Handcoloring Photographs Step by Step Paperback – Illustrated, January 1, 1997

Overall the topic of handcoloring B&W photos is covered in a short easy to understand presentation. It is woefully inadequate for anyone with even minimal experience in the medium. It's like this could have been written in 1950 while sitting in dad's Buick waiting for the waitress on roller skates to cruise up with your cheeseburger and foot beer float. I don't want to be harsh but there is no way that computer technology can be ignored, nor inks, wild new colors. And there are no color photos in this book!!!..

As with most books of this genre, it is a bit dated but has interesting information and good explanations.

good source of info!

This shows you exactly the steps in hand coloring photos. The process is made really clear!Sample images are well presented and give fine suggestions for my own work.

"Handcoloring Photographs" is an excellent introduction to handcoloring for the hobbyist. It covers most methods of handcoloring, including several inexpensive media which may be convenient to start out with. The book's Introduction is followed by 10 instructional chapters. All chapters include information on how to prepare your print and how to apply (and remove) the color, accompanied by many colorful examples.Chapter 1, "Getting Started" explains what supplies you will need, how to make cotton-tipped bamboo skewers, set up your workspace, and choose a photograph suitable for coloring. Chapter 2, "Toners & Dyes", discusses techniques for changing the base color of your print before coloring, including how to mask a print for selective dying/toning. Most people won't want to tone their print before coloring, but this is an interesting technique if you are trying to emulate antique photographs. Chapter 3, "Oil Paints & Pastels", discusses this most popular coloring media. Oil paints, oil pastels, and Marshall's photo oils, as well as some other less common oil media, are explained. Chapter 4, "Watercolors", addresses watercolor paints and other water-soluble media, such as liquid watercolors and water-soluble pencils and crayons. Chapter 5, is dedicated to "Colored Pencils", one of the easiest handcoloring media to use. Included are product recommendations, instructions for sculpting pencil tips, applying and smoothing the color, and mixing colors. Chapter 6, provides basic information about "Other Media" you may want to try. Retouching dyes, markers, acrylics, inks, and gouache (poster paint) are defined and examples provided, but there is no detailed information on how to use them. Chapter 7 provides guidelines for "Mixing the Media", such as how to mix oil and water-based media in the same photograph. Chapter 8 includes useful "Handcoloring Tips" on how to best approach coloring your photo. Chapter 9, "Color Theory", discusses the merits of realistic and unrealistic colors and how best to achieve them. It includes instructions on how to mix, lighten, darken, and dull pigments to meet your needs. Chapter 10, "Presenting Your Artwork", gives advise on how to avoid fading and general deterioration through spray-on finishes, proper storage, cleaning, displaying and protecting your prints. Appendix B is a convenient chart of the advantages and disadvantages of the various coloring media discussed in the book. There is also a Glossary of terms and an index.The instructions in "Handcoloring Photographs" are easy to follow, They are reasonably detailed, but could be improved by more specific discussion and illustrations on applying and blending paints. So many different handcoloring media are discussed that everyone can find one to match his or her tastes and budget. The only handcoloring technique that is not discussed here is airbrushing, which requires specialized equipment and a lot of practice. "Handcoloring Photographs" packs a lot of useful information into a short book, and it gives the reader a lot of choices. If you find that Marshall's photo oils are your preference, "The Art of Handpainting Photographs" by Cheryl Machat Dorskind provides more detailed instructions on using photo oils, with an emphasis on portraiture. Unfortunately, there is no one book that contains every bit of useful information on handcoloring photographs, but "Handcoloring Photographs" is a good one.

Handcoloring Photographs Step by StepbySandra Laird & Carey Chambers Sandra Laird, a commercial and fine art photographer who teaches handcoloring, and Carey Chambers, a technical writer, teamed up and competently produced a very helpful and knowledgeable book for those interested in learning the art of handcoloring photographs. Every step is described and illustrated in detail. You just can't go wrong. Chapter one introduces you to the supplies needed and media available for handcoloring photographs. How to set up your workplace is discussed as is how to choose and prepare the photograph you want to color. Part of the preparation for the photograph is the correct printing of the photograph, print size and paper choice. These considerations are fully discussed. Then you make your choice of media. You can choose oil paints and pastels, watercolor paints, colored pencils, markers, acrylics or gouache. Chapter two introduces you to toners and dyes. "Toning or dyeing can help you achieve a better handcolored result," the author suggests. A before and after sample print shows the difference sepia-toning a print before coloring can make. The results are indeed, pleasing. Each step of the toning and dyeing procedures are clearly illustrated and explained. Again, sample prints illustrate the effect each process has on a print. Selective toning or dyeing (a method of toning or dyeing only a portion of a print) is also described. You are introduced to oil paints, pastels and other oil-based media in greater detail in chapter three. How to choose the medium best for your project and preparing the print for the particular media you choose is covered. Again, clear illustrations and text allow you to follow the artist through the steps taken to handcolor a specific photograph using each oil-based medium. Laird and Chambers take the same care going into detail in chapter four. This chapter covers all you need to know to get started using watercolor paint to color your photographs. Clear explanations and instructions accompany the step-by-step illustrations. Types of watercolor (liquid, tube or cake) are discussed as are brushes. Chapter five talks about using colored pencils and chapter six discusses all other media. Can you mix the various media when coloring one print? You bet. Examples of such prints are shown with suggestions and instructions on how to do it in chapter seven. Chapter eight ties all the loose ends together, and answers any questions you still may have before tackling your project. Chapter nine is a quick course in color theory, mixing pigments and choosing the best colors for your particular photograph. The last chapter tells us how to finish the print and prepare it for showing. Subjects such as spray finishes, matting, framing and displaying your print and archival considerations are covered. Appendix A lists manufacturers and suppliers for the various products needed for handcoloring photographs. Appendix B follows with a guide to the advantages and disadvantages of the different coloring media. A glossary and index end the book. I found this book thorough, clear and complete. Well illustrated with attractive and well- done photographs, simple instructions in easy-to-understand text takes you through each step of the processes. I really can't find anything to complain about where this book is concerned. This is an excellent book for a beginner and may even give pros an idea or two they can put to use.

This book covers most popular hand colouring techniques. Thus, it is a good material for getting to know the alternatives. However, as most of hand colouring books currently in the market (as far as my knowledge) this book is very poor in technical information, such as pigment and colour dye nature, their interaction with the silver image, effects to contrast and picture integrity, picture and colour durability etc. Methods are not very clearly identified, either, still leaving a lot of questions in your mind. It is a good advertisement for the American consumer market though. You will get to know which particular brands and their products will work best (! ) for you, ignoring all about the basic (raw) material knowledge. It is amazing that neither this nor any other book in the subject will discuss important properties of the colouring mediums such as transparency and lightfastness. In my opinion, this book works fine for people who want recipes and where-to-buy lists.