Antique and Vintage Photos by Val Erde

Posted on by da-AL

Val Erde’s sensitive and artful photo coloring truly brings history to life. Based in the U.K., she kindly contributes this for you to see…

Dog in garden before and after. Photo coloring by Val Erde

Antique and Vintage Photos by Val Erde

In the blog I used to have, I show the colouring work I do on my collection of antique and vintage photos. I’ve been an artist all my life and have been doing these photos since I had my first pc and graphics program. I usually colour photos of people, though I have a few that include dogs and cats, but this is the first in a long while that I’ve done just of a dog. I hadn’t intended to colour it, but well… look at it. Wasn’t it barking calling out for colour? Or, more likely, food.

“Please give me a treat. Anything will do, really. Maybe something you’re eating? I like your food. I like everyone’s food.”

I haven’t a dog so have to rely on photos for colour references and as I don’t know what breed it is, I’m not sure I got this one right. I suspect it’s a bit of lots of different things. Well, doggy things, anyway.

So… any ideas what sort of dog it is? And – the dog aside, can you by any chance identify the flowers to the right? The ones on the left are roses, that I know, but the rest – what the heck are they? To me the blossoms look like Cosmos, but the leaves are wrong. Anyway, to be safe, I coloured the innards yellow and the outtards (yes, I know) varying shades of pink. But they could be anything really.

There’s more to do on this photo but I decided to call it a day. Well, actually, I’ve called it a dog.

My thanks to Da-AL for inviting me to guest blog!

What kind of dog is this?

Published by da-AL

Happiness Between Tails blog/podcast speaks to and from the heart. It connects lovers — of pets, authors, reading — and of my still-unreleased novels. “Flamenco + the Sitting Cat” and “Tango + the Sitting Cat,” are my love letters to all who fear they're too odd, too damaged, too old, too whatever to find love and happiness with or without a partner. HappinessBetweenTails.com • ContactdaAL@gmail.com • BuyMeACoffee.com/SupportHBT

52 thoughts on “Antique and Vintage Photos by Val Erde”

  2. Beautiful reproduction! The dog looks like a Labradoodle to me, but not sure if that breed was around back then? I say this as the dog is similar to my sister’s dog.

    I’m hopeless at post-production and don’t really like it either, so do very minimal on my photos.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. I love well composed black and white photos – they convey an emotional quality not as available in color images. But sometimes black and white are just a gray blob, as is the one of the pup. Val’s thoughtful color contribution makes the photo come to life. Now we see the dog and its adorable charm in contrast to the background. His fur is a wonderful warm, rich brown, making him look cuddly and loving. If I could make one small suggestion, since you said you planned to work on it again: perhaps soften the grass color a bit.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Yes, good idea about the grass. There is actually a lot more work to do on this, including making the colours and tonality of foliage and the flowers more natural, and picking out more detail from the background through the leaves and blossoms on the right. Thanks!

      Liked by 3 people

      1. All computer monitors show variations in the colour we see, Daal, please don’t worry about it. 🙂 There are two desktop computers in our house plus a tablet and they all show different variations of the same colours! In fact, when I had my current pc repaired, when it returned it had lost all its custom colour settings so I had to keep checking the colours with my tablet!

        Liked by 1 person

  5. If ever there was a photo begging to be colored, it was this one. It has all the right ingredients- great looking airedalish type dog, of warm brown in color. And yes, the photo is so interesting because the dog is striking a pleasing, begging pose. Great job, Val.

    Liked by 4 people

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