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9 Years Ago
ok, i'm colorizing old prints from around 1900 or so, its a polish decent, with what looks like russian mixed in. i'm not really all that familiar with the looks of those days and i'm going by eye. i'm look for a site that has fashion from that era and location. shirts, pants, suits, boots, etc. it's not like people can verify if i'm using the right colors, but i'd like to be accurate. i've only come across one russian name - kosovorotka - that names a shirt that looks very close to the one i'm seeing. but i can't decide what the other colors should be. i have a few more portraits to do.
anyone here in the fashion industry that has places that show color versions of what people wore back then? thanks
---Mike Savad
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9 Years Ago
Mike, this may help (never mind the language):
http://via-midgard.info/news/article/13537-muzhskaya-narodnaya-odezhda.html
If you post the images I may be able to find specific clothes.
9 Years Ago
try this link search for: russia poland fashion at the turn of the century
https://www.google.at/search?q=central+european+fashion+at+the+turn+of+the+century&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&ei=DVfRU7S-DMen4gTj-YCYAQ#q=russia+poland+fashion+at+the+turn+of+the+century&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch
9 Years Ago
You're in luck, because a Russian invented color photography.
Get this book available on www.amazon.com or perhaps in your local library. I had to abandon my copy when I moved. :(
Photographs for the Tsar: The Pioneering Color Photography of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II
9 Years Ago
i'm also wondering what that thing is in the boys lap. they are jewish, but it doesn't look like a talis. they are dressed rich, but i don't think they were. the ladies hand on the left, her nails look worn out and dirty. i'm not sure how to color that part of it. it looks like a row of photos, but i'm just not sure.
---Mike Savad
9 Years Ago
so you are looking for fashion infos on jewish lower middle class families in russia and poland before the first world war? wasn't it custom for jewish adult women in those regions to wear mostly black?
9 Years Ago
i don't know much about what they wore. usually darker colors, i'm staying within a victorian theme. i don't think any of us where that religious, or it sure didn't carry down that way. i chose brown for the suits. the boy with the collar thing, red with brown pants. purple for the old victorian next to him. little girl a bright aqua. behind her a green, mostly because it contrasts well. the lady on the right is purple as well, but a deeper shade. trying to figure out where her boots meets the floor is tough. i was able to pull a lot more detail from the shadow than i thought possible, but it's kind of lossy there and the purple one is floating right now. i need to get some boot colors for everyone.
i'm not sure if they have a jewish feeling, or if they are pulling on russian/polish roots instead. that boy with the belt on his neck has russia written on it, and same with that odd shirt with the kid and the gun, in the one above it.
---Mike Savad
9 Years Ago
Sorry Mike, I have to disagree - that shirt/jacket doesn't look Russian, more like Central European - Czech, Prussian, etc. Don't know if it matters for your project though...
9 Years Ago
The boy with the gun, his jacket is more of a Spanish design, not Russian. It looks more like a Skeleton Suit, with a Spanish tone to it.
9 Years Ago
Mike.. I like all the background and floor, but not so much the people. Actually I do like the man with the beard. His clothing looks right and the face has some variation. The vest is nice as well. The rest of the clothing just does not look real. What ever you did to the man with the beard do to the others.. More subdued colors. Get the color out of the shadows [ not totally but mostly ]. [ look at the blend if in the layer effects]. Do the same with the highlights..
But I really like the rug and the curtains and vase with the plant.
bob
9 Years Ago
i'm going for a painted look. the original had very little detail compared to the suit that still had a texture. i only have highlights for the dresses and no real color base. originally this was all shadow. each color has about 6 layers of color.
---Mike Savad
9 Years Ago
I'm with Bob on this. Everybody is too vibrant, unnatural and pasty skin tones except for the man. I think the women's dress were most likely a black or dark grey. The color on the boys suits is just too much and I don't like the little girl's hair being that vibrant of a red. Makes her look like she was adopted! Like Bob said, the background colors and the man are really great. Make the rest work with that. It's okay for the color to be subdued.
edit: the emerald green dress is a maybe.
9 Years Ago
Mike..
I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty of downloading your image to work on.. but...
The 2 images below show a solid color layer with a blend mode of soft light. I made the layer mask black and painted white to revel the color on only the girl's dress.
The second image is the same thing with blend if applied to the shadow and highlight. Being such low res it may be hard to see the difference, but with your high res originals your will see there is a big difference, and this is with just one color layer.
9 Years Ago
Mike,you'll never go wrong with black or grey colors of costumes.
People dress were grey casual and for weekends black dress.
I know nothing abut their heritage but boys can attend school,seminary,or any kind of religious services.
Probably they used formal dress in this family portrait.
Catholic were majority in Center and Eastern Europe and Eastern Orthodox in Russia.
Those time almost everywhere in Europe black was common and obligation.
Rooms as in opposite to people were colorful. Flowers,windows linens,walls,furniture,vases,portraits, etc.
Almost forgot. The golden chains,earring,medallions,pocket watches,all keep bright shining touch .
9 Years Ago
The girl dress can't be blue.
Reason is blue in BW treatment become light grey.This is not consistent with original.
Try to revers colorized image to BW again and compare.
The dress can be red,burgundy,brown,...green?
9 Years Ago
You'll need to retouch some faces. The long exposure those day in photography session
often cause in spontaneous moving or distraction.Take a look on sitting women (mother?) and standing young men in second raw.
Part of face is blurred and must be fixed in PS.
9 Years Ago
nothing i can do about the blur, there isn't enough content in there to make it sharper. and the one with the dumpy guy may not have enough information to keep the faces rounded, i may move on to another.
---Mike Savad
9 Years Ago
http://www.morbidoutlook.com/fashion/historical/2001_03_victorianmourn.html
Some suggestions here. I would keep the colours muted as well.