Before coloured photographs became accessible to all images were often colourised to make them more vibrant. It was a popular technique in the Edwardian period in both private images and commercial images as below.
Photographs were colored in one of two ways: hand tinting or hand coloring refers to a lightly painted image that is still distinguishable as a photograph; over-painting refers to an image that has been heavily painted and whose photographic origins may have been completely obscured (Hendricks, 1991; Henisch, 1996; Rinhart, 1999). Over-painted images mainly served as modern portraiture or as a way for an artist to pawn off an image as a freehand work of art, and often involved altering undesirable aspects of the original photograph. The cost of a painted photograph depended greatly on the amount of paint applied to the print (Burns, 1995).
A view off O’Connell Street with Cannock’s Clock in the background.
Further up O’Connell Street, with Cannock’s Clock in the distant.
Though occasionally as with Mount Saint Alphonsus in this picture of Quin Street the paint took some artistic liberties.
The Quays
The Docks
Baker’s Place
