Although we most often imagine old photographs as black and white, the history of applying color to photographs is almost as old as photography itself. But up until the mid-1940s, the vast majority of all photographs were black and white due to limitations in modern techniques and technologies.
The only way to make a color photograph was to color it by hand, which was a meticulous and lengthy procedure. This was naturally a very time-consuming process and only very few people were able to afford such a process and artifact, therefore we don’t see many colored photographs left from the earlier photography period.
These days, many historical photographs are colored thanks to the advanced technologies. There are numerous artificial intelligence-powered apps available for everyday users, and then there are professional photography renovators and colorists who work meticulously to bring the old photographs back to life.
According to Lisa Yaszek, a Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech where she researches and teaches science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures, colorizing historical photos appeals to us as modern people because we’ve grown up surrounded by colored images.
“In particular, we’re often attracted to historical photos that have been colorized because that process allows us to see details we might not notice otherwise—the subtle pattern of someone’s clothing, the scattering of freckles on another person’s face and arms,” she explained.
The professor explained that "it literally gives us a new perspective on history, fostering a greater sense of connection between ourselves as modern viewers and the historical subjects we are looking at. For instance, we might marvel that a pattern popularized in the Victorian era is fashionable again or realize that we have the exact same physical characteristics of an ancestor we never met!”
Yaszek argues that colorization can also connect us to history in other, more surprising and creative ways as well. “As a science, colorization is about finding the appropriate hues, tones, and tints to add to a grayscale photograph. This involves intensive research in archives, online, and in conference with other historical experts—all of which, of course, gives the colorist that many more connections to the historical era they are researching.”
Having said that, Yaszek noted that colorization is more than just a science; it’s an art as well. “No matter how many written documents or colored artifacts a colorizer looks at, they can never be entirely sure that they’ve exactly replicated the actual colors of the items being photographed.”
The professor continued: “As so a colorizer often combines information with instinct and data with desire to make color choices that feel both intellectually and emotionally authentic to the historical era in question.”
Moreover, the colorization of old photos reveals something more fundamental about representing memories. “It can also remind us that history is always subjective and that historical documents—including photographs—are not just objective representations of reality, but artifacts that are sometimes carefully staged and otherwise manipulated to present viewers with very specific representations of historical people, moments, and events,” Yaszek explained.
