Colorized Portrait
Another study using a rather famous black and white photograph. The challenge is always in finding the right amount of saturation. One of the things that I always consider when doing this type of work is the ‘depth map’ – that is: which areas of the image are closer in space, and which areas are farther.
Those elements that are closer to the viewer will tend to be more saturated, and those farther away less so. That is not always the case, however, much of it depends on the light source in the image, how close it is to an element, and how much color it may or may not cast onto it. In working like this, it really helps if you’ve spent time painting in front of a model, working from life. Even some of the more experienced colorists have work that can look garish and surreal. It’s very easy to lose the local color, which will always tends to be less saturated than you’d think.
Got Photos?
I offer photo retouching, restoration and image manipulation services for an hourly fee. If you have an image that is precious to you that you would like to have restored, send me a scan of the image and I can quote you an estimate. If you have an idea for a photo montage, or some other idea involving manipulating photos, contact me, I’d love to hear about it.
Just remember that although I can do an awful lot to improve an existing photo, but there are limits. Looking through the images below you will be able to see just what can be done. If an image is missing complete sections, it may not be possible to restore that. Likewise, if an exposure is too light or too dark, there may simply not be enough information to perform the restoration.
You can use the form on this page to contact me.