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Hand-coloring Photos: An old art making a huge comeback.

© Wendy Folse

As a photographer, I have always admired the beautiful hand-colored black and white portraits of the pre-color film days. My Grandmother had several hanging in her house and they all stood out in my mind as being timeless treasures. The work of the handcolorist was what made the ordinary black and white portraits come alive. Today there is a resurgence of this technique in the modern photography market and is probably the biggest motivator for the new popularity of black and white film.

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Sharyn Sakimoto of At Play Photography in order to learn more about this popular technique. Sharyn learned the art from her grandmother at an early age, but it wasn't until about seven years ago that she started to refine her techniques and begin seriously working at the craft fulltime.

Hopefully this interview will inspire many of you to start hand-coloring your own photos.

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Sharyn Sakimoto At Play website sharyn@atplayphotography.com

Sharyn, how did you get started in the hand-coloring process?

When I was a child, I would go to my Grandmother's house and for fun, she would take out her photo oils and piles of black & white pictures. We would sit for hours at her kitchen table coloring those old pictures. She taught me the technique of hand-coloring back then, but it wasn't until about 7 years ago that I noticed the technique being used for pictures on greeting cards and I remembered my early training. I began practicing again with portraits of children, and soon began experimenting with scenery and landscapes, which is what I specialize in today.

What inspired you to work with this technique?

I love the softness of the colors in a hand-painted photograph in contrast to the bright, vivid colors of today's color film. I also find getting the right black & white picture a challenge, so the technique inspires me to improve my photography skills as well.

Does a person have to be a painter as well as a photographer to enjoy this medium?

Absolutely not! Hand-coloring photos is MUCH easier than painting, as the shading in the photograph comes through the oils. Skill as a photographer is much more important than skill as a painter. I believe that anyone can get great results right away. When I look back at my first attempts at hand-coloring, I find them to be very simply painted, but fair. (I thought they were great back then!) Now, as I have grown more confident, I am able to add more detail and experiment with techniques and colors, and I am even happier with the results. Like anything, it takes some practice.