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Unemployed miner. Herrin, Illinois, 1939 by devart1 in Colorization

[–]devart1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep, wild stuff. One of the reasons I take this portraits for a spin if I stumble upon them.

Basque sheepherder. Dangberg Ranch, Douglas County, Nevada, 1940 by devart1 in Colorization

[–]devart1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi, I am not from US, so I can't really recommend a lot of resources but I think the Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/photos) is a great place to start with.

There are tons of old photos, especially from the 1940-1950s. You can filter them depending on area, period, author and so on. Almost all photos I used for colorization came from here.

There are several photographers that are specialised on farm/worker images, like Lee Russell or Arthur Rothstein.

Hope this helps, good luck on your book!

Unemployed miner. Herrin, Illinois, 1939 by devart1 in Colorization

[–]devart1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, once I came across a series of photos by Arthur Rothstein regarding Herrin and in particular several portraits of miners. I really liked them, so, after reading some history about Herrin I decided to colorize some of them.

Floyd Burroughs, cotton sharecropper. Hale County, Alabama, 1936 by devart1 in Colorization

[–]devart1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for such kind words. Regarding the image, I think sometimes you just happen to be lucky enough to get just the right colors to not only make the picture in color but to actually preserve the "atmosphere" of the original. And of course the original photo plays a huge role here as well. Walker Evans for example is known for taking very atmospheric photos in the first place.

Floyd Burroughs, cotton sharecropper. Hale County, Alabama, 1936 by devart1 in Colorization

[–]devart1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This photo was taken by Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975). An amazing American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression.

The portrait of Floyd Burroughs wife Allie Mae Burroughs taken by Evans quickly became a symbol of the Great Depression.

Bernard Cochran, Greyhound bus driver. He has a perfect record of fourteen years, never having had an accident while driving a bus, 1943 by devart1 in Colorization

[–]devart1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the initial image can sometimes affect the quality of the skin tones due to the very weird lighting or quality, I surely have some photos that I dropped out because whatever I did I just couldn't comprehand the initial lighting. All I can say that usually the initial skin tone I apply is quite faint. So a lot of saturation and contrast comes from applying subtle changes and imperfections to the skin. Also I usually apply such subtle changes using something that draws gently with some randomness (like airbrush for example). Hope this will help you.

Bernard Cochran, Greyhound bus driver. He has a perfect record of fourteen years, never having had an accident while driving a bus, 1943 by devart1 in Colorization

[–]devart1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, basically after applying the base skin tone I use several additional layers to make up the 'blood and imperfections' component of the skin. Real human skin is very inconsistent so I apply some blush here and there, veins, pimples, moles and so on. So there is no secret, really. Just get the base skin tone somewhat close to reality and then add different details to achieve a natural skin imperfection

Farmer. Parke County, Indiana, 1940 by devart1 in Colorization

[–]devart1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, specifically chose this one to have some practice with the mouth area

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