Colorizing and Animating Ancestor Photos

I recently shared an animation on social media of my 2nd great-grandmother (2nd GG) Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (1841-1926) (based on the photograph below) using MyHeritage Deep Nostalgia™, video reenactment technology

2nd GG Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (1841-1926) pictured on the right with unidentified woman. Photo Source: Frank Lyon Photo Collection

I enjoy exploring and sharing new Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications and technologies to use with my old photographs, however, nothing could prepare me for the mix of reactions I received when I animated and posted my 2nd great-grandmother Mary (Brennan) Moynahan's photo online! 

 "Not liking it.", wrote one woman. "This is awesome", wrote another. What could explain these contradictory reactions?

"Nice animation of your grandmother - very sweet - shows that she was a nice lady - great snapshot in time of one in your family history." wrote another woman and I wholeheartedly agreed with this view!

I had grown up hearing so many great stories about my 2nd GG Brennan-Moynahan and I really wished I could have met her.

My first cousin (2x) Evelyn (Lennon) Janice (1916-2009) knew her and described her as a "warm loving little lady who always wore a starched white bib type apron" and who would "tell .. stories about Ireland"

Letter from Evelyn (Lennon) Janice (1980)

Seeing Mary's face animated helped me to imagine what it would have been like to have seen and met her while she was living. It fills me with joy!

So why did some people find it so unsettling?

The "Uncanny Valley" Reaction

Artificial Intelligence being applied to images of our deceased loved ones is sure to result in a wide spectrum of reactions. Either you love it or "find it creepy" and everything in between. My Modern Met wrote:

"The results are mesmerizing while being a bit unsettling as we don’t expect these old pictures to suddenly come alive."

Even MyHeritage acknowledges that some folks might find the service “creepy,” as it approaches the "uncanny valley". 

The uncanny valley is a term was first coined by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970 and was used to describe the relationship between the human-like appearance of a robotic object and the emotional response it evokes.

Scientific American writes:

I feel like I understand the adverse reactions to my animation much better now.

You can read more about animating images here: https://blog.myheritage.com/2021/02/new-animate-the-faces-in-your-family-photos/

AI Colorization Algorithms Don’t Get It Right

Aside from the "uncanny valley" responses to seeing our ancestors photographs animated, colorizing their photos has its own unique set of problems because AI colorization algorithms don’t quite get it right.   

According to Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz,  "AI colorization strips away the vibrant colors from history and replaces them with a world of dull tans, muddy browns, and slate grays ... Colorization should be left to human experts who can use context to pick accurate colors. Look to primary sources, such as paintings, to see the real colors of the past. Because it wasn't all mud."

I had to try several times to get a different result from the one below for this photo of the Moynahan family. I am certain that my grandfather did not own a pair of red pants! (See Hyperallergic's "The Limits of Colorization of Historic Images")

Back L to R: Dawn (Creighton) Moynahan, Rhea (Coughlin) Moynahan, Ernest J. Moynaha  Sr. Front L to R: Liz Moynahan, Shirley (Brazeau) Moynahan, Mary (Broderick) Moynahan, Patrick Moynahan, Ernest Moynahan Jr

MyHeritage uses DeOldify AI technology which is a state of the art way to colorize black & white images. You can try it right now by visiting the free Google Colab notebook for photos or video. The notebooks are open source, and available to all (albeit difficult for most to use)

Otherwise, MyHeritage Deep Nostalgia offers a limited number for free after which you must purchase (an expensive) subscription.

I'm A Fan of These Technologies

I welcome these technologies regardless of their imperfections and lack of appreciation by some. In telling stories about our ancestors, I enjoy including as much visual information as I can.

I can see how these technologies may be really useful for some, like the son whose father was killed in Italy in the Battle of Ortono when he was 2 years of age and all that he had was a photo of him taken with his mother before he was born.The animation gave him something otherwise impossible to have.

I am also a big fan of the project, "Old Ireland in Colour," (follow them on twitter.) 

A book of the same title brings together more than 170 of the images, painting a compelling picture of life on the island from the 1840s through to the 1960s.

 

Maybe you have animated or colorized your ancestors photo as well? If so, I would love to hear about it in the comment section below.

Some of my previous posts about ancestor's photographs:

• My grandmother Rhea (Coughlin) Moynahan had her black and white photo portrait painted.
• My 2nd great grandparents, the Brodericks, had "Crayon Portraits" made of them.
• The colorized  "Coughlin China Cabinet" photo https://moynahangenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-coughlin-china-cabinet.html 
• The FilmBox app that I used to scan negatives and colorize the photos https://moynahangenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/10/family-photos-negatives.html