A definite great read….

It is my belief that the “ink” was either watercolour or coloured inks watered down. I have no scientific basis on which was used but know that the colour had to be very weak so as to still let the grain show through. From my observations I would imagine that it was done with inks. When I did my photography degree (still with paper and chemicals, there were inks available then in various tones for fixing problems and touching up photos. The pencil is just a pencil, possibly of a particular quality suited best for photos, or maybe even a type of charcoal. This would only work on the matt, fibre based papers of the age.

As far as I am aware this pencilling is not used any more as the standard of the lenses and equipment now negates the use of it. Some people still hand colour the photos but with modern papers the result is very very subtle and in my opinion is lost without the real papers of yesteryear and the silver halide chemicals. It was that combination that made the hand coloured photos so magic. Modern equivalents are just not up to the job.

I hope this helps.

Neil