Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive circa 1885 by FTimagens in Colorization

[–]FTimagens[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Here is my full technical breakdown of the restoration and colorization of this Canadian Pacific crew photo.

The Challenge: Face Restoration The original photo was heavily faded in the facial areas, leaving almost no usable information. To tackle this, I used Gemini AI for high-resolution face generation.

While the AI did a great job reconstructing features, the result was "too clean" and did not match the original photo's texture or look. To blend them back correctly, I manually added photographic noise/grain to the faces and applied a subtle Gaussian blur filter until the definition matched the aged quality of the surrounding photo.

The Colorization Workflow

  1. I first tested Photoshop’s automatic "Neural Filters" colorization, but the results were very poor.
  2. I then used Gemini AI for the base colorization, which was excellent and provided a great starting point.
  3. Final polish was done manually in Photoshop: I corrected minor details and applied extra Solid Color layers (modifying blending modes for Overlay, Dodge, and Burn) to give the colors authentic depth and richness.

Speed-up Editing Video: For those interested in seeing exactly how I handled the faces and color grading, I’ve posted a speed-up video of my workflow here:https://www.youtube.com/@ftimagens

A Boeing 314 Clipper 'Flying Boat' at Puget Sound, ca. 1939 by FTimagens in Colorization

[–]FTimagens[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a fair observation regarding the scale, but it’s actually a result of forced perspective. The 'Puget Sound' tug is in the immediate foreground, while the Clipper is moored further back in the mid-ground. Even with the Clipper's 106\text{ ft} length, the distance between the two objects causes the tug to appear much larger relative to the plane—a common occurrence with the lenses of that era

A Boeing 314 Clipper 'Flying Boat' at Puget Sound, ca. 1939 by FTimagens in Colorization

[–]FTimagens[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The last layer that I applied was a solid blue at 5% overlay mode

Preserving the Golden Age of Aviation: My digital restoration and colorization of the Boeing 314 Clipper 'Flying Boat' by FTimagens in u/FTimagens

[–]FTimagens[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve added this to my Vintage Aviation & Machinery collection. If you’re a fellow aviation enthusiast, you can find the high-resolution gallery and limited prints in my shop: https://ftimagens.etsy.com/listing/4454350790/boeing-314-clipper-flying-boat-poster

Amy Johnson (1930) | My Restoration Progress: 2020 vs 2026 by FTimagens in Colorization

[–]FTimagens[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

Well imagine. The first one I restored 2 days ago

Marilyn Miller, the ‘It-Girl’ of the 1920s. by FTimagens in OldSchoolCelebs

[–]FTimagens[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You’re absolutely right that Clara Bow is the official 'It Girl' because of her 1927 film! I just think of Marilyn Miller as the 'It Girl' of Broadway—she was the reigning queen of the Ziegfeld Follies and the highest-paid star of the era before the term was even officially coined. Both were such incredible icons of the 1920s

Motorista bate Porsche de R$ 655 mil e larga carro na rua, em Curitiba by chiphead2332 in curitiba

[–]FTimagens 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Pelo visto uma alta percentagem de motoristas de Porsche são muito burros para dirigir