Hand Colored Prints for the Maze
As part of my project to make a story book, I have a vague idea of including at least one print from the black and white photos my brother took. He used a Hasselblad with two film backs so he captured black and white as well as color images. Conceptually I thought perhaps a hand colored print would be way of doing this. My grandmother often hand tinted photos my grandfather took and I have experimented at different times both oil tints and colored pencils.
Pencils offer more control and are less messy. After my first attempt with a simple cheap pencil set I bought a larger set. Some research showed these were good so I bought the set.
I have starting printing on Ilford MG ART 300 paper which is 100 percent cotton rag paper like water color paper. It is expensive but I usually like the results. For hand coloring with pencils it has a great advantage of having some real 'tooth' where even FB matte paper has some difficulty getting the pencils to transfer color.
I chose a couple of candidates and printed them about 1/2 a stop lighter than a normal print. This allows more of the color to show.
This first one is a favorite. My brother managed to frame the moon and the cliff and retain some sky tone. It seems from the location of the moon (waxing gibbous) this was around sunset. In some ways the view with just the cliffs makes it seem it could be a photo from some planet other than earth.
I tried my best to get reasonable colors. I found a really effective technique in going over the bands of patina and shadow with a dark purple pencil. This improved the contrast and added some subtle color shift. For the rocks I used a tissue to smear the color and did the same for the sky but went over with the sky with a darker blue and left the pencil marks.
It looks much better in person and the color gives the photo a 3-d appearance as your eye separates the colors out.
The next is the Maze Overlook where the trail begins. This print could probably do with being a 1/2 stop less exposed. The color comes in darker and less subtle. Again a good 3-d effect is present in person.
Next is a dear skull. Again this works better in person I think. First the print then the color version.
Pencils offer more control and are less messy. After my first attempt with a simple cheap pencil set I bought a larger set. Some research showed these were good so I bought the set.
I have starting printing on Ilford MG ART 300 paper which is 100 percent cotton rag paper like water color paper. It is expensive but I usually like the results. For hand coloring with pencils it has a great advantage of having some real 'tooth' where even FB matte paper has some difficulty getting the pencils to transfer color.
I chose a couple of candidates and printed them about 1/2 a stop lighter than a normal print. This allows more of the color to show.
This first one is a favorite. My brother managed to frame the moon and the cliff and retain some sky tone. It seems from the location of the moon (waxing gibbous) this was around sunset. In some ways the view with just the cliffs makes it seem it could be a photo from some planet other than earth.
I tried my best to get reasonable colors. I found a really effective technique in going over the bands of patina and shadow with a dark purple pencil. This improved the contrast and added some subtle color shift. For the rocks I used a tissue to smear the color and did the same for the sky but went over with the sky with a darker blue and left the pencil marks.
It looks much better in person and the color gives the photo a 3-d appearance as your eye separates the colors out.
The next is the Maze Overlook where the trail begins. This print could probably do with being a 1/2 stop less exposed. The color comes in darker and less subtle. Again a good 3-d effect is present in person.
Next is a dear skull. Again this works better in person I think. First the print then the color version.
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