Firing a Quaker Gun

civilwarincolor

2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Oct 27, 2012
Location
California
Centreville, VA, March 1862.

A little background on this image. I first started working on this image five years ago and have returned to it periodically ever since. The big challenge I faced was how to get the branches and leaves to stand out from the rest of the image and how to get the blue sky to look like it was behind the branches, so many little tiny branches it is hard to isolate them.

Every time I opened the file and looked at what I had done I just did not like it. I have spent hours thinking about this image and what to do with it. This week I decided to scrap all of the previous colorization work and start again.

This time I worked on some new techniques to isolate the leaves and branches from the sky and then hand colored the thousands of leaves and branches with a variety of colors to give it a more dynamic look.

Sorry if this is really boring stuff that only another colorization artist could appreciate, but I thought some of you might be interested in what it takes to do one of these images.

Enjoy!

00941_w.jpg
 
This image always amuses me... the "gunner" looks so earnest.

Hm. I'm usually looking at the "cannon." The "gunner's" headgear looks interesting.
 
This image always amuses me... the "gunner" looks so earnest.

Hm. I'm usually looking at the "cannon." The "gunner's" headgear looks interesting.

Yeah, I thought it was an interesting hat as well. I also like that he has a scarf around his neck that almost looks like it is blowing in the wind.
 
I remember first seeing this image back in the 60s, in an AMERICAN HERITAGE book on the Civil War. Looking at it now, the thing that strikes me about it is that the log hewers chopped out a little "touch hole" flat where the soldier could apply his "torch" for the purpose of this photo. I'm sure quite a bit has been written about this image. Do we know, or have any idea, who the soldier is? Don't you imagine that he posed for this just for "yuks and grins" with his buddies, never knowing that he would be immortalized by this image--reviewed and discussed 150 years later?!
 
I remember first seeing this image back in the 60s, in an AMERICAN HERITAGE book on the Civil War. Looking at it now, the thing that strikes me about it is that the log hewers chopped out a little "touch hole" flat where the soldier could apply his "torch" for the purpose of this photo. I'm sure quite a bit has been written about this image. Do we know, or have any idea, who the soldier is? Don't you imagine that he posed for this just for "yuks and grins" with his buddies, never knowing that he would be immortalized by this image--reviewed and discussed 150 years later?!

The LOC does not list a whole lot about this image. What they do have you can find here. Says it was taken by George Barnard in March of 1862 at Centreville, VA. I looked it up and it is near Manassas, so this image would have been taken shortly after the Confederates abandoned the battle field at the end of 1861 and a few months before the 2nd battle. Don't know much else.
 
I don't find the explanation of colorization boring at all. Thanks for giving us a little insight into what is involved.

I'm always amazed at what ya'll can do.

I appreciate that. I know for many though reading an explanation of what went into an item (could be anything, not just CW images) is worse than watching paint dry, more like reading WHY paint drys.
 
You "have spent hours thinking about this image and what to do with it." I spent several seconds studying it and decided you did an excellent job! Thanks for all your many hours spent colorizing photos and sharing them with us.
 
You "have spent hours thinking about this image and what to do with it." I spent several seconds studying it and decided you did an excellent job! Thanks for all your many hours spent colorizing photos and sharing them with us.

Thanks Mike, you are one that can appreciate the work involved. I did an IM with Zuzah and he was in agreement that this was an image that eats time. What I found amazing was that looking at this image every 2-3 months for five years that when I decide to finish it (my wife pushed me for it) that I had the whole thing done in a few days. I was not working on it 100% of the time, and the detail work is a real killer, but once I decided how to solve it it was really a matter of spending the time.
 
Thanks Mike, you are one that can appreciate the work involved. I did an IM with Zuzah and he was in agreement that this was an image that eats time. What I found amazing was that looking at this image every 2-3 months for five years that when I decide to finish it (my wife pushed me for it) that I had the whole thing done in a few days. I was not working on it 100% of the time, and the detail work is a real killer, but once I decided how to solve it it was really a matter of spending the time.
This is one image that is very clean and doesn't need much retouching. Just a little in the sky.
 
This is one image that is very clean and doesn't need much retouching. Just a little in the sky.

Yeah, was really lucky. Most of them (as you know) have at least one major flaw, most have many. For me, since I wanted in color, isolating the sky was a major piece of work. I ended up doing a mask and then used "refine edge" to separate the branches from the sky. Even then worked for another few hours to clean up bits from the sky.
 
Back
Top