Colorizing Photoshoppers Put a New Spin on Old Historical Photos

There’s an awesome little subreddit that has been getting a lot of press coverage as of late. It’s called ColorizedHistory, and is a 20,000+ person strong community of “Amateur Historians” who are interested in the idea of creating high quality colorized versions of historical black-and-white photographs.

Unlike many other subreddits, this community is quite exclusive when it comes to submitted content. It’s not open to new contributors, and only a select number of Photoshop gurus on an approved list of submitters are allowed to submit colorized works. The rest of the community follows, enjoys, and comments on these pieces.

The colorized photographs themselves are from different eras in history. Some were created using old tintypes from the mid-1800s. Others are more recent, showing B&W scenes captured just decades ago.

All of them are the result of hours of careful editing by professional and amateur Photoshoppers who have both an eye for color and a desire to see what historical images would look like today if color photography had existed in past ages.

Here’s a photograph of General Joseph Hooker, captured by photographer Mathew Brady in 1862:

…and a colorized version of that photograph by Mads Madsen, who can also be found on his website and on Facebook:

Here’s a 1936 photo by Dorothea Lange showing drought refugees waiting for the opening of the orange picking season in Porterville, California:

…and a colorized version by Cyriel Roumen:

Here’s a wet plate collodion photo of President Theodore Roosevelt, captured around 1900:

…and a colorized version created by Will Doran

Here’s a 1910 picture by Lewis Wickes Hine showing newspaper boys taking a smoking break in St. Louis, Missouri:

…and a colorized version by Paul Edwards, who can also be found on Facebook:

Here’s another photo by Hine titled “Powerhouse Mechanic,” captured in 1921:

…and a colorized version by Malakon:

Here’s a 1936 photograph by Dorothea Lange titled “Georgia peach pickers eating”:

…and a colorized version by Jordan J. Lloyd, who can also be found on Facebook:

Here’s a 1915 photograph taken in Saratoga Springs, New York, titled “Broadway at the United States Hotel”:

…and a colorized version by Sanna Dullaway, who can also be found on Facebook and through her website:

Here’s a 1923 photo showing W.H. Murphy and an associate testing a bulletproof vest in Washington D.C.:

…and a colorized version by Mads Madsen:

Here’s a 1945 photograph by photographer Toni Frissell showing a boy standing in front of the rubble of his home after London was bombed from above:

…and a colorized version by Andreas Larsson:

A photo of the Hindenburg airship disaster in 1937:

…and a colorized version by Dana Keller, who can also be found on Facebook:

Here’s a wet plate collodion photo titled “Nashville, Tennessee. View from Capitol,” captured by photographer George N. Barnard in 1864:

…and a colorized version by Sanna Dullaway:

Here’s a 1939 photograph by Dorothea Lange showing an unemployed lumber worker:

…and a colorized version of that photograph by Mads Madsen:

A portrait of General Gershom Mott captured by Mathew Brady in 1964:

…and a colorized version of that photograph by Mads Madsen:

A 1939 photograph by Dorothea Lange showing a lazy Sunday at a country store in North Carolina:

…and a colorized version by Jordan J. Lloyd:

A 1945 photograph by army private Ralph Forney, showing a German concentration camp at Wobbelin after the U.S. Ninth Army discovered the inmates there:

…and a colorized version by Andreas Larsson:

A photograph of a Washington D.C. car crash in 1921:

…and a colorized version by Sanna Dullaway:

Here’s a photograph by photographer George W. Ackerman showing a Texan farmer reading a paper in 1931:

…and a colorized version by Paul Edwards:

You can find these photographs and more by paying a visit to the ColorizedHistory subreddit over on Reddit.