Specific techniques were applied for specific desired results. The same was true for coloring photographs. In photo restoration, we have different tools for dealing with different sorts of damages. View of the coastline near Nagasaki showing Takaboko Island (also known as Pappenberg Island) in the distance, Japan, possibly by Ueno Hikoma or Stillfried & Andersen, between 18 (Hand-coloured albumen print) Different techniques for different purposes View of Takaboko Island, near Nagasaki, Japan, possibly by Ueno Hikoma or Stillfried & Andersen, between 18 One of the oldest hand-colored photographs from Japan: Over the decades Japanese and European artists inspired each other and the techniques gradually evolved and become more sophisticated through cultural exchange. This artistic tradition made them very eager to apply their skills to add colour to their photographs. The Japanese were at this time very familiar with colorful wooden prints of landscapes and scenes of daily life. Hand coloring photographs and Japanese craftsmanshipĪlthough the process of hand coloring photographs was invented in Europe it eventually became hugely successful in Japan. He applied acacia gum and pigments to his photographs around 1839. The first artist to create such handpainted photographs was the Swiss painter Johann Baptist Isenring. As this was naturally a very time-consuming process only a very few people were able to afford such a process and artifact. A photo had to first be taken, developed, and printed before someone sat down to hand paint this final print. This meant that to create a color photograph was an involved and lengthy process. Up until the mid-1940s the majority of all photographs were black and white due to limitations in modern techniques and technologies. Today all these effects are most commonly done digitally with programs such as Photoshop or Lightroom. The colorization of black and white photographs has a long and interesting history from these rudimentary beginnings. The first attempts dyed or tinted entire photographs in a blue or red hue such as cyanotypes or sepia tones. Therefore photographers from the very beginning tried as best as they could to introduce color into their photographs. People back then were used to looking at colorful paintings and always felt as if something was missing from black and white photographs. The history of applying color to photographs is almost as old as photography itself.

Colorize black and white photo