• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Are these colours real?

elfraty

Active Member
I came across this picture and do not know what to think of it. Is this a coloured in bw picture or is this a really colour picture from the fourties. And if the colours are vivid and real, are there so many leather colours in one crew? Really amazing if that were the case....
 

Attachments

  • colors combinations_DxO.jpg
    colors combinations_DxO.jpg
    448.4 KB · Views: 288

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
I came across this picture and do not know what to think of it. Is this a coloured in bw picture or is this a really colour picture from the fourties. And if the colours are vivid and real, are there so many leather colours in one crew? Really amazing if that were the case....
I can’t speak for the colors in that particular photo but I can tell you that yes there were that many different colors of the same type and style of jackets . Each tannery and manufacturer of jackets had a specifications section in their respective government contracts that quoted the Russet color of the hide and the jacket to be made. As a result each tannery and manufacturer Interpreted the color a shade or two differently , and what you see in that photo is the result .
in 1943 the US Army Air Force attempted to standardize the color of all jackets to a Seal color . This was done with A2 jackets in particular by re- dying them . New issues of B-3 jackets were made in the dark seal color in an attempt to standardize the color of those jackets as well.
 

Smithy

Well-Known Member
It is an original WWII colour shot. It's been included in several book compilations of original period colour photos from the war.

Saying that judging actual shades on a computer is fraught with problems as there's so many variables about what you see colour-wise compared to someone else. From where I'm sitting the leather shades look to be in the right general postcode and as Burt mentions above there was quite vast variation in leather colours.
 

busdrivermike

Well-Known Member
I was watching the cold blue and noticed the color variation in jackets, found it vary
Interesting to see such a variety , noticed one shot showed a b17 crew member in what
Appeared to be an Irvin while the rest were in B3’s
 

MikeyB-17

Well-Known Member
It happened, things got swapped and bartered, I saw a pic only recently of an AAF crewman in an Irvin, don’t know if it was here or on the Book of Faeces.
 

Kermit3D

Well-Known Member
I think I’m right in saying that’s an original WWII Kodachrome shot as opposed to a colourised black and white one, although I believe it’s been digitised. So the colours may not be 100% as real life, but give a pretty good idea.

the version you posted is a manipulated version of the original Kodachrome image taken in January 1943 by Life photographer Frank Scherschel. Here's a more accurate representation of the original Kodachrome.

View attachment 46140

I really love the color rendering of the Kodachrome film.
I am a computer graphic artist and I use color management software in my job.
I have often had fun trying to reproduce the Kodachrome rendering on computer generated images. It's really difficult...

An article about this topic :

https://frankglencairn.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/everything-looks-better-on-kodachrome-k-tone-lut/
 
Top