My introduction to the stunningly beautiful Military Images Magazine (MI) began with a chance encounter at an antique store.

I was crouched over a dusty box of vintage photographs when a friendly man chatted me up. We had a nice conversation about our shared interest in history and vintage photography. We connected via Facebook and he invited me to join The Image Collector Facebook group that he runs. A prominent contributor to that group is the editor and publisher of Military Images, Ronald S. Coddington.

Military Images is “America’s only magazine dedicated solely to the study of portrait photographs of Civil War soldiers.”

I immediately subscribed to the print magazine. It really is one of the most beautiful magazines I have seen, in addition to being superbly researched and informative. Plus, they have a very active Military Images Facebook Page with close to 100,000 followers.

Historically, Military Images had an editorial policy of not publishing photos using modern colorization techniques. Coddington announced a policy change starting with the Spring 2020 issue of MI:

“Beginning with this issue, colorized images will be allowed for education purposes. Any colorized image must be accompanied by the original uncolored image. Why the change? Color fills in gaps in a way our imagination cannot. You’ll see two examples in Brian T. White’s examination of the overcoat worn by U.S. Sharpshooters. Color reveals just how distinctly different their gray coats and green uniforms stand apart from the average Union soldier.”

We were happy and excited to help MI with this colorization collaboration. Below (along side the originals) are the professional colorization results done by Okkama Colorizations at The Psychogenealogist.

Photo One - An Unidentified Sergeant

This unidentified sergeant, “displays civilian dueling pistols. His rank chevrons are sewn to the sleeves of his seamless gray felt overcoat. The cape has been removed.”

This photo is a “Ninth-plate ambrotype by D.O. Furnald of Manchester N.H. Author’s (Brian T. White) collection.” Colorized by Okkama Colorizations at The Psychogenealogist.

Photo Two - An Earnest Sharpshooter

This sharpshooter, “sits with his baggy felt overcoat trimmed with green binding and rubber buttons painted gold for a more martial appearance.”

This photo is a, “Quarter-plate tintype by an anonymous photographer. Author’s (Briant T. White) collection.” Colorized by Okkama Colorizations at The Psychogenealogist.

We take the colorization work we do here at The Psychogenealogist very seriously. We strive to create colorizations that stir the imagination without sacrificing historical accuracy.

Working with Military Images brought that quest for historical accuracy to an entirely new level for us. To be able to consult with the expert in U.S. Civil War Sharpshooter overcoats was an invaluable experience. In fact, there were several back and forth edits made to get it “just right.” We hope you agree.

I highly recommend subscribing to Military Images. As mentioned, they produce a beautiful quarterly magazine as well premium, subscriber only content on their website.

You can use promo code “COLORIZE” to receive a 25 percent discount at their website store: shopmiltaryimages.com

To learn more about our photo colorization pricing or to email us for a precise quote check below (if emailing make sure to attach your photo with any information you have that would help us make colorization decisions):

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