Throwing My Hat Into the Colorization Ring

[rufinatti]

Seeing all the b&w colorizations that ALB Laser has been doing lately has inspired me to give it a try. I found this image in the Library of Congress archives that ALB linked to this afternoon.

Thanks for the inspiration, ALB. This was a fun project.

 

[ibclare]

Nicely done. But work on those skin tones. ALB got lots of suggestions from members. No one has skin that is all one color and tone. Look at some of the expert colorizations that have been done on this site or online. Check out some tutorials on the forum, online, etc.

Great start. Keep it up and keep posting.

Patience, play, and passion, the 3 Ps of PS. Decided to swap play for practice. To me it's the same and makes me feel better. Practice sounds like learning cursive in first grade! But I mean it to have the connotation of course.

I think we need to have colorization for a challenge topic. I am keeping notes ad have about 10 challenge ideas. So off-topic, blah, blah, if any challenge winner needs an idea, give me a shout.

 

[rufinatti]

thanks, claire, for the feedback. I was just about to upload a modified version in which I had adjusted the shadows / highlights just a smidgeon. Very small change, but it made a bit of a difference.

 

[RTContent]

Do you have plans to color in the entire photograph? I think once you do that it will greatly enhance the realism of the image.

 

[ibclare]

The shadows do help. I still recommend that you use some color or soft light layers and add, for instance, some different cheek color, forehead, nose variations in color, definitely have different shades and tones on the arms than the face for instance. One thing I learned in painting is that shadows and color areas are made up of numerous colors, not just one flat shade. If the clothes are blue, the shadows will have a blue tint or pickup the surroundings, etc. The lips need a little more emphasis IMO; she probably isn't a snazzy dresser, but she may have a naturally raspberry colored mouth for example -- ya think? LOL. Sexy machinist. Think not just colorization, but makeover, natural not exteme.

 

[rufinatti]

@RT, no doubt the full-colorization would help; but I don't know that I'm up for it. This was more of an experiment to see if I could do it.

@claire, I didn't think this was appropriate for the factory floor; but what do I know?

 

[Paul]

I love doing these.

 

[rufinatti]

I like the blue of your dress better. As for the shadows on her dress; did you adjust shadows / highlights, or just hit it with a burn brush?

 

[Paul]

Three blue layers for the dresses mate, the second was just brush strokes in the creases then blurred and soft light set to it.

 

[ALB68]

Rufi
Looks pretty good, but as Clare said, watch your skin color. You should have about 10% or so more yellow than magenta. Your cyan is too low. If you had say, 20% M with 22% Y then your Cyan should be about 10-10.5%
What method did you use to make it?

 

[rufinatti]

RufiLooks pretty good, but as Clare said, watch your skin color. You should have about 10% or so more yellow than magenta. Your cyan is too low. If you had say, 20% M with 22% Y then your Cyan should be about 10-10.5%What method did you use to make it?

I used a gradient map overlay with the following colors. In fact, for the skin, I lifted the colors directly from the model below; so I am a little disappointed that the skin didn't turn out better.