Lt. General U.S. Grant

[civilwarincolor]

Just finished, thought I would share...

 

[E_just_E]

Great job, but that wartermark is really intrusive

 

[civilwarincolor]

Great job, but that wartermark is really intrusive

I try to make the watermark as minimal as possible to allow you to enjoy the image, but still provide a degree of protection for the work. Recently there has been people on eBay that have taken some of the colorized works that did not have any protection and are making money selling something someone else did! It has happened to a number of people including @Zuzah

Sorry, would love to not put in the watermark, but some really unethical people out there. I am trying to do this for profit.

 

[chellers]

Lovely. Thank you for sharing.

 

[diane]

Very nice. Love the detail that comes out. I do have to comment - he's got a halo!

 

[LoriAnn]

Well, look at him. Fabulous. Love his eye color.

 

[ole]

If one looks for it, you can see steel in his eyes.

 

[diane]

If one looks for it, you can see steel in his eyes.

That's why one of his men said, "Looks like he means it!"

 

[chellers]

Julia would have loved this portrait.

 

[civilwarincolor]

Lovely. Thank you for sharing.

Very nice. Love the detail that comes out. I do have to comment - he's got a halo!

If one looks for it, you can see steel in his eyes.

Julia would have loved this portrait.

Thank you all so much, your comments are much appreciated. The "halo" effect is something that I started doing as a standard on my studio images from the beginning to give them the back-lighting you would find in studio images today.

This image was done as part of our Thanksgiving weekend sale. One customer purchased several images that included one of Grant that was not large enough for the size he wanted. I found this one as an alternate for his choice and offered to restore and colorize it at no additional charge. When you look at the original from the LOC though it had a lot of issues and took a bit of work to fix the damage to the photograph.

Hopefully you appreciate the restoration as much as the colorization:

 

[diane]

Wow! Now I really appreciate your work!

 

[civilwarincolor]

Wow! Now I really appreciate your work!

Thanks so much. When I showed the original B&W version to my customer he said I don't know there is so much damage, I would really like one that was in better condition. I just had to laugh and told him that it would look perfect, he just needed to trust me and I would have him approve it before it was printed.

He was not really sure it could be done because he is a photographer and had worked with Photoshop to restore images before. I think he really felt it was not possible to do without it being REALLY obvious. I sent him closeups of the damage before and after, I think he is a believer now.

When he got the final results back he was thrilled. He told me that he would never trust any image that had been printed post Photoshop.

 

[sflickinger]

Really cool. It's amazing how much color humanizes them. When I was a cop we took evidence pictures in b&w for the contrast, but color has so much more impact. I remember another thread about eye color and it's amazing how many people had either blue or green eyes in the 19th century. It was due in part to the large number of European immigrants/descendants. High quality work. Well done.

 

[civilwarincolor]

Really cool. It's amazing how much color humanizes them. When I was a cop we took evidence pictures in b&w for the contrast, but color has so much more impact. I remember another thread about eye color and it's amazing how many people had either blue or green eyes in the 19th century. It was due in part to the large number of European immigrants/descendants. High quality work. Well done.

These days I assume they shoot it all in color and then just process it for high contrast in B&W if needed. Whole new world!

 

[sflickinger]

These days I assume they shoot it all in color and then just process it for high contrast in B&W if needed. Whole new world!

Shoot, I wonder if they take a lot of photos at all. Video is the way now I would think. Although stills, I'm sure still have their place. Again, well done. I might get a couple of pictures of my GG colorized someday.

 

[civilwarincolor]

Shoot, I wonder if they take a lot of photos at all. Video is the way now I would think. Although stills, I'm sure still have their place. Again, well done. I might get a couple of pictures of my GG colorized someday.

Video is great, but you lose the detail in a still image. I think I would want to have both. Video for overall scene and stills for closeups.

If you do want to pick up some prints, this is the weekend to do it. Sale ends Monday night.

 

[civilwarincolor]

Per customer request I added an adjustment layer to the image to make the color more intense. Here is the result. Let me know if you prefer the original or the update.

 

[LoriAnn]

Oh, I like the update. He stands out more.

 

[DixieRifles]

I try to make the watermark as minimal as possible to allow you to enjoy the image, but still provide a degree of protection for the work. Recently there has been people on eBay that have taken some of the colorized works that did not have any protection and are making money selling something someone else did! It has happened to a number of people including @Zuzah

Don't apologize.
I put photos on my website that are unpublised photos donated to me by families of veterans and people take them for their use. I have also made annotated maps that have been "borrowed". I want to share my site and allow others to use it to learn but once someone posts it on FaceBook, it is considered free public domain by others.

 

[civilwarincolor]

Oh, I like the update. He stands out more.

Thank you, I was happy with it too.