Purple
By: usermattw
Tags: CDV, photography, Savannah, vintage photography
Click here to view them larger.
When I end up with photos like these two little CDVs, I’m never entirely sure whether the color is the result of some hand-tinting by the original photographer, or some attempt at helpful enhancements later by, say, a child with a marker. To my inexpert eye, the one on the left looks like the purple was part of the original artistic concept for the picture, and the one on the right looks like somebody later was having fun trying to color it in. The one on the left looks elegant. The one on the right looks clumsy, with even her hands being weirdly purple (gloves?). They aren’t the only images I have with partial coloration, and I’m getting used to seeing it as an occasional choice, rather than a jarring oddity. Sometimes they end up looking nice, like this one, which also has purple furniture. And other times they look borderline comical, like this one, where they basically just colored in his cuffs and socks. By the way, the one on the right has no information, but here is the back of the one on the left.
It’s a pre-printed design into which the photographer stamped his studio’s information using… more purple ink! It’s hard to read, but the photographer is J. W. Perkins of Savannah, Georgia. According to somebody’s research here, Perkins had studios in different locations, and was at this location in Savannah only from 1866 to 1867 or 1868, at which point a photographer named J. F. Coonley took over, including adapting this same logo to his name.
Pics of Then 
Sometimes it does look like someone used markers doesn’t it, I know what you mean. 😀 Lovely photos, also the ones you linked to.
Thanks. Yes, I’m sure it’s not easy to do it well.
I like both of these! Her lips look pretty good from a distance. I can’t imagine what sort of brush or tool would be used to color a detail that small. Certainly a magnifying glass would be needed.
Some years ago, before digital editing was common, I watched a photographer retouch a black-and-white photo she had taken, using tiny little paint brushes and paints in a full array of grayscale colors, removing a pimple here, a stray hair there. It was amazing to watch that process. And amazing to realize they make such tiny brushes!
I’ve done a little bit of photo tinting, and the tools were indeed tiny, pointy brushes. And inks that were pretty translucent. I don’t know how different they were from 1860’s tools, but they could get the effect of the lefthand photo, if used properly.
I thought for a second that the setting on the right was meant to represent the seaside, but then I realized the chair didn’t belong, and then I realized what I had taken for a seagull is actually just some kind of smudge.
Ha! I see what you mean about the seagull-shaped smudge. 🙂 How cool that you’ve done some tinting, too. I’m guessing the basic idea of the brushes hasn’t changed much over time, even if what they’re made of has.