Coloring a Black and White image

[jm05pv]

i wish i could be this good. Just takes time

 

[iCooper]

this is simply awesome, im gonna find a b&w picture and try it out, will post results when finished lol.

 

[KraVeN]

damn i gotta try this out too! never thought of using curves either haha awesome

 

[phoTom]

I do it completely different, I create a new layer, set the property to Color, and name it skin.
I use #f6ccbb as my color and paint the skin, this is obviously for a white person.
About the only adjustment I need to make is to lower the opacity a little.
Then I'll make 1 or more other layers set to Color for the rest of the colorization. but skin is always by itself.

I do it exaclty same way as you Steve.

 

[Raymond Worrilow]

I will have to try this... I have alsway used the pen tool a small intuos pad and colored them to look like a old colorized photo from the 30'S-LATE 50'S

 

[kgainez]

pretty perfect
i never heard of colorizing with curves either but it def looks worth trying

 

[northlandhusky]

Hi
Thanks for sharing this. I really like the technique.

Steve,
You've probably figured it out by now but if not, I think Krystaldream was on the right track.....image / mode / rgb or cmyk

 

[Hoogle]

I do it the same as steve but sometimes you get artificial looking parts here is a sample I did using new layer blending mode colour then hue saturation
View attachment 4760
Ok to somewhat I was going for the super imposed look but the skin sort of has a powdery look to it

 

[Mogsy]

Hmmm never tried colouring an image like this, looks good! Have to give it a whirl - Don't laugh if I post it lol

 

[Hoogle]

the curves version seems complicated so will look into it more with the version I just posted it really is easy and so flexible with a lot of forgiveness you could do an image like mine in 5 mins.
step 1 spot heal blemishes etc
adjust levels exposure brightness etc so image is even
then for each colour skin for example create a new layer paint over all the skin in a close skin colour match set layer blending mode to overlay or colour whichever looks best depending on image
then with that layer selected image > adjustments > hue saturation check the colourise box and play with sliders until your happy
repeat all these steps for hair lips eyes clothes and background here is 1 i just did from a friend on facebook since you posted your responsemogsy yes there are some rough parts but it is just demonstratiung that in 5 mins you can get somewhat close to a fully coloured image
View attachment 4761
this was slightly harder though as some of it is over exposed but still a better play on levels you will be sorted

 

[Mogsy]

Cheers mate I will have a go at that later

 

[Paul]

Love this photograph anyway, but i had to give it a go

 

[Hoogle]

which method did you use curves or colour overlay

 

[Paul]

Curves, i did several layers with a slight difference on each layer using the curves function
I noticed i gained a blurry dark edge?

 

[jazzybazz]

Woah this is good, the colored one look like an original picture

 

[Hoogle]

I still have not tried the curves mode yet guess I am to comfortable with my colour over lay but I am willing to explore new things so will take a look at it soon

 

[siodre]

skin is easy, it's really just paint by numbers. after opening the curves dialogue use the gray eye dropper from curves. hold down shift and click on some skin with the dropper, that should leave a little crosshair on the skin. open up window>info, the crosshair number with correspond with a number in the info dialogue. next to the number you'll see RGB and values and a smaller eyedropper. click on the eyedropper and change it to CMYK. to change the CMYK values use the hand with the up and down arrows (found in the curves dialogue) on the crosshairs on the skin. click on the crosshair and drag the tool up and down, you'll see the CMYK numbers change. red=opposite of C(yan), green=opposite of M(agenta) and blue=opposite of Y(ellow).

you have to know the numbers for different skin colors, but here's an example for caucasian skin:
C*2 or 3 should fall between the values of M and Y.

it's easier than it sounds -
to start set Y slightly higher than M.
divide M by 2 and Y by 3, C should fall between those numbers. the numbers all change slightly as you adjust each channel so adjust C and Y as necessary until the math works out. leave K alone.

this works for color images as well if your skin colors are off.

 

[PhotoRepair]

It do it with separate layers and up to five shades of skin colour on five separate layers

The process is to build up the colour base tones in yellow tints and work up to reds and perhaps some blues or greens if its a real close up and veins need realism.



here is an image completed using this technique

Ive written a tutorial on it, search google uk for "Colourising or tinting an old photo - Part 1" and this will lead you to part 2 as well.


I hope this helps


Neil Rhodes from image-restore

 

[ibclare]

Such good work demonstrated on this thread. There are a lot of techniques I've been inspired to try since I joined PSG. Thanks for all your postings on this subject.

 

[Hoogle]

Go on then Clare post a sample see how you have come along lol xxx