Sunday, April 12, 2020

Ancestors Reenvisioned in Living Color

If they're fortunate, family historians have gathered old photos in the course of their research.

Recently, I've spent time toying with online photo colorization programs to give new life to some of the black and white images in my collection.

There are a number of providers offering this service for free. Of course, the results vary. For example, let's take a look at three images that I manipulated at four different companies using their free automatic colorizing features:




First up is my great-grandmother Nevella (Benedick) Lumpkins, pictured in 1933 sitting on the roof of an old Ford.


Click on the image to enlarge for a side by side comparison across providers (in alphabetical order from left to right).


Next up was a tintype of an unknown woman. The image is partially damaged on the right, but I was curious to see how she'd turn out with a fresh coat of paint.


Again, click on the image to enlarge for a side by side comparison across providers (in alphabetical order from left to right).


Lastly, were my second great-grandparents on my Kirk line. It's another tintype dating to about 1880.


Click on the image to enlarge for a side by side comparison across providers (in alphabetical order from left to right).


I'm not going to editorialize here with my favorites. They each have strengths and weaknesses (some more than others). Regardless, it's fascinating to see how technology makes quick work of splashing color onto our ancestors and helps us see them anew.

Do you use other automatic colorizing programs with success? Which are your favorites?

12 comments:

  1. OK, I will editorizialize! The first one (Algorithmia) is by far the worst. What's with all the red? The others are all close, but I'd give top rating to MyHeritage. I've not had good luck with it myself---I don't like the fake-ness of it---and prefer the original black and white. But some of these are decent. Thanks, Michael, for providing us with a way to compare the different programs.

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    1. Algorithmia really struggled with the tintypes. The dark coloring routinely skewed red.

      You raise a good point about the fakeness. The older ones particularly look like makeup has been applied (some better than others).

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  2. Interesting how the results vary so much - at least with the first photo in each group. I wasn't even aware of the other companies, aside from MyHeritage.I also like Colourise. The color is sharp.

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    1. I agree Colourise did a pretty good job like MyHeritage. I suspect the technology will improve.

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  3. I like that you took the time to do the comparisons and aren't trying to sell one or the other, Michael. Even before MyHeritage brought out their colorization tool, I was not a fan of "fixing" old photos. However, I find it interesting to see historical photos in color. For example, soldiers in uniform. As the colors of the uniforms are known, the true colors can be recreated - manually. I don't think the technology is advanced enough to get the colors right.

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    1. I have one photograph of a Civil War ancestor in his uniform. I did plug that into MyHeritage's software and it churned out a blue jacket (without any manual assistance from me) - so at least the coloring seemed right for his Union service.

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  4. I've tried My Heritage and find the colors can be wishy-washy and sometimes don't fill all of one area like a dress. Still the freshly-colored photos give us a new look at those vintage photos.

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    1. I've had several photos where someone's hand was at their side and took on the color/hue of the nearest article of clothing. It's definitely still an art and less science. Although I'm sure it'll get better.

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  5. To be honest, I prefer the original sepia tone prints/tintypes to colorization. Maybe because that is the way that our ancestors would have viewed the photos originally and were meant to be seen. I do appreciate and marvel at the technology behind the colorization process, though. Great photos.

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    1. I agree. I have a fondness for the original sepia and black/white. But I also have a curiosity about what my ancestors "actually" looked like, you know? It's interesting to have this alternate perspective.

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  6. I did try the MyHeritage when they recently offered it for free. Its amazing how fast it does it. I have used Photoshop to colorize a couple old photos, that way I get to pick the color, but it takes a little time and is dependent on the skills of the operator of the software. These services require no skill.

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    1. It's definitely a trade off with these automated services - speed and automation over a highly-detailed approach, which I imagine Photoshop is with perhaps more refined results. I assume the automated technologies will continue to improve.

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