Restoration & Colourisation
Dappled History is my nom de plume, dedicated to the art of image colourisation since May 2022. While I toyed with the idea for years before, 2022 saw me finally take the plunge. History and trivia have always fascinated me, making this endeavour immensely enjoyable.
My colourisations strive for historical accuracy. Hours of sleuthing into period colours, architecture, and fashion trends go into every piece. For portraits, I delve into facial features, hair colours, medals, costumes etc. practically anything that brings it closer to being factually correct. Occasionally, I inject a dash of colour to enliven a scene, while ensuring fealty to the era’s palette.
Working primarily in Photoshop, I meticulously refine images—removing blemishes, reducing artefacts, and ensuring crisp details. Multiple layers allow for precise colour adjustments tailored to client preferences, maintaining sharpness and clarity even under close scrutiny.
Depending on complexity, a single project can demand anywhere from a few hours to several weeks of dedicated effort. Cityscapes and intricate scenes, in particular, test my patience and skill.
While much of my work is manual, I harness AI sparingly to enhance faint details, upscale images without loss, or expedite background colourisation– because let’s face it, hand-painting every blade of grass is tedious. Rest assured, each AI-assisted enhancement is meticulously checked and adjusted for realism. If AI distorts facial features, I prefer accuracy to beauty, I stick to the original.