Bring the past to life by colourising black and white photographs

Sometimes when you look at a In black and white photographs it can be hard to make a connection. It might feel as if it belongs to something you cannot relate to.

This could be because it’s a different time period or it seems like so long ago that you forget that the people in the image really existed. It could be from the time your great grandfather served in the world war, but you did not know about it until you saw the picture! I mean, you could have known about it from the online obituaries and archives (similar to https://www.genealogybank.com/explore/obituaries/all/usa/ohio/toledo/blade), but looking at that picture did make you feel something different, didn’t it? And when you add colour to a black and white photo, wouldn’t it look more real?

The Memories in Colour campaign from Chums took black and white images from WW1 and WW2 and colourised them. By simply adding colour to each photo, it brought the people and their stories to life.

From an army sergeant who was tasked with destroying one of three railway viaducts in Greece during WW2, to a woman who was adopted and had only ever saw one picture of her biological parents which was black and white; these colourised photographs allowed their loved ones to see these images in a new way.

How can you colourise your old photographs?

If you have old black and white photographs that you want restoring and colourising, there are a few different ways you can go about this. If you just want to add colour simply to see what the image would look like, there are apps you can download from Google Play and App store. These apps allow you to convert black and white images into colour but the results may not be accurate.

Consider hiring a professional designer if you want the photograph to look as accurate as possible. A lot of time and effort goes into the research to ensure that things such as the skin tones are right or the colours of the clothes are the same shades as the clothing pieces at the time the photo was taken. Freelance designers are widely available online who will be able to share their portfolio of restored and colourised images.

Colourising photographs can change how we perceive the images, bringing them to life. When done correctly and made to look natural, it allows us to connect and make the photographs more relatable.

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