid question but how do you tell what color everything in those pics are supposed to be ?

[–]mod83 1 point2 points ago

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mygrapefruit very kindly colourised the only picture of my grandmother's wedding in 1941. Amazing work, so grateful.

[–]FlippyJoeBiscuit 1 point2 points ago

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Nice job. the only one i have issue with is Alfred Hitchcock. He and/or the photographer would have set up the lighting with the black and white result in mind, which is very dramatic in contrast in B&W. It is diminished when colorized and removes the drama of the image.

[–]brickmaj 1 point2 points ago

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That colorized monk pic was my bg since I saw it first on reddit. Good on you. People would always ask me why I had it as my bg and I would say so we don't forget the violence of Vietnam and the protestors. Thanks

[–]gopster 1 point2 points ago

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Now these are in color, I have a greater desire to vividly punch that douchebag laughing behind Dorothy Counts.

[–]Jeffdud3 1 point2 points ago

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JSYK In the picture of the flaming monk, there would be blue coloration on the base of the fire bcuz it is a gasoline-fueled flame. Other than that OMG THESE LOOK REAL! haha :)

[–]Expodryerase 1 point2 points ago

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Amazing work!

[–]avengepluto 1 point2 points ago

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Charles Darwin is WAY more intense in color.

[–]Zipwang5555 1 point2 points ago

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Wow. You had me at Hitchcock. I am humbled by your skill.

[–]wateravenuecoffee 1 point2 points ago

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[–]nachos_ 1 point2 points ago

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People would pay you BIG bucks to restore their old photos. This is amazing.

[–]ThunderingNuisance 1 point2 points ago

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Removing the texture on this photo was amazing. How did you do it?

[–]seriouslydamaged 1 point2 points ago

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The bombing at the Bikini Atoll is such much more impressive in the coloured version. In some way, it just gets real by this.

[–]snoozieboi 1 point2 points ago

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You were apparently born a few decades too late. Amazing work, are you the same guy that didn't notice that the black and white image with that woman with her three children actually was holding a baby whose face was coloured gray?

[–]ilikepho 1 point2 points ago

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These are going massively viral in 3.. 2.. 1

[–]jonr 1 point2 points ago

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You are getting really good at this.

[–]fintorro 1 point2 points ago

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Really, really great work, I'm very impressed. My own two cents: Charlie Chaplin's complexion and the Crossroad's nuke explosion don't look quite right. Other than that it's brilliant.

[–]bw1870 1 point2 points ago

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Charlie Chaplin could pass for Prince's brother.

[–]princess_sparkles 1 point2 points ago

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As much as I love black and white, and as awesome as all of the originals were... the color in some of the photos made them extra powerful and stunning. Fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

[–]SushiKat 1 point2 points ago

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Wow these are amazing, great job! They look beautiful.

[–]planet808 1 point2 points ago

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outstanding sir!

[–]tentativesteps 1 point2 points ago

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these are some unbelievably awesome restorations. the burning monk in particular was fantastic. thanks so much for sharing.

[–]foshiznick 1 point2 points ago

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These are great! Espescialy the Mauretania one! I work in the Port of Liverpool and one of the new Pilots is from four generations of Pilots and that John Currie is his great great uncle or something. also got the office talking. they love thier history and one of the fellas great uncles served on that ship and went down with her when the germans sank her. that ship was the reason America joined the war too! All the old sea legs have been telling me thier great stories now thanks to that pic so thank you!

[–]Megawatts19 1 point2 points ago

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Johnny Cash's remake of "Hurt" goes really well with these pictures.

[–]Drop-Dead-Fred 1 point2 points ago

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Coming from a professional Photoshopper...

....you're very good at Photoshop.

[–]apipop 1 point2 points ago

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Darwin, Nansen and Lange are great!

[–]QuantoQuandoQuatro 1 point2 points ago

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Holy fucking fucky fuck.

[–]SirDaneel 1 point2 points ago

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I don't have words... so thank you, it's beautiful