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This tip is about the how to colorize black-and-white photo. So read this free guide, How to colorize black-and-white photo step by step. If you have query related to same article you may contact us.
How to colorize black-and-white photo – Guide
Most 19th century photographs were monochrome, so people hand-colored them, often for purely aesthetic reasons. Color photos look good on the mantle. Contemporary artists paint for these reasons to this day. Artist and educator Tina Triforos began handpainting early in her career, before going digital. Painting by hand, she worked with a limited color palette and still loves that simplicity. “I really prefer a more pictorial and nostalgic look rather than trying to make it look accurate,” she says. Photographer Kenton Waltz loves coloring black and white photos because he can choose which colors to include in an image and which are not. “The elegance of the photo is the simplicity of the color”, he says. “You appreciate the quality of light and dark.”
The quick and dirty way to color a black and white photo
Thanks to artificial intelligence, manually coloring a photo is not the only option. As technology improves, more applications, both mobile and desktop, are integrating the option to recolor an old photo. Colorize (iOS), Colorize Images (Android), and Photoshop Elements are among the top-rated apps for doing this. Colorize is an iOS app that uses AI to recolor photos. After importing the photos, one tap converts the image to color. The app is free to download and try, but requires a subscription or per-image fee to download the new photo version.
Colorize Images is a similar app from another developer for Android users. The download is free, but the app requires a per-image or subscription fee to save the recolored photos. To recolor photos on a desktop, Photoshop Elements has added a new AI-powered recolor tool that works with just a few clicks. In addition to just recoloring the photo, Elements offers several different options, so you can choose the result that looks best. Google Photos has also released a colorization tool, but it hasn’t been released outside of beta yet.
How to color a black and white photo in Adobe Photoshop
Make sure the image is in CMYK.
To get started, make sure your photo is in CMYK mode and not grayscale. Go to Image > Mode and check the CMYK color.
Select a single colored object.
To recolor an old photo, you need to make selections, one for each color you want to add. Photoshop has a dozen different ways to make a selection – there’s no wrong way, but some options will be easier than others. I’ve found that the fastest way to make selections to recolor a photo is the Select and Mask tool, accessible from Select > Select and Mask.
Inside the Select and Mask window, make your selection using the brush tool, the first tool in the toolbox on the left. Then refine that selection using the Refine brush or the second brush in this toolbox. Use the plus and minus icons at the top to determine whether you want the area added or removed from the selection, and adjust the brush tool size as needed. On the right, use the smooth and feature sliders to avoid edges in the selection. When you are satisfied with your selection, click OK.
Create a solid color adjustment layer.
With the selection still active, create a solid color adjustment layer for the selection. Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color, or in the layers panel, click the adjustment layer icon and choose Solid Color. Select the desired color for this object and click OK. Your selection should now look like a hideously recolored object that is just a solid color.
Then in the layers panel, choose color blending mode, click the dropdown menu that says “normal” by default and choose “color” from the list of options. With the color mode selected, you should see the gradations of the original photo and the selection should no longer look like you just filled it in with the paint bucket tool. To get the right color, use the opacity option in the layers panel. You can also double click on the solid color box that is on the adjustment layer inside the layers panel to choose a new color for the layer.
Refine the selection.
After the object is recolored, it is often easier to see the mistakes made when making the original selection. Since you are using adjustment layers and not editing the background layer itself, these errors are easy to adjust. With the adjustment layer selected, go back to the Select and Mask option to make further refinements. Alternatively, you can also click on the layer mask in the layers panel (the black and white version of the layer) and use a white brush to add to the selection and a black brush to subtract. For semi-transparent objects, reduce the brush opacity.
Repeat steps 2-4 for each color in the photo.
The process needs to be repeated for each color you want to add to the photo. If two objects are the same color, such as the bouquet and flower leaves in the sample photo’s flower, you can add them to the same selection and adjustment layer.
Adjust the blacks.
After recoloring, you may need to add some contrast to the image, especially if it’s an old photo. The black areas in the photo do not need to be selected and recolored because by definition black has no color, but if it is an old or scanned photo, the blacks may not look quite right.
Select the background layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Curves. Choose blacks from the channel drop-down menu to adjust blacks only. Adjust the curve as per your image in our sample image, lighten the whites and darken the midtones and blacks. Once you’re satisfied with the adjustments, save the image as a JPEG to share or print. You can also save the image as a PSD file in case you want to go back and make more adjustments. A PSD file will keep these adjustment layers intact.
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