Flaxfield- A bucolic 1950s Suffolk backwater

AdeMoore

Western Thunderer
Both images have turned out extremely well Rob.
Very fond of the top one.
Full of inspiration that.
Wonderful little station building complete with bench barrow and gas lamp.
The two grounded coaches the closest with a wooden barrel and weather porch.
All alongside the tranquil water what a scene! If only we had a time machine as my dad would say!
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
And staying with the Kelvedon and Tollesbury but thinking of Flaxfield, I think this turned out well.

1000011139.jpg

Interesting photo (the colourisation being the modern equivalent of what photographic studios were doing 120+ years ago with photo tinting :)).

I suspect this is Station Road, Tollesbury with the station on the left behind the trees. with the high ground in the background likely to be Hyde Farm just NNW of Great Wigborough. With Station Road being a minor road/lane leading to nowhere the chances are it did not warrant a Ministry of Transport (MoT) 'Crossing No Gates' road sign and left the the non-standard ungated level crossing warning sign - obviously erected by the railway.
However the MoT appeared to deem it necessary to erect a (reflective studded) speed derestriction sign between the crossing warning sign and the railway implying a built up area behind the photographer. At the date of the photo the national speed limit was 30 mph (48.2 kph) in built up areas with all other roads derestricted - not that many vehicles could manage today's national speed limit of 60 mph (96.5 kph) in 1947.
 

NHY 581

Western Thunderer
These colourized images are quite addictive and I really am finding them a useful tool to provide an idea, an indication of the final colouration of the layout (s). I stress they're not perfect but I find that they have a certain attraction.

Here are a few more.


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1000011195-colorized.jpg


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1000011197.jpg



Rob
 

ChrisBr

Western Thunderer
Rob,

Can I ask how you go about doing the colourisation? Is there a particular piece of software? How much is down to you as the "colourer"?

Chris
 

NHY 581

Western Thunderer
Hi Chris,

I'm doing this on my phone via two apps.

Colourize free app does most of the work. You need to put up with rather annoying and very regular ads in the free version but it's tolerable. The app struggles with certain colours such as black or brown which can require a bit of work to correct, sometimes not wholly successfully.

I then use another free app which is Snapseed. I use this for all my photo editing. In this instance, I use it to enhance the detail and either increase or reduce the colour saturation, alter the brightness, shadows etc etc.

As I say, it's quite addictive.

Both are available via Google play.

Rob
 

ChrisBr

Western Thunderer
Hi Chris,

I'm doing this on my phone via two apps.

Colourize free app does most of the work. You need to put up with rather annoying and very regular ads in the free version but it's tolerable. The app struggles with certain colours such as black or brown which can require a bit of work to correct, sometimes not wholly successfully.

I then use another free app which is Snapseed. I use this for all my photo editing. In this instance, I use it to enhance the detail and either increase or reduce the colour saturation, alter the brightness, shadows etc etc.

As I say, it's quite addictive.

Both are available via Google play.

Rob
Thx Rob
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Interesting photo (the colourisation being the modern equivalent of what photographic studios were doing 120+ years ago with photo tinting :)).

I suspect this is Station Road, Tollesbury with the station on the left behind the trees. with the high ground in the background likely to be Hyde Farm just NNW of Great Wigborough. With Station Road being a minor road/lane leading to nowhere the chances are it did not warrant a Ministry of Transport (MoT) 'Crossing No Gates' road sign and left the the non-standard ungated level crossing warning sign - obviously erected by the railway.
However the MoT appeared to deem it necessary to erect a (reflective studded) speed derestriction sign between the crossing warning sign and the railway implying a built up area behind the photographer. At the date of the photo the national speed limit was 30 mph (48.2 kph) in built up areas with all other roads derestricted - not that many vehicles could manage today's national speed limit of 60 mph (96.5 kph) in 1947.
Absolutely right, Dave. However, it's a technique which continued long after 1900. When I started working for Kodak in the 1960s the dyes were still available in sets - not that we ever sold very many!

Brian
 
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JimG

Western Thunderer
Absolutely tight, Dave. However, it's a technique which continued long after 1900. When I started working for Kodak in the 1960s the dyes were still available in sets - not that we ever sold very many!

My father was a part time professional photographer in the 1940s/50s and I remember him colouring his black and white prints. I remember a book with pages of different colours. The pages were perforated and he would remove a perforated section and placed it on a saucer and apply a wet brush to the section to get the dye out of the paper section. I remember that he coloured portrait work but I can never remember him colouring views.

Jim.
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Those are the chappies Jim! They were certainly still available in the early to mid '60s. (1960s!). I had one or two sets and played around with them on various black and white subjects but never made a serious effort to "improve" any photos. The result could, however, look very much like the colourised black and white movies which appear on our screens from time to time but didn't really satisfy my artistic expectations any more than colourised movies do now.

As you'll be aware some early turn-of-the-century movies were hand coloured which meant each frame had to be dealt with separately. No wonder such movies are so extremely rare.

Brian
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
A brief rabbit hole interlude:
Was in a '30s style steak house in Colorado last year, a big screen behind the bar was playing a black and white movie.
Usually I find TV in this situation a most unwelcome visual distraction, but this one had me repeatedly glancing at it, trying to recognise the film and the actors.
I gave up and when the manager came round later I asked him what the film was.
"Oh, its XXX, it came out last year, we put the display on black and white to better suit the ambiance".
It most certainly did, and it had me fooled too!
Amazing how much more 'compelling' a B&W film is to its colour equivalent - makes you use your imagination so much more.
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
I agree, Tony. Just look at "The Longest Day" and "Elephant Man" as prime examples. (Of course there are quite a few others).

Brian
 
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