Techniques

The art of hand coloring was born by necessity before color film was available. Black and white prints would be colored by hand in an attempt to reproduce the original color of the scene. Even after color film was available, professional photographers would use hand coloring to enhance their portrait images by removing or diminishing facial blemishes. This is a rare to nonexistent technique in portraiture today.

Hand coloring is now considered strictly an art form, requiring a great deal of commitment in time, personal energy, and expense beyond the darkroom. It can provide subtle accents to an image, or it can produce a dramatic effect that demands the viewer’s attention. The result depends on how the artist applies the color.

The technique is most often accomplished with transparent artists’ oils, specifically designed for use on photographs. I have developed a deep appreciation for lithographic inks, however. These are inks such as a printer might use. While photo oils are purchased in small ready to use toothpaste-like tubes of varying colors, lithographic inks are mixed from the primary colors of red, yellow and blue. Photo oils are therefore relatively easy and neat to use. The necessity of mixing the inks however, results in infinite possibilities for shades and emotional effects.

I print my fine art photographs on fiber based paper. This paper is composed of small but visible strands of paper fiber, giving the surface a slight texture and making the surface more absorbent to pigments. After the darkroom printing process, each print is selenium toned to impart archival longevity to the image - - - to insure that the image does not fade or discolor with time. Then each print is sepia toned, as seen in the image below. This process gives the typical black and white image a reddish-brown tint, which enriches the effect of the colored inks that are applied over it.

A sepia toned image, ready for hand coloring.

Ink is usually applied to the surface of the print using either a cotton swab or a paint spatula, depending upon the size of the area to be covered. Freshly applied ink is then spread and smoothed using a cotton ball. Unwanted ink can be removed from areas using base compound (pigment carrier) on the tip of a cotton swab.

Detail is applied to the image using colored pencils.

The finished hand colored photo is shown here with the paint (ink) palette. The finished product will be digitally scanned and reproduced. This makes it affordable for appreciators to purchase a copy of the work which is essentially indistinguishable from the original.

I am seen here, in my studio.