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My first try at colorizing a black&white photo


Vafann

Vafann

Guru
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rosa-sv-för-krymp-crop.jpgRosa-färgad-3-för-krymp-crop.jpgThis is the first time I have ever tried to do this, it was harder than I thought it would be. This is my grandmother in 1930-something, before and after, or rosa-sv-för-krymp-crop.jpgafter and before, I don´t ever know in which order these things come in lol. I would love suggestions about how I should have done it otherwise. :)

Rosa-färgad-3-för-krymp-crop.jpg
 
Hi mate, you did all that on one layer didn't you? try doing hair in one layer then eyes in another etc etc, it really helps when you come to making fine adjustments to colour and light.
Good attempt mate, it's fun ain't it?
 
She´s a hottie! :D Looking great but as Paul said, use separate layers for everything. One for the hair, one for the lips, eyes etc. and apply less color than you first thought. Adjust that by using the opacity.
 
I used about a million layers lol! I didn´t know what I was doing! I am going to try again later. Yes Paul it was fun, but it was really hard! Thank you Fenix for the same, I´m all confused, I don´t understand how I messed up posting it like that. lol
 
I did this all with paint brush, using 8 layers and adjusting fill levels.
 
Yeah, more natural. Try dublicate it now with overlay and opacity 45%. Or Soft light and bigger opacity..
 
maybe try it this way it is simple and a matter of miniutes to do I am uploading a psd it is only using colour balance adjustment layers that way you can alter it all at any stage over do it then lower the opacity and blending mode it is the fool proof way of colouring in a picture. also can be done with curves adjustments for better results but I know people dont like curves. View attachment rosa-sv-för-krymp-crop.psd excuse edges at the moment I have shakes so cant get to close to them acurately but it is just to show the technique
try this way.jpg
 
It looks like you're painting the skin color on the eyes and lips and then painting one color over another.
Either that or it's the slight sepia tone of the original image.
De-saturate the background image and see if it helps.

A contrast boost would help too.
 
On this one i started by desaturate the image. (From the top bar menu: Image/Adjustements/Desaturate) Make a new copy (Ctrl+J) and set the layer blending mode to Screen. Lower the opacity to about 40%, or until you feel it isn´t too bright. Now you could start applying the colors. A good way to do this is to use a color photo of another blond that seem to have the same kind of light as seen in your photo. Then use the color pipette for snatching the colors. And always use a little less powerful colorization than you first think would be fine. It is much easier to adjust this afterwards.
 
Hoogleman said:
maybe try it this way it is simple and a matter of miniutes to do I am uploading a psd it is only using colour balance adjustment layers that way you can alter it all at any stage over do it then lower the opacity and blending mode it is the fool proof way of colouring in a picture. also can be done with curves adjustments for better results but I know people dont like curves. View attachment 8352 excuse edges at the moment I have shakes so cant get to close to them acurately but it is just to show the technique
View attachment 8351
Click to expand...

OH! Coool! Thank you Hoogle!! :)
 
Steve said:
It looks like you're painting the skin color on the eyes and lips and then painting one color over another.
Either that or it's the slight sepia tone of the original image.
De-saturate the background image and see if it helps.

A contrast boost would help too.
Click to expand...

Thank you Steve! :) I tried desaturating it first, it didn´t do me much good though lol. I have been filling layers with one color at a time, and then erasing everything around the things that aren´t supposed to be that color. I read a quick tip thing in a magazine, but I don´t think I am getting it.
 
fenix said:
On this one i started by desaturate the image. (From the top bar menu: Image/Adjustements/Desaturate) Make a new copy (Ctrl+J) and set the layer blending mode to Screen. Lower the opacity to about 40%, or until you feel it isn´t too bright. Now you could start applying the colors. A good way to do this is to use a color photo of another blond that seem to have the same kind of light as seen in your photo. Then use the color pipette for snatching the colors. And always use a little less powerful colorization than you first think would be fine. It is much easier to adjust this afterwards.
Click to expand...

Thank you Fenix! That is very pretty the way you have made the pinkish color kind of overall. :)
 
Nice job Vafann

Try lowering the brightness and saturation, also try fellow members suggestions.

Btw I'm also not good at it, but whit practice, and patience, i think it will get you there.


 
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