Tweet Color from Black-and-White: colorized photos

Bob,

Wow! That's great. Never even heard of this movie before.

For Saint Patty's Day. here is a very Irish looking Janet Gaynor that I worked on 3 or 4 years ago.

[quote="Gagman 66"]Little Caesar,

I really like the still from THE RUNAWAY. It is not easy to find images from this film. Thanks. Do you have any rare Colleen Moore, Corinne Griffith, or Esther Ralston stills?

I'm afraid that I don't have any stills of any of those lovely ladies at the moment. I do have a few more of Clara and some other interesting silent era stills that I'll scan in sometime soon.

Here's my work-in-progress colorization of that Runaway still.

I'm stuck at an airport right now so I did this to kill some time:

Bob,

Very nice. Especially for while sitting at the Airport. These are among the few images I have from THE RUNAWAY.





"Oh, Hum Drum"



"A Toast To My Favorite Redhead!"


Here a movie for Saint Patrick's Day I have never heard of before. That looks to be Buddy Rogers and Nancy Carroll. Any stills from this at all? Or maybe Renee Adoree's BLARNEY? There must be some stills someplace. Have never seen any.



"ABIE'S IRISH ROSE" (1928)


Another still from LILAC TIME that I never got around to before.

Here is Lillian Gish from ANNIE LAURIE (1927). Maybe not Irish, Scottish, but that's close enough.

I was not all that happy with this photo. See Clara's Arm's there? I can't tell if they are bare, or if there are thin mesh sleeves over them? One hand is much darker than the other. Esther's other hand is almost black! The candle holders in the background are all wrong. The door is an ugly hue. Might start over from scratch. I love the still though. It was new to me, as I had not seen it anyplace before. I don't know if Esther Ralston is wearing High-heels or not? She simply towers over Clara Bow in the still. Of course Clara could be wearing high heels too? Didn't know there was that much difference in height between them. Must have been.




"The Best Of Friends!"

My OLD HOLLYWOOD IN COLOR site just exceeded 10,000 visits. In celebration, I posted some new color transfers that I haven't posted here. Here's one of my favorites with a gag caption that I added:

"And I told them they'd be lucky to get 100 hits."

Erich von Stroheim circa 1922

Congratulations on reaching 10,000 visitors!
Here's Buster Keaton in College:

Bob,

Glad to hear that people are responding so well. The Von Stroheim is tremendous! So is the Conrad Vedit. I made some minor alterations on the Barrymore and the Mary Philbin though. See what you think? Did John actually have such piercing blue eyes? Don't recall what eye color I have been using for him off hand? Not sure why he and Louis Wolheim went Gray all of a sudden. That definitely was not planned.

Little Cesar,

Buster looks pretty good. I like it.

Little Caesar,

Your COLLEGE is really quite good. The grass color might be termed "bobfells green."

Gagman,

Barrymore's eyes are so light in the b/w photo that it almost begs for light blue. I'm less concerned with what the colors actually were than what a particular photo suggests. I like your various modifications. Thanks. Also, I like your new avatar.

Bob,

I tried to change my Avatar to Colleen Moore. It was the right size limit. Could not get the thumb to upload. Finally found one that worked, the still of Gilbert and Eleanor from BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT, so that is what I went with.

Here's a shot of Buster and Anita that I don't think I have posted here?



"Fear Not My Lovely!"

Bob, Caesar,

Here is a still of Vilma Banky and Walter Byron from THE AWAKENING (1926)




Marion Davies and Johnny Mack Brown from THE FAIR CO-ED (1927)




"You mean to say that You are My Coach?!?"




Clara Bow, Jean Arthur and James Hall- "Lethal Nail File!"

Congratulations on reaching 10,000 visitors!
Here's Buster Keaton in College:

Caesar,

Here's my fiddling with your photo. One lesson I learned is that black and white is part of the color spectrum, grays included, so look for opportunities where they make sense. In this photo, the roadway should be some sort of concrete or gravel gray. I also lightened up the photo including Buster's face, and lightened the grass in particular:


I don't know if it's the roadway or the photo but the grime and marks bothered me so I painted over them to minimize the "ugh" factor:

That looks great! Thanks for the tips! Here is a Lon Chaney photo I was able to pick up recently. The seller only identified it as a picture from "While the City Sleeps." He didn't mention Chaney at all. That's probably the reason why I was able to get it within my budget.

Little Caesar,

The Chaney still looks awesome! Terrific work! I have about 25 stills from WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS. This does not appear to be one of them. Your improving rapidly.

The following still shows May McAvoy lounging. Have no idea who the other two girls are?





"A Sunrise Hayride"

Caesar,

With the Chaney photo, you have arrived!!! Your proficiency in creating excellent color transfers entitles you to all the abuse that Gagman and I encountered until the powers-that-be moved us off to this Elba-like exile. I think you've seen how much better your work looks when you start with scanned originals instead of importing low res photos from other sites.

Gagman,

I didn't even recognize May McAvoy let alone the other two gals. That photo from SUNRISE suggests that Janet Gaynor is not wearing a wig. I guess it's the part in her hair that makes it look more realistic. Was that changed during the film? Her hair in the film itself looks so phoney. Great work, Gagman!

Bob,

SUNRISE is on TCM's The Essentials next Saturday. This is the first Silent that they have featured on the program that is not a Chaplin, Keaton, or Lloyd film.

Here are a couple Garbo stills from THE MYSTERIOUS LADY, and THE SINGLE STANDARD respectively.

[silentfilm]

The following still shows May McAvoy lounging. Have no idea who the other two girls are?

The still code shows this is from The Little Snob (1928) and that looks like Virgina Lee Corbin in the middle. I think that is Francis Lee on the right.

Caesar,

With the Chaney photo, you have arrived!!! Your proficiency in creating excellent color transfers entitles you to all the abuse that Gagman and I encountered until the powers-that-be moved us off to this Elba-like exile. I think you've seen how much better your work looks when you start with scanned originals instead of importing low res photos from other sites.

Thanks for the compliments! I was surprised by how well the Chaney picture came out, and now I'm afraid that I may have set the bar too high for myself!
Anyway, here's a picture from Buster Keaton's Speak Easily (1932) that I've been working on:

Caesar,

With the Chaney photo, you have arrived!!! Your proficiency in creating excellent color transfers entitles you to all the abuse that Gagman and I encountered until the powers-that-be moved us off to this Elba-like exile. I think you've seen how much better your work looks when you start with scanned originals instead of importing low res photos from other sites.

Thanks for the compliments! I was surprised by how well the Chaney picture came out, and now I'm afraid that I may have set the bar too high for myself!
Anyway, here's a picture from Buster Keaton's Speak Easily (1932) that I've been working on:

Caesar,

You've done another excellent job but it leads into another lesson. Before applying color, I always check the brightness and contrast of the photo. Original stills can darken over time so a slight boost to the brightness almost always produces a better looking b/w, and ergo a better looking color photo. Here I did nothing more to your photo than to boost the brightness/contrast, reduce the color intensity, and sharpen it just a bit. What do you think?

Caesar,

You've done another excellent job but it leads into another lesson. Before applying color, I always check the brightness and contrast of the photo. Original stills can darken over time so a slight boost to the brightness almost always produces a better looking b/w, and ergo a better looking color photo. Here I did nothing more to your photo than to boost the brightness/contrast, reduce the color intensity, and sharpen it just a bit. What do you think?

It looks fine. I know that for some of my color transfers that I have checked the brightness and contrast, but I can't remember if I did so for this one. Also, after finishing the colorization, I normally alter the brightness/contrast more along with altering the color intensity and tints. For the sake of comparison, here is the raw color image I generated without the brightness/contrast/color intensity alterations I did afterwards.

Caesar,

I like the raw color image photo better than your finished product, although I'd make it just a tad darker.

Caesar,

I like the raw color image photo better than your finished product, although I'd make it just a tad darker.

I darkened the image a little and boosted the constrast just a tad
.

Bruce,

Thanks for the ID's on the other girls. Should have known Virginia Lee Corbin. Does THE LITTLE SNOB, or any part of it survive at all? o you know?

Bob, Little Caesar,

Very nice work on the Buster Gams still.

The first of several Dolores Del Rio Pics. Here shown fending off a rambunctiously carnivorous Edmund Lowe.




Caesar,

I tinkered a little more with the Buster. And came up with a good title for the piece.




"Gammed If You Do, Gammed If You Dont!"

[silentfilm]

Unless it has been found in the last few years, The Little Snob (1928) is a lost film.

Here's one of mine I posted awhile back so you might have missed it:

Caesar, Bob,

I worked on this one too. My internet was out earlier and I was not able to post anything.





Maybe someone knows who the blonde is here? I don't know the leading guy is either?



"She's Stealing My Man!"

Gagman,

I'd appreciate your advice as our Clara Bow color expert. What color do you think those polka dots should be? I can see green or blue:


Here a new color transfer that I posted in b/w a few months ago for help with IDing everyone. On the set of CHINA SEAS (1935) with Wallace Beery, director Tay Garnett, Beery's daughter Mary Ann, and Jean Harlow. Beery and Harlow are in costume and Beery is showing the wardrobe Mary Ann will wear in her cameo appearance:


And this is a nice autographed photo of Rudy that gave me a lot of trouble. See the shadow over his left eye? It either obliterated half his face or was blasted away. I began working with a 2.5x3 inch negative that I finally gave up on. Then I happen to get a hold of the same photo in an 8x10 negative that gave me more latitude to adjust the light and dark: