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Not Quite Magic, But Amazing Nonetheless

 
Like many photography buffs, I subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud that provides me a set of applications for editing my images. For all of the years that I’ve been using the computer for photography, I’ve never been a regular user of Photoshop. While I’ve used it on occasion I’ve instead relied on the company’s younger offspring Lightroom for most of my image editing.

As a subscriber I receive regular electronically delivered newsletters about Creative Cloud. A few weeks ago one of the articles drew my interest – colorizing black and white images.

Those of us who grew up taking pictures in the 1950s and 1960s have a large stash of black and white photos – and I have my share. I clicked on the article to find out more about this magical process.

The process involved using one of Photoshop’s built-in filters. Being a Photoshop novice I was unfamiliar with these filters so I had to dig deeper.

Well it turns out that I didn’t have to dig very much. The newsletter explained that the only thing I needed to do was to choose “Neural Filter” from Photoshop’s top menu and then click the “Colorize” button. Instantly – yes instantly – the black and white photo was converted to a color version.

The images are colorized using a best guess model that Adobe employs. The processing is not perfect but most of the images that I tried turned out acceptable. The few inconsistencies that I noticed did not detract from the overall results. And a few of the colorized images exceeded my expectations.

Below are a few of the B&W’s – including some of my favorites – that I was anxious to try.
 


 

Click on any image to see more detail.

 

A photo of my Grandmother and two uncles taken in the 1950s.

The colorized version fails to maintain consistent color of the suits.


A high school photo of a student from the 1960s.

The colorized version is good except the student didn’t use lipstick.


Writer William F Buckley lecturing at the Univ of Michigan in 1969.

Above you will notice that the background does not maintain the same color.


Hockey star Tim Horton sitting in the penalty box at Madison Square Garden about 1964.

The color processing chose blue for Tim’s jersey which happens to be the color of the Toronto Maple Leaf uniform. Good guess.


Singer Ron Townsend of the Fifth Dimension performing in Ann Arbor in 1970

An amazing transformation. I don’t know if the colors are accurate to his 1970’s outfit but they appear authentic.


A snapshot of my wife while we were enjoying nature and the outdoors in 1969.

Photoshop’s choice of colors is less important to me than the warm feeling that I receive from the colorized photo.


 
 
I’m still excited when I find another older black & white photo that I can colorize.

 
 
Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 


 
 

What is Your Angle?

27th September 2022

Photography Points of View

Experts stress composition when they’re referring to how to place your subjects in the viewfinder to get that best looking photograph. Your subject may be a face, a full body portrait, a tiny flower or a majestic canyon.

You have many ways to approach those subjects: move closer, move farther away, bend your knees to lower your viewpoint, point the camera upwards slightly, climb onto a nearby bench to take in more of the subject, and so on.

By simply changing the angle of your camera in relation to the subject you can get totally different – and hopefully better – results.

Here are a few samples of how I’ve come up with different angles.
 


 

It doesn’t take much to make your snapshots slightly more interesting. And remember that these days with digital cameras (or cellphones) – it’s pretty cheap to take a few extra “experimental” photos. Have fun!
 
 
Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 

Humorous Photos

16th September 2022

Pictures With No Other Purpose Other Than Fun

The majority of my photos are portraits, events, scenery, wildlife or commercial work for business.

Every once in a while I run across a situation that is hilarious or just plain funny. Below are from those occasions which I caught on camera.
 


Have you injected a little humor into your photography?
 
 
Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 

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