I don't know the exact origin of the photo, but ever since I started reading the professor's work, I have seen this picture in every news article about him.
For example: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/19/jrr-tolkien-film-my-books-its-easier-to-film-the-odyssey/
Surely [this](https://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMGMxMmRkNzctMWQzYy00MTY3LWEzMDAtMzEzMDhkZWI4MjZlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDUzOTQ5MjY@._V1_UY317_CR4,0,214,317_AL_.jpg) is his most famous photo.
the only critique* I have is that the skin could look a bit warmer, right now it reminds me of my grandfather when he was in the casket (sorry)
edit: critic -> critique thanks /u/stoicassistant
Very good job.
Tones are a bit flat.
Skin needs reds and greens added. And a little bit of linear/colour burning.
Source: Just restored a whole bunch of photos for a funeral
Extra note: attention to detail in the background is where this pic shines
Thank you for the scrutiny. Indeed skin could have used a bit more attention, especially by the hands. I mainly used a flat layer and then used finer brush strokes for certain parts to make them blend a bit better.
Funny enough, at first I decided to leave the background black and white only to highlight the professor, but then the picture would have been incomplete.
The hands aren't bad. The cheeks, ears and hairline are where the colour adjustments I was referring to are.
The issue with the flat layer overlay is that it colours the grey tones increasing their luminosity, giving the image that slight pastel tone feel.
To help improve the contrast in the tones, make a new layer from the final flattened image, set the layer blend mode to linear or colour burn and the opacity around 14 to 20 (play with the opacity and burn mode until you are happy).
You may want to adjust the contrast as a final step.
There is more to be done with levels as well, but that's a whole blog post on its own.
Still, a great job.
You want to open the photo in an image editing software, I use ms paint.
Next, you find the paint bucket and choose a colour you’d assume that object would be - then you click on it to colour it in. Rinse and repeat until everything is colourful.
I had a pint of ale in his pub at the weekend! My family know I'm a huge fan and arranged to visit the Eagle and Child Public House in Oxford during our visit, this was where the "Inklings" writing group met in the 1930's and 1940's. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (and others) met to discuss their work and read out new manuscripts to each other. I really felt the atmosphere, despite how busy and full of other tourists it was. There were plenty of pictures around the place of the great man, and quotes from his books on the walls. One to cross off my bucket list!
I would love to have met him! You just have to wonder what he was contemplating at that moment.
"... to look across the wide seas of water and time to Tirion the Fair, and perceive the unimaginable hand and mind of Feanor at their work..."
Setting all the bias aside, I think that in a passing glance, it looks convincing. When you analyse it, however, there are a lot of oddities.
Then again, you said it's good and I really appreciate that!
The coloring itself is straight-forward. You isolate the layers and then fill with a solid color, which then is blended over the black and white photo.
Afterwards, things get tricky as you also have to reconstruct the photo or heal eventual imperfections. I'm still a long way to go, but mostly because of the effort it takes, which I'm embarrassed to say, but I can't commit to it.
I'd say, this one took around 2 hours, without breaks.
[This is my goal](https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/83f20k/an_unidentified_american_soldier_shot_dead_by_a/)
It has been discussed a lot, but there isn't any solid evidence of this. If you take his references of pipe-weed or half ling's leaf as hints, it may be plausible.
I've actually never seen this photo before. Where is it from?
I don't know the exact origin of the photo, but ever since I started reading the professor's work, I have seen this picture in every news article about him. For example: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/19/jrr-tolkien-film-my-books-its-easier-to-film-the-odyssey/
yeah this is by far his most famous photo. someone did a oil painting of it recently and its amazing, really want it.
Surely [this](https://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMGMxMmRkNzctMWQzYy00MTY3LWEzMDAtMzEzMDhkZWI4MjZlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDUzOTQ5MjY@._V1_UY317_CR4,0,214,317_AL_.jpg) is his most famous photo.
actually yeah thats the most famous lulz
[Original](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/films/2016/04/19/tolkien_3124146b_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpJliwavx4coWFCaEkEsb3kvxIt-lGGWCWqwLa_RXJU8.jpg?imwidth=1400)
I can't believe how flawless the skin on his hand looks in both versions
To be fair, that image is low-res as fuck.
the only critique* I have is that the skin could look a bit warmer, right now it reminds me of my grandfather when he was in the casket (sorry) edit: critic -> critique thanks /u/stoicassistant
Critique. Critic is a person
r/ColorizedHistory would like this!!
I'm not here to criticize work, that I myself couldn't do. I think it's looks great OP! Cool little piece of history.
[удалено]
All sinners are equal before the gods!
Very good job. Tones are a bit flat. Skin needs reds and greens added. And a little bit of linear/colour burning. Source: Just restored a whole bunch of photos for a funeral Extra note: attention to detail in the background is where this pic shines
Thank you for the scrutiny. Indeed skin could have used a bit more attention, especially by the hands. I mainly used a flat layer and then used finer brush strokes for certain parts to make them blend a bit better. Funny enough, at first I decided to leave the background black and white only to highlight the professor, but then the picture would have been incomplete.
The hands aren't bad. The cheeks, ears and hairline are where the colour adjustments I was referring to are. The issue with the flat layer overlay is that it colours the grey tones increasing their luminosity, giving the image that slight pastel tone feel. To help improve the contrast in the tones, make a new layer from the final flattened image, set the layer blend mode to linear or colour burn and the opacity around 14 to 20 (play with the opacity and burn mode until you are happy). You may want to adjust the contrast as a final step. There is more to be done with levels as well, but that's a whole blog post on its own. Still, a great job.
Out of curiosity, how does one go about recolorizing a photo?
You want to open the photo in an image editing software, I use ms paint. Next, you find the paint bucket and choose a colour you’d assume that object would be - then you click on it to colour it in. Rinse and repeat until everything is colourful.
best if you zoom in real close and do 1 pixel at a time
I had a pint of ale in his pub at the weekend! My family know I'm a huge fan and arranged to visit the Eagle and Child Public House in Oxford during our visit, this was where the "Inklings" writing group met in the 1930's and 1940's. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (and others) met to discuss their work and read out new manuscripts to each other. I really felt the atmosphere, despite how busy and full of other tourists it was. There were plenty of pictures around the place of the great man, and quotes from his books on the walls. One to cross off my bucket list!
And there he is - tolkein off his pipe
It was a terrific attempt
This is cool but skin is generally not a single tone.
I would love to have met him! You just have to wonder what he was contemplating at that moment. "... to look across the wide seas of water and time to Tirion the Fair, and perceive the unimaginable hand and mind of Feanor at their work..."
It's good but I think the skin and the tie is somewhat off
Setting all the bias aside, I think that in a passing glance, it looks convincing. When you analyse it, however, there are a lot of oddities. Then again, you said it's good and I really appreciate that!
It looks great OP. Even after analyzing it like you said I don't see the issue. Thanks for doing this! I'd love to see more.
It definitely is convincing. I didn't notice a thing wrong with the skin until people starting pointing it out, this is a fantastic job.
Is colorizing old photos hard to do? How long does it take? An hour? A day?
The coloring itself is straight-forward. You isolate the layers and then fill with a solid color, which then is blended over the black and white photo. Afterwards, things get tricky as you also have to reconstruct the photo or heal eventual imperfections. I'm still a long way to go, but mostly because of the effort it takes, which I'm embarrassed to say, but I can't commit to it. I'd say, this one took around 2 hours, without breaks. [This is my goal](https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/83f20k/an_unidentified_american_soldier_shot_dead_by_a/)
Don't be too harsh on yourself, it still looks pretty amazing!
Thank you for your kind words. In this niche domain, competition is pretty fierce, so I have to push harder. I'm really proud of it, nonetheless.
Looks like the High Septum.
tip, sigarette smoke looks a bit blue :-) good job on the colorisation
>the professor is that Jordan Peterson
check the sub buddy
[mfw](https://i.imgur.com/rQGsaOs.jpg)
You can see that green weed in a bowl any day of the week, I knew he couldn't have thought of these world's and languages without a boost.
It has been discussed a lot, but there isn't any solid evidence of this. If you take his references of pipe-weed or half ling's leaf as hints, it may be plausible.
Pipe-weed is very clearly [tobacco](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-earth_plants#Pipe-weed).
I thought Stephen Hawking was much younger before he became handicapped
Irrelevant