WE COLORIZE OLD BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS...

Colorized photo showing two boys standing between pillars
Colorizing can impart an other-worldliness to regular B&W images

Colorize a photo and stun your family!

To see an old black and white photo carefully colorized can be an emotional experience.  Adding color brings the people and the surrounding items back to life with an immediacy and an impact that can be truly stunning.

Sometimes we tint and colorize photos to restore them to their pre-faded glory. Time, ozone, poor color chemistry and the sun can each rob a photo of its vibrancy.

Add color to an old photo... creatively

Some clients like the creative side of converting an old photo to color.  An ordinary image can be transformed into something unique - and given as a gift or simply cherished as a lovely memory of a person or a time.

For example, a portrait can be given the "Warhol treatment". Or, certain elements of a monotone image can be selected for color conversion treatment. Another technique is to paint with three or four colors only.  And, a nice dark sepia never gets old, even though its subjects may!

We specialize in Historical Accuracy

When colorizing important historical photographs - like this World War I portrait - it is important to be faithful to the actual color of items like the soldier's uniform and his patches and insignia. Research is usually needed - always included.

We always aim for historical accuracy.
We have done photo restoration and photo colorization work for art galleries, historical societies, insurance companies, and large commercial clients - all of whom have been delighted with our attention to detail, our aesthetic choices and our prompt service.
>> See our client list

Artistic License

In other cases, color choice can be more a matter of picture aesthetics. In the image below, no one knew the original colors.  But green for the door and a subtle yellow and blue for the swimsuits combined well.

Color tinting

Back in the day, photographers would tint black and white photographs using sodium sulfide to give them a warmer (sepia) hue and ensure longevity (silver sulfides replaced the silver halides resulting in greater fade resistance). Tinting is still a sound choice and can be very striking with modern subjects - like this group of young boys on the right.

Talk to owner Peter about colorizing your black and white photo today!

Call on 1-800-742-1853
or E-mail: yourstoryhere@cox.net

Our services available outside California!

The Process of Converting Photos from Black and White to Glorious Color explained!

The process of converting your old black and white photo from black and white to color is pretty straightforward.

We ask you to let us take a look at the old photo (you can just text us a picture taken on your phone or email us a scan).  We give you an estimate for the restoration and colorization and you tell us if you have any knowledge of the original colors.

We set to work fixing any tears or dust spots.   Then, one of our digital artists get to work with the digital paintbrush! Where helpful, we do some research to check colors - e.g. uniforms, insignia, logos, signs, etc. Once we are happy (and we are hard to please!) we send a preview.  You tell us if you need any adjustments. Then we finalize and send you the finished image on one of our superb photo papers!
DID YOU KNOW? The round trip from original photo to digital file to printed photo is a lot more fraught than you might imagine.  Because of this, the final photograph will be very close to, but never identical, to the original. Why? The original image was most likely printed on fiber based paper using CMYK color dyes (cyan, magenta, yellow and black).  When digitized for the computer, the color space shifts to RGB (red, green and blue) which involves a translation.  When printed again, the color space is translated a second time - back to CMYK - with completely different inks and paper. So, close but never identical.