Extraordinary colourised photos bring D-Day landings to life on 73rd anniversary of turning point in World War II
Artist Marina Amaral's striking images capture troops bravely wading on to Omaha beach and bodies lying strewn on the sand
EXTRAORDINARY photographs of the D Day landings have been colourised to mark the 73rd anniversary of the largest seaborne invasion in history.
Brazilian artist Marina Amaral has transformed the images in remembrance of one of the turning points of World War II where experts believe 4,400 allied troops lost their lives.
Each snap has had different tones layered on top of the original photographs to bring new depth to the images.
The emotive snaps capture some of the 156,000 troops that landed on the beaches of Normandy.
Others show British, Canadian and American military men bravely making their way across the coast, taking to shore at Omaha Beach, Juno Beach, Gold Beach, Sword Beach, Utah Beach and Point du Hoc.
Each image has been created following hours of research into the subject pictured, in order to make the retouching as realistic as possible.
Marina told The Sun: “I have always been fascinated by history since I was a kid, but the colourisation itself came into my life in a random and unexpected way.
“I was bored surfing the internet when I found a few colourised photos from the World War II in a forum.
“I was using Photoshop as a hobby for many years, so I already had a sense of how the software works and what tools I should use.
Most Read in Living
"I tried to reproduce the atmosphere of the places and get as close as possible to what these soldiers actually saw with their own eyes.
"The generation of World War II is almost all gone, so I think it is extremely important to rescue these photos through a process that interests the new generation.
"So maybe people will be able to better understand what happened."
Marina has spent years honing her craft, using her love of history to develop the technique of painstakingly adding the different tones by hand.
She explained: “It was not as simple and easy as I first thought, but since then I’ve been practising, developing my own techniques and trying to improve a little bit every day.
“I’m such a perfectionist, so I haven’t given up on testing thousands of different techniques until the point that I was able to develop my own workflow.”
Although at first glance it may appear the colours have been selected randomly, Marina used the help of experts and research to keep the images as realistic as possible.
Each project takes hours to complete, with the Photoshop fanatic carefully looking into descriptions of colours of the skin, eyes, hair and clothing.
She confessed: “As I always like to say, I’m aware that this is history and it is not my business to make things look the way I want them to look."
She added: “I need to be respectful. Sometimes I have a little trouble with that part, so I need to seek the help of historians and experts. They are always very generous and helpful to me.”
Digital colourist Marina also revealed that while Photoshop is a helpful tool, she still has to build up the different tones by hand.
She said: “The process may seem simple, but it can be very complex and time-consuming. Everything is coloured by hand."
Marina added: “Photoshop offers me the workspace and the tools, but the rest is all up to me. I need to go building up the colours through many different layers for every little detail until the point that I’m satisfied with the general look of the piece.
“It is like a giant colouring book or very similar to the process of traditional paintings.”
, and
She isn’t the first artist to bring colour to historic black-and-white photos.
Artist Frederic Duirez brought trench warfare in World War One to life in vivid colour.
And stunning retouched postcards from 1890 captured life in the seaside towns and ruined castles of Scotland in the Victorian age.