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Home » Adding Color To Epic Black And White Photos

Adding Color To Epic Black And White Photos

February 17, 2012 By Anne Burwell 5 Comments

This is a selection of the world’s most famous black and white photographs – images that have marked some of the most important and shocking events in the history – from Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation to the atomic mushroom cloud.  These pictures certainly speak more than a thousand words: they stir emotions whether they depict poverty, racism and the horrors of war, or something as uplifting and joyous as the famous WWII kiss in Times Square.

One ingenious individual decided that adding color to these pictures could make them even more powerful and add a new layer of depth and relevance that these iconic images.  With the clever application of photo-editing software portraits of Che Guevara, Churchill or Darwin look more recent and contemporary – erasing the patina of decades that have passed since these were taken.

Here are some of the before and after photos of famous historical figures and events.

Alfred Hitchcock

Anne Frank

Charlie Chaplin

Winston Churchhill

Che Guevara

Charles Darwin

Abraham Lincoln

Mark Twein

Theodore Rosevelt

Titanic

Workers waiting in line

Times square kiss

Do you, as the viewer, feel that the addition of color adds a new dimension to these photographs? Or does it diminish the sense of history and legend that accompanies these stirring images?

Check out these photos made using lights.

Filed Under: creative Tagged With: afred hitchcock, anne frenk, charlie chaplin, che, cherchil, color, darwin, einstain, epic, kiss, lincoln, mark twein, photography, photos, titanic

About Anne Burwell

Daughter, sister, wife, mother and writer. I spend half of my free time writing and the other half reading contemporary literature. I like to start my day with half an hour of yoga and then I head over to my desk with a cup of green tea to start working on my sci fi novel. On weekends I like to head over to the country side for a breath of fresh air and to catch up with my mom.

Comments

  1. Shell says

    February 17, 2012 at 4:40 pm

    Great post, I think adding the color brought new dimension to the photographs. It caused me to look at them in a new light and see details I hadn’t noticed before.

  2. bob Soltys says

    February 17, 2012 at 11:42 pm

    With all due respect, altering these iconic images by coloring them added nothing. Sacrilege!

  3. Andrea McLaughlin says

    February 18, 2012 at 12:18 am

    The Yousef Karsh photo and the Alfred Eisenstaedt photo (correctly called V-J Day in Times Square) are powerfully done in black and white to take advantage of the way BW reduces an image to its bare essence. I think the color does nothing to enhance Winston Churchhill and those blue eyes might even be a distraction.

    The color in Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photo distracts from the subject. I think the BW works better.

    The other photos seem to me equal whether in BW or in color.

  4. Andrea McLaughlin says

    February 18, 2012 at 12:21 am

    BTW, if you don’t know the story of how Yousef Karsh came to take this iconic photo of Winston Churchill look it up. It’s a cool story! (Too long to tell here).

  5. LOUIE says

    April 16, 2013 at 3:17 pm

    one small mistake – Chaplin’s eyes were dark blue, not brown.

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