Difficulty: Summiteer (Level 3)
What happens to history when technology can edit photos from the past?
With help from artificial intelligence (AI), the team behind the Instagram account @OldHKinColour adds colour and animation to old Hong Kong photos.
The account’s posts make Hong Kong’s heritage feel current. They show the roar of a 1920s Sheung Wan street and a quiet temple scene at Wong Tai Sin from 1968.
The platform was founded in 2020 by Siu Sai-yau, an assistant professor at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. He had help from researchers specialising in cultural history, 3D modelling and video colourisation.
“We source digital copies of original monochrome photographs from online archives and academic institutions … [Then] we enhance image quality and resolution through AI techniques,” Siu said.
Finally, they colourise the images and refer to historical sources to ensure accuracy.
OldHKinColour’s posts have resonated with many of its nearly 200,000 followers.
“We have had [people’s] descendants leave comments on the photos we colourised,” Siu said. “They sometimes recognise family members.”
