victorian

This colorized video is a time machine to Victorian England

May 4, 2023 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment

While many historians argue that we should leave old black-and-white photos and videos untouched, many people enjoy their colorized versions too. And I admit I’m one of them. While I highly appreciate the original sources unchanged, giving them some color gives them a different feel and gives viewers a new, perhaps more personal look on them.

If you enjoy colorized old footage too, you’ll enjoy this video from Vintage Stories. It takes us 130 years back to Victorian England, giving us a glimpse of life as it was back in the late 19th century.

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The Victorian death portrait: a family photo guaranteed to send shivers up your spine

Jan 13, 2023 by Alex Baker 3 Comments

At a glance, this image looks like an old photograph of five somewhat bored children posing for a family photo. And indeed, it is. However, it hides a certain macabre secret: the smallest child on the far left is actually dead and is propped up on a stand.

To our modern standards, this seems rather creepy, but in the Victorian era, these ‘death portraits,’ as they became known, were very common. It offers a fascinating glimpse into what life may have been like for the early jobbing photographer of the Victorian period.[Read More…]

Even 19th century had its “Facetune” that everyone used in photos

Jul 26, 2021 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment

It’s not a secret that “photoshopping” existed way before Photoshop. Photos were edited in the darkroom, and masters like Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange manipulated their photos that are iconic today. But did you know just how far it went?

Have you ever wondered why people in the 19th-century photos all had flawless skin, thin waist, or posture that seems a bit off? Well, it turns out they also had their photos edited to match the beauty standards, just like people on social media do today. In this super-fun video, Bernadette Banner tells you more about it and explores the history of the Victorian era’s “Facetune.”

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Use your non photography interests to step out of your comfort zone

Oct 7, 2017 by Clinton lofthouse 2 Comments

We all get that feeling sometimes when we look at our work and we feel we have been creating the same kind of images for too long without experimenting. It is good to create a portfolio of work which showcases your skill in one style, but we as artists still need to experiment to grow and to keep ourselves from going insane.

A good way of being inspired to experiment is to look through your body of work, find an area you haven’t really dabbled in then put on your experimenting hat and get stuck in.

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