A Guide to the Best of Southern California : HANDMADE : Photographs in Old-Fashioned Color

TINTING, AS SOME of us may remember, was the process by which color was added to black-and-white photos before Eastman Kodak came up with Kodachrome film in 1935. “Tinting is a dying art, but it’s beginning to take hold again,” says Marita Penner, who has been bringing new life to black-and-white photos.

Whether it’s just the T-shirt or perhaps the tennis shoes in a photograph, Penner manages to put her paintbrush on the particular details that will make or break a photo. She shoots in old-fashioned black and white--which, she explains, won’t fade the way color photographs eventually will--and then hand-tints a few highlights with photo oils. The result is a smashing art photo in old-fashioned color.

Penner’s exhibit at arts-and-crafts fairs is a popular one, and a number of her shots are longtime big sellers. (Her gallery-mounted, 11x14-inch photos in 16x20-inch frames sell for $75 each.)

Penner also makes house calls; she will go to clients’ homes to shoot children’s portraits. For a $34 fee, plus traveling expenses, she provides one 8x10 photo, two 5x7s, three 3x5s and 12 wallet-size snapshots (all but the wallet pictures bear her trademark tints).

Marita Penner, Penner Enterprises, 17510 Hayes Ave., Lake Elsinore; (714) 678-4718.