If your social network feed has century-old photos, where subjects move, turn their heads, look around, blink and occasionally smile, then you may be familiar with Deep Nostalgia™ from the My Heritage website.
The new technology allows you to animate faces on century-old photographs, so that users can see their ancestors as if they were “alive”.
The feature uses deep learning technology that selects a suitable driver to animate faces on old photographs, in a particular sequence best suited for every individual case.
The company says this brings old photos to life, but admits results may sometimes be uncanny, as each is individually generated.
Nonetheless, the animation sequences used to bring old photos alive often look smooth and natural, as the blueprints are based on real human gestures performed by real human actors.
So, naturally, we ran some famous Russian historical figures through the system and got fascinating results. Enjoy!
Statesmen
Peter the Great, the first Russian Emperor and reformer
Kunsthalle Hamburg; MyHeritage
Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Russian Revolution
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Nicholas II, Russia's last Emperor
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Grigori Rasputin, mystic and self-proclaimed holy man
Tsentral'nyy Gosudarstvennyy Arkhiv Kinofotofonodokumentov; MyHeritage
Joseph Stalin, dictator of the USSR
Fyodor Kislov/МАММ/MDF/MyHeritage
Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary
Getty Images; MyHeritage
Andrei Gromyko, diplomat
Mieremet, Rob/Anefo (CC BY-SA 3.0 NL); MyHeritage
Creative people
Boris Pasternak, writer
МАММ/MDF; MyHeritage
Leo Tolstoy, writer
Leo Tolstoy State Museum; MyHeritage
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, writer
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Vladimir Nabokov, writer
Getty Images; MyHeritage
Joseph Brodsky, poet
Dutch National Archives (CC BY-SA 3.0); MyHeritage
Anton Chekhov, writer
Frantz Opitz/МАММ/MDF; MyHeritage
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, writer
Tretyakov Gallery; MyHeritage
Mikhail Bulgakov, writer
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Sergei Yesenin, poet
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Vladimir Mayakovsky, poet
Petr Otsup/МАММ/MDF; MyHeritage
Feodor Chaliapin, opera singer
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composer
Getty Images; MyHeritage
Technology pioneers
Igor Sikorsky, aviation pioneer
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut, the first man in space
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Andrei Sakharov, Nuclear physicist and activist
Sakharov Center; MyHeritage
Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, color photography pioneer
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Sergei Korolev, spacecraft designer
Public Domain; MyHeritage
Sergei Eisenstein, motion picture pioneer
Public Domain; MyHeritage