"Hand Coloring Photographs" Facebook group

MarkL

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I just created a private Facebook group devoted to non-digital hand coloring. I searched for and joined a couple groups, but they were all geared to digital tools. I'm asking that anyone who would like to, or has, hand colored to join. I'd love to see tips and inspiration to keep this art form alive. I'm just a novice myself.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1799490980803965

Thanks,
Mark
 

Alan Edward Klein

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retina_restoration

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So you came to this forum to direct people away from this forum to engage in a topic highly relevant to this forum. Interesting.
 

koraks

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retina_restoration said:
So you came to this forum to direct people away from this forum to engage in a topic highly relevant to this forum. Interesting.
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I'm not sure if I'd personally formulate it that way; I'd rather wish @MarkL the best of luck with his nascent interest group. At the same time, I always regret people opting to use a fenced-off platform like Facebook for this kind of thing. It tends to do very little for the accessibility of the collective wisdom concentrated in such a place.

Fortunately, we still see a wealth of high-quality information being posted on Photrio and similarly accessible places on a variety of topics.
 

retina_restoration

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koraks said:
I always regret people opting to use a fenced-off platform like Facebook for this kind of thing. It tends to do very little for the accessibility of the collective wisdom concentrated in such a place.
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It does absolutely nothing for the collective wisdom of our community when good information is locked behind an artificial wall like Farcebook. I have a deep loathing for what Facebook has wrought.

Just my opinion, of course. Bets of luck to Mark - I hope he obtains his goals.
 

jeffreyg

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mark. Check out Silvia Lizama. I know her and she is real expert in hand coloring photographs.
 

MattKing

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I reiterate what is said about Facebook above - I'm one of many who refuse to become part of its product.
But I'll wish good luck to Mark in his endeavours.
 

fgorga

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MattKing said:
I reiterate what is said about Facebook above - I'm one of many who refuse to become part of its product.
But I'll wish good luck to Mark in his endeavours.
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I fully agree.

Remember, with regard to social media: "If you are not paying for it then you are what is being sold".

And then there are all of the other problems with social media and its costs to society.
 

fgorga

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Besk said:
Niki is now doing it all digitally.
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Oh... that is too bad. But, I am not one to criticize another's approach to art.

However, to me the allure of hand-coloring and other alternative printing processes is the hand-work and the fact that each print is a unique object.

That said, lest one think I am a Luddite , all of my alt process work these days starts with a digital camera and an inkjet negative.
 

fgorga

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Sorry, as I've written in other replies herein, I will not be joining any Facebook groups.

However, since you ask for information here, I'll point you to three books. I know an old-fashioned way of informing oneself but I am certainly a geezer!!!

Anyway...

#1 - Hand Coloring Black & White Photography by Laurie Klein

The most recent of these books. It describes an approach similar to the old Marshall's photo coloring pencils using generic materials. That is, oil-based pigment pencils blended with a mixture of turpentine and vegetable oil. In my experience, this method is great for beginners. (I've taught this approach.)

Two older and more comprehensive books are...

#2 - Toning and Handcoloring Photographs by Tony Worobeic

The third section of this book offers a survey of many methods used for hand coloring.

#3 - Handtinting Photographs by Judy Martin & Annie Colbeck

A broad survey of the topic with lots of examples from many genres of photography.



Another approach that works well with beginners are watercolor pencils blended with a wet brush.

In general, I think that pencils (either oil-based or watercolor) are a better approach for beginners than 'bulk' paints of either type. Especially for folks without much experience with painting.

I use both oil-based pencils and watercolor pencils (on different prints) in my practice. However, I often use a combination of pencils and bulk paint; pencils for details/small areas and bulk paint for large areas (e.g. skies or water).

Lastly, you can see a few of my hand-colored prints here: https://porfolio.gorga.org/hand-colored-pigment-prints
 

Don_ih

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It might be better to not attack the poor guy for inviting members here to a Facebook group. He wasn't asking you to sacrifice your firstborn....

@MarkL - look up Andrew Sanderson. He hand-colours his prints every now and then. Since he gives workshops on it, he may even join your group. He's on Facebook and Instagram.
 
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MarkL

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Hey everyone, ugh I did consider it might not be appropriate to post here, and I can appreciate those that don't do Facebook. I most certainly don't want to direct anyone away from this wonderful site. But many photographers are not members here and I'm hoping to involve anyone out there in the world who has input. Maybe digital artists who once hand colored but could share knowledge. I'd certainly refer back to this forum, or at least to posts relevant to coloring! The main point for me is to keep analog coloring going....
 
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MarkL

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fgorga said:
I fully agree.

Remember, with regard to social media: "If you are not paying for it then you are what is being sold".

And then there are all of the other problems with social media and its costs to society.
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I fully agree about social media having a bad influence generally, although there is accessibility for benevolent content like hand coloring. The FB group may flop anyway so then I would steer members here, although this forum is intermixed with all of alternative processes. In fact....I will start referring any FB group members here!
 
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Ian Grant

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@MarkL, also look for the book "Painted Ladies" by James Wedge, also "Obsessions" & "The Dark Summer" by Bob Carlos Clarke.

There are many different techniques, there are some examples here I made during an impromptu lecture in the mid 1980s. I favoured using toners and dyes, the technique Bob Carlos Clarke was using around the same time. We both also used colour couplers, essentially you bleach a B&W image in a re-halogenating bleac,h, washing, then re-expose and re-developer in a colour developer adding a few drops of the appropriate colour coupler (or mix). There were commercial kits, 1948 Johnson Colourform, and later a Tetenal kit which was what Bob Carlos Clarke used with Agfa papers for many of the images in "Dark Summer".




I've posted this image before, I'd guess made early to mid1961, the hand colouring is remarkably accurate. While the photographer made this image, and an image of my youngest sister on her own to match the pair at the top of the image, I now have all three, his wife was making copious notes and adding water colour reminders. She did the hand colouring and was remarkably skilled.


It's important to realise there are quite different approaches in terms of technique, and also even more ways of interpretation with hand colouring. I mentioned James Wedge his hand coloured work was largely advertising based and superb, Bob Carlos Clarke was a lingerie and advertising photographer who's work bordered into the art world, he was also one of the earliest art photographers making Lith prints in the 1970s.

Ian
 

MattKing

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I think that it is correct to say that there are both pros and cons to Facebook. The cons outweigh the pros for me and many others, but I definitely understand the advantages.
If you encourage participants there to seek out other sources of information - including Photrio - that is a win-win.
It is important to remember though that in order to share anything valuable that arises there, you will have to copy it and post it elsewhere - because many can't and won't see it in any Facebook group, private or not.
 
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MarkL

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Hi Matt, I would love to post any new info here, and I will be looking through phototrio for posts and referring people to here to see them (as opposed to copying the info over). Thanks for your comments. You have helped me in the past. This past weekend I took a zoom workshop with hand colorist/author Laurie Klein, via Maine Media, hoping to get my rear in gear doing hand coloring. The twelve of us students were all beginners and starving for info. It's funny...when I joined a couple facebook "hand coloring" groups, I instantly saw expert work but it was all done with digital tools. One group moderator even complained that the people who use the apps are getting pissed off at the new ones using AI instead of "by hand" with the apps. LOL! So I was pretty motivated to start an analog interest group.
 
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MarkL

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Ian, wow this work is incredible. And what you have done in your post is quite remarkable and very cool. I looked into the book you recommended (PAINTED LADIES, The art of hand-colouring in photography) and the reviews seem to say that there isn't much in terms of instruction but there are a lot of great artist samples. I just ordered a used paperback version.
 
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