Colorized images of old New York

YouTube ^ | May 6 2017 | RiverMedia

[NRx]

A collection of images from old New York and some of the surrounding areas that have been colorized.

[Vic S]

I would like to be there at 4:15 when the boys are talking to an old verteran of the Civil War.

[Vic S]

[Flick Lives]

Very neat. The images feel more “alive” colorized. Especially like the pic of the young boys listening to the old Civil War Union soldier.

[Crucial]

Wow

[DLfromthedesert]

I grew up in Brooklyn. I loved Coney Island and the Steeplechase horses.

[SamAdams76]

It's amazing how those old black and white photographs can be brought to life. It really brings the past into the present.

It's a shame that photography was not invented until well into the 1800s. Would be amazing to have photographs of Colonial America or even Medieval Europe. Of course, that's a ludicrous wish, but wouldn't that be something.

[Aliska]

Very interesting and some seemed too good to be true. I thought the coloring of ones that old had to be done by hand but what do I know?

I've got many in my collection but none like that, mostly famous places.

Some interesting comments under the video.

[yarddog]

I have an old picture postcard of DeFuniak Springs from around 1900. It was sent to my Grandmother when she was a girl from one her best friends.

I did a bit of research and learned that they were colored by hand. Once the original had been painted they were able to duplicate them in color by some process.

[RitaOK]

Until I stumbled forward to the 1920’s era Smithsonian “color version” of America, I enjoyed very much seeing your link to 1900’s old New York.

Down hill Smithsonian spends the “full feature” showing the very worst of America.

The Smithsonian doesn’t much like the USA, do they. I got that part. No balance.

[bitt]

I remember riding the steeplechase horses when I was about 5 - just a ratty old leather belt holding you on...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Cool! Thanks for posting. My Dad’s family arrived from Danzig in 1927, a few years after many of these photos were taken. They lived in a row house in NYC a few years before saving enough to move up to Westchester. The pics of the boys could have been taken of my Dad. It looks like the stories he used to tell.

[Aliska]

I have some interesting ones. I kind of like the one of the old automobile driving through the purposely cut tunnel of a redwood tree that is no more.

My mother worked for a company called Victor Animatograph. She did the colorizing of b&w photos I thought. I guess they did films, too, wish I'd asked her more about it.

A lot were produced on linen-like paper. I scanned and shared a lot of mine but they are on an old hard drive somewhere or a backup Passport that failed.

There are a lot of videos of Czarist Russia on yt that have been colorized; I assumed by hand. They look like I would expect colorized of b&w to look whereas the video tonight I wasn't prepared for the high quality of the coloring.

Thak you for your info. I don't know what to think at this point. All my various experience and never enough.

[yarddog]

As I was studying how they reproduced those color postcards.

Was amazed to learn that color photography went much further back that I would have guessed. The problem of course is they were not commercially practical until Kodachrome. Sadly Kodachrome is no longer made.

[Aliska]

Evidently it is older than I thought. As a kid, I was thrilled when my dad started buying me a few rolls of Kodachrome. Later I got a better camera and, by luck, some stunning photos with it (I usually did slides). I didn't know about camera settings until I got a DSLR and, even then, I rarely shot full manual and don't know how to calculate or the rules for it.

I doubt I'd go back to film.

I started telling you I worked for a time for Blackhawk Films, didn't know much at all about old movies, didn't need to, really. Then I did some research and see there is a wiki piece on them. It kind of took me back to see some old, familiar names.

Ektachrome? I think that was the film I liked, not sure, always Kodak though. It's awful to know a little about a lot of things and expert at nothing.

[yarddog]

I started out with Kodachrome 12 then moved on to 25 then mostly 64. It gave amazing detail. Kodachrome had vibrant beautiful colors tho maybe not as accurate as Ektacrome.

Ektacrome also had more grain for the same speed.

I will say one of the best shots I ever made was of a little cutie standing at an overlook showing the Blue Ridge Mountains in full Fall color as back drop.

I had the 35mm slide made into an 8x10 print as a gift for for her and it amazed me how sharp it was. I made another copy for myself. It didn’t hurt that the girl was really pretty.

[NFHale]

Neat stuff... thanks !

There’s a song by the group Shillelagh Law, called “When New York Was Irish”. It reminds me of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiI31u2YtWk

[freefdny]

Love that song.

[nutmeg]

Bookmark

[Buttons12]

Nice, but...sorry to be picky...at about 3:50 there’s an image of the Tashmoo. I’m pretty sure it was never afloat anywhere near New York. It was a steamboat on the Great Lakes.