Taking requests on colorization

[JWheeler331]

With Grant, at least one Confederate soldier did not recognize him when they crossed paths. In Grant's memoirs he wrote of the time that he decided to surveil, unaccompanied by escort, the front lines during a lull in the fighting around Chattanooga. Grant rode up to a soldier dressed in blue near a creek thinking that he was a Union picket and started talking with him. During the conversation Grant asked the soldier whose corps he belonged to and the soldier in blue leaned very close to Grant and told him that he belonged to General Longstreet's corps. Grant wrote that he continued a non-informational conversation briefly with the soldier, then calmly rode away.

Interesting story. I have not read his memoirs, yet.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

Hah. That's pretty interesting. Was the soldier a spy or just dressed in blue?

I believe that many of Longstreet's troops were outfitted in an imported cloth that was bluish grey in color and when dirty was hard to distinguish from the blue color of the Federal troops.

 

[diane]

That problem with faded blue or deep grey-blue saved some important lives - like Jeb Stuart's. He'd gotten a Union coat on a raid and was wearing it when he took over for Jackson at Chancellorsville. He heard firing from his right, where he thought his troops were, and rode quickly to stop it. "Stop firing! You are firing into friends!" he bellowed to the gunnery crew. "I am sure that is the enemy, sir," responded their captain hesitantly and then Stuart realized he was yelling at a Union battery. He wheeled his horse around and was gone! Well, it was a good thing he had the blue coat on or they'd have been down to Lee finishing the job with Jackson's men!

 

[oldpete63]

That problem with faded blue or deep grey-blue saved some important lives - like Jeb Stuart's. He'd gotten a Union coat on a raid and was wearing it when he took over for Jackson at Chancellorsville. He heard firing from his right, where he thought his troops were, and rode quickly to stop it. "Stop firing! You are firing into friends!" he bellowed to the gunnery crew. "I am sure that is the enemy, sir," responded their captain hesitantly and then Stuart realized he was yelling at a Union battery. He wheeled his horse around and was gone! Well, it was a good thing he had the blue coat on or they'd have been down to Lee finishing the job with Jackson's men!

Now that's an Oh, @#%* (Boy) minute. Betcha his sweatband was drenched

 

[Aaron]

This seemed fun. I think I am going to colorize my images. Here is the first:

 

[Tin cup]

Any color off the top of your head that strikes you as incorrect?​

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Do you have the 2 Time Life Books Echoes of Glory:​

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Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy http://www.amazon.com/dp/0809488507/?tag=civilwartalkc-20​

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Arms and Equipment of the Union http://www.amazon.com/dp/080948854X/?tag=civilwartalkc-20​

These books have some good color photo's of Officers and enlisted uniforms. You get into Confederate Officers uniforms, you find that you have Gray, Cadet Gray, (a confusing term!) and almost Blue colors involved!​

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Kevin Dally​

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[Zuzah]

Any color off the top of your head that strikes you as incorrect?​

​

Do you have the 2 Time Life Books Echoes of Glory:​

​

Arms and Equipment of the Confederacy http://www.amazon.com/dp/0809488507/?tag=civilwartalkc-20​

​

Arms and Equipment of the Union http://www.amazon.com/dp/080948854X/?tag=civilwartalkc-20​

These books have some good color photo's of Officers and enlisted uniforms. You get into Confederate Officers uniforms, you find that you have Gray, Cadet Gray, (a confusing term!) and almost Blue colors involved!​

​

Kevin Dally​

​

​

​

​

Well the only thing that really strikes me is the bad quality of the image.

 

[wilber6150]

This seemed fun. I think I am going to colorize my images. Here is the first:

Very nice first attempt, keep it up you will find its addicting....Great attention to the small details...To get higher quality images try the image link on my signature line...

 

[wilber6150]

Lets be supportive of others efforts to encourage further particapation...

posted as Mod

 

[Zuzah]

Lets be supportive of others efforts to encourage further particapation...

posted as Mod

I don't know if that was referring to me or to anyone in the future but I'd like to elaborate - I meant the grainy picture quality.

 

[Aaron]

I took his comment as referring to the poor quality original picture rather than my work on it as well; those darn CdVs! =)
I have a tintype and a Melainotype to try now. Those both are quite a bit better quality.

I did have a question though. Is there a good source of images somewhere that would show what these uniforms are supposed to look like?

 

[wilber6150]

I took his comment as referring to the poor quality original picture rather than my work on it as well; those darn CdVs! =)
I have a tintype and a Melainotype to try now. Those both are quite a bit better quality.

I did have a question though. Is there a good source of images somewhere that would show what these uniforms are supposed to look like?

Examine images of existing uniforms to get the colors correct, don't use images of reenactors but try to stay with truly authentic items not reproductions..

 

[Aaron]

Ok, here is the next guy. I think he only has 1 and 1/2 legs! And if not, well in my colored picture he does!

 

[Zuzah]

Ok, here is the next guy. I think he only has 1 and 1/2 legs! And if not, well in my colored picture he does!

What program are you using?

 

[tmh10]

How about a color picture of the guy who took a lot of the pictures we love. Mattew Brady.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cwar:2:./temp/~ammem_ZVNk:T40:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query...ZVNk::displayType=1:m856sd=cwp:m856sf=4a40924

Click on the links for higher resolution picture.

 

[Aaron]

What program are you using?

I use Adobe Photoshop CS6

 

[Aaron]

How about a color picture of the guy who took a lot of the pictures we love. Mattew Brady.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cwar:2:./temp/~ammem_ZVNk:T40:



.

How about this: Seems this guy had pretty good style! I like his color choice he wore.

 

[Zuzah]

How about this: Seems this guy had pretty good style! I like his color choice he wore.

You have good coverage, and an eye for detail - however - the color codes you're using seem to be too vibrant if that makes sense. Try using f5ddcf/ae8b78/c0afa8 for skin, and change the clothes to 'Soft Light' instead of Color (I use this for the Hair too, makes it much easier to pick out a color, and another tip is to click on Background and press Ctrl-L, then making sure the 2 sliding arrows connect to the black areas.), gives it a much more... well, realistic look. Also you have to remember that even though I've done it a couple of times, nowadays with 6 billion people, only about 2% have green eyes. Another thing you have to keep in mind is, approximately half of the soldiers had some variation of blue, the other (approximate) half had some variation of brown, and in between there were a few cases of green and very rarely soldiers would have heterochromia/selective heterochromia (double/mixed iris colors). I'm fairly sure Rutherford B. Hayes had this, since both his irises are different hues of gray in b/w, but it could be the excessive use of lightning in Brady's studio.

I hope I helped and didn't come off as too much of a ******. If you want my collection of color codes which are about 50 different codes, I'd be happy to send it to you.

P.S - forgot to add - if you have 3 different layers (like I color), one Skin at the top, one Hair in the middle, and one Coat in the bottom - Skin has highest priority in terms of overlapping everything else. If you move it beneath Coat (drag and drop), suddenly the Coat has higher priority and Skin won't overlap.

P.P.S - if you have an image with a natural brown color, you can revert this by creating a layer (solid color), choosing the whitest you can go, and then change it's mode to color, save, and re-open in photoshop. Also you can ctrl-A on new layers and press Delete to remove everything instead of deleting it all. Could be you already know this, I've just been bad at photoshop.

 

[napoleon 12 pounder]

your photos sre great! I especially like the Mark twain and Capt. John C. Tidball photos. If you are so inclined Ive always wanted to see this famous picture colored. thanks for posting.

 

[Zuzah]

your photos sre great! I especially like the Mark twain and Capt. John C. Tidball photos. If you are so inclined Ive always wanted to see this famous picture colored. thanks for posting.

I'll color a batch right now. I'll try to include this but it's a bit too dark to make out details. Nonetheless it shall be attempted.