AS anyone with any knowledge of the field will tell you, history is not all black and white.
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Nor are historical photos, as the work of Adelaide's Kelly Borlano demonstrates.
Kelly is an expert at colourising old black and white photos, deftly breathing life into them and even revealing details lost in the shadows.
Using a Photoshop editing platform given to her by her son, she has meticulously edited, preserved, and colourised hundreds of Australian historical photographs.
She uses digital tools to remove scratches, damage or spots from the photograph, add base colours, and finally "paint" over the photograph using her library of hues.
"It's similar to watercolor painting. You paint, blend and lighten areas as needed with water. If you want it a bit darker you'll add a bit more paint. So it's the same thing."
The photos range from towns and suburbs to diverse topics such as transport, notable individuals, aircraft, pioneers, automobiles and historical events.
Kelly's work spans a wide spectrum of society. Picture ranges from wealthy families communing on the balcony of a fine home (see below) to youngsters on the beach, taxidermists stuffing a tiger or firemen putting out a blaze. It is an amazing scope of work.
For Kelly, much of the pleasure comes from the research. She studies colours meticulously, visiting fashion museums for accurate hues or going through old colour magazines and pattern books.
"If it's a building, it's easy to research what sort of materials were used in particular areas. It could be limestone, slate or sandstone. So I build a library of colours for those."
Kelly's love for history drives her; she feels a personal connection to the people in the photos, especially when they're of her "lost" family.
"I've got a rather vivid imagination and as I work on a photo, I become completely lost with it," said Kelly, of Magill.
"For instance, I didn't know who my family were. But with all the research and the photos, I now feel that I actually know them; they actually mean something to me.
"It's wonderful. It's like never-ending jigsaw."
The well-to-do family mentioned above is a good example.
"We didn't have a whole lot of information on the house. But one of my followers on Facebook attended something at Brighton and he thought that he had seen the house.
"He sent me something that I'm verifying with that particular council. "
How long each colourisation project takes depends on the detail.
A city scene with multiple buildings can take up to 10 hours, Kelly said, while a simple portrait can take between four to six hours.
Kelly especially likes working on glass negatives. "They're so clear. They're beautiful photos. They're often at the State Library of SA or you can get them through state records. You can find them through Trove"
"The History Trust has some, so they've made them available so you can colourise them."
What started as an interest has become a business for Kelly.
This came about after Mitcham Council approached her to colourise about 30 photos of the local area for History Week, which is in May.
"There were all different sorts of things. There was everything from an old tram and up in the hills to a biscuit factory.
Initially, she offered to do them for free but the council insisted on paying and so A Colourful History was born.
For a colourisation that's relatively easy, it starts at $95.
It depends on what people want. If people want restoration, that's a different thing. Again, sometimes people want restoration and not the colourisation, but all of the prices are on the website. If people want to buy prints they can buy.
Kelly, a retired financial services executive, says her family likes what she does, though "I think they think their mother rabbits on about history a little bit too much."
She said her husband is an architect and, like her, is very keen on art deco buildings.
"Even yesterday, we were looking at a photo of Adelaide in the 1930s or '40s and he was saying, 'Oh my God, we've lost some beautiful buildings'.
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