How to make an image color. Convert black and white photos to color online

Hello, dear readers of my site! Today I will tell you how I add color to b/w photographs.

This method is not new and not mine. I once watched it on YouTube, now I’ll try to repeat it. In the process of carrying out a campaign, sometimes I am asked to add color to old black and white photographs. This was the reason to write this article on converting b/w images to color.

How to make a color photo from a black and white photo in Photoshop

1. First we need an original photo. I took the photo from the article "". Here she is:

2. Since old photographs are often digitized using a conventional scanner, they acquire a greenish or bluish tint. Therefore, we convert the photo to black and white using Photoshop, or rather to shades of gray. This is done in several ways, but for this method it is better to do it as follows. Press the key combination Ctrl+U and drag the slider to the very beginning, as in the screenshot below:

As a result, my photo changed a little:

That's it, now we can quickly and easily turn any photo into black and white in Photoshop.

And we give it a flesh color, since I usually start by painting the skin of the face, arms, legs, etc. Initially I choose a color with a code #ffcc99:

Give it a Color blending mode (“Color” in the Russian version of Photoshop). If anyone is interested in doing this mode, then enter “Color blend mode” into a Google search. The first couple of articles give a comprehensive answer. In Photoshop it is at the very bottom:

4. Now select the brush and the color white and paint over the areas to which we need to give color. At the same time, if you made a mistake and painted over the excess, then change the brush color to black and correct it. As a result, I gave the skin color as follows:

In a new layer, change the flesh color to the one we will use to color the hair and add color to the hairstyle:

6. Now, step by step, we create layers and add color to all the objects in the photo. I only colored the bride, since there are a lot of details in the photo, when I have time I’ll color everything and update the article, but now we’re making a color portrait from a black and white portrait of the bride. Painting lips:

7. To make the eyes more expressive, I simply created a new layer by pressing the keys Shift+Ctrl+N. Selected the Brush tool and gave it a color close to black (code #161616 ) and lined the eyelashes, eyebrows and tinted the fountain pen (actually it’s a ballpoint pen or a gel pen, I don’t remember). As a result, I ended up with this photo and the following layers:

8. For comparison, I’m posting the result of how I made a color photo from a black and white photo using Photoshop:

Original black and white photograph

Ultimate color photography

If you have any questions about how to add color to a b/w photo, ask them in the comments or through the feedback tab.

Many people have at least once thought about restoring old black and white photographs. Most of The photographs from the so-called point-and-shoot cameras were transferred to digital format, but never gained color. The solution to the problem of converting a bleached image to a color one is very difficult, but to some extent accessible.

Converting a black and white photo into color

If you simply turn a color photo into black and white, then the solution to the problem is reverse direction it becomes much more difficult. The computer needs to understand exactly how to color this or that fragment consisting of large quantity pixels. Recently, the site presented in our article has been dealing with this issue. So far this is the only high-quality option that works in automatic processing mode.

Colorize Black was developed by Algorithmia, a company that implements hundreds of other interesting algorithms. This is one of the new and successful projects that managed to surprise network users. It is based on artificial intelligence based on a neural network, selecting the necessary colors for the uploaded image. Frankly speaking, the processed photo does not always meet expectations, but today the service shows amazing results. In addition to files from a computer, Coloriz Black can work with pictures from the Internet.

• Save the image divided in half by the purple line (1);
• Save the fully colored photo (2).

Your picture will be downloaded to your computer via your browser. It looks something like this:

The results of image processing show that artificial intelligence based on a neural network has not yet thoroughly learned to turn black and white photos into color ones. However, it works well with photographs of people and paints their faces more or less well. Although the colors in the example article were chosen incorrectly, the Colorize Black algorithm still selected some shades successfully. For now, this is the only current option for automatically converting a bleached picture into a color one.

You will need

• To perform the operations of this instruction, it is advisable that you have at least a basic familiarity with the program Adobe Photoshop: knew what layers and layer masks were, knew how to use a brush and other basic tools of this program.

Instructions

To add color to an image - the color of a black and white or faded photograph, color or recolor a pencil drawing or a monochromatic drawing, etc. – no special technical costs or complex operations are required. It is enough to open the original image in Adobe Photoshop, create a new layer on top of the base image and, setting it to Color mode, apply fragmentary areas of the required colors to it. This can be done using a brush or other program tools. Original image in in the right places will acquire the desired color scheme.
Of course, the most difficult thing is actually making the color layer correctly, especially if you want to achieve the greatest photorealism of the image.

First, let's carry out an analysis: study the original image and mentally try to divide it into more or less large fragments, the color inside of which should be fairly uniform. These are, for example, objects made from the same material, or objects that have a completely predictable combination of colors, monochromatic arrays - foliage, grass, walls, floors, etc. The main thing is that the colors inside such a fragment obey a single simple law: dark, shadow areas gravitate toward the same color, areas of average illumination have their own approximately identical shade, and light areas have their own.
For each such homogeneous fragment, you can create your own color layer that describes the necessary pattern.
First of all, let's create a layer mask so that the coloring effect applies only to the desired fragment of the original image. For example, let's trace the outline of an object with the Lasso tool. Having completed the selection, create a new Gradient Map layer (Menu Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Gradient Map). In the Layers panel, set the blending mode switch of the created layer to Color.
Let's move on to creating a spectrum. On the left in the gradient there will be colors responsible for the dark areas of the image, on the right - for the light ones. If you have a good visual memory and artistic taste, colors can be chosen “by eye”, however, a pre-prepared photograph, the nature of the image in which is similar to the one being recreated, will greatly facilitate the work. This sample will already present the basic color combinations in finished form, therefore, the gradient colors can simply be selected from the sample using the eyedropper tool. One way or another, we select the color and location of the markers on the gradient, visually controlling how plausible the result is.

You can create as many such layers as necessary. Each layer that is in the list of layers above can overlap the layers below it, and if the layer masks intersect, then upper layer will be decisive in imparting color shade. Therefore, you can initially go from painting large spaces to the subsequent creation of smaller color fragments, applying new color combinations to smaller and smaller details, creating new and new layers on top.
Of course, layer masks can be created not only by outlining objects. The mask can simply be painted with a black or white brush, respectively, adding or excluding areas of action of the color layer. In order to “draw on a mask”, you must first click on the rectangle on the right - a schematic representation of the mask - in the line of the desired layer in the Layers panel.
It is very convenient that each created layer can be edited again at any time, the colors of the spectrum can be changed - to do this, just double-click the cursor on the layer line in the list of the Layers panel and proceed to modify the gradient. Also, the mask of each layer can be erased, corrected, completed, or even created anew.

Having colored large, homogeneous areas of the image in this way, we move on to the next stage - the stage of manual finishing. This requires observation and logic. The fact is that even identically painted surfaces that have a completely uniform color never look uniform in real optical conditions. Light falls on each surface: direct - from light sources, reflected - from nearby surfaces, in addition, when the observer looks at it from different angles, the same color tone looks different. Therefore, in addition to color gradients - which tend to “flatten” surfaces, because With this method of coloring, volume and location in space are not taken into account; we will create additional color layers that correct them.
For example, in the proposed picture, the color of the light column in the upper part will gravitate toward blue, because next to it is a large blue wall, the reflected cold color of which will necessarily fall on the column and illuminate it, changing the color shade. The lower part of the column closer to the floor will receive the reflected tones of orange highlights from the parquet.
To show this in our work, just above the Gradient Map layer defining base color columns, create a new blank layer (Menu Layer>New Layer), and set it to the Color blend mode. Using a soft translucent brush, carefully apply the necessary spots on it - a cold shade at the top, a warm orange one at the bottom. You can also play along with the brown reflexes from the walnut table standing nearby. By adjusting the Opacity parameter of the created layer, you can reduce or increase the influence of the adjustment layer on the image.
Another law: where there is less illumination, the colors are more faded; where there is more light, in addition to the actual brightness of the image, the color saturation itself will be an order of magnitude higher. This, for example, must be taken into account when giving color to the floor: in the proposed illustration, in the shadow areas, the reddish color of the parquet will look more faded. And in the darkest places, the colors of all surfaces can have a color tone that is almost indistinguishable from each other.
WITH special attention need to treat human skin. First of all, the skin absorbs glare very well, therefore, for example, for a standing character, the side of the face facing the column will be a much colder shade than the one on which the light from the red curtain falls. In addition, the skin itself rarely has an even color - the cheeks are usually a warmer shade than the skin around the eyes, exposed areas are tanned, through thin skin blood vessels, etc. will be visible. Therefore, working on skin color is always very painstaking, but with sufficient observation and a little practice, you can easily achieve a completely believable result.

It is recommended to save the final image in two different formats. Firstly, in the format of the Abode Photoshop program, where information about all created layers will be saved, which will make it possible to further modify and supplement the image. And secondly, in a commonly used format, for example JPEG, for quick viewing and other operations with the file, in which there is no longer a need for layer-by-layer editing. This can be done through the File>Save As menu, specifying the file format, its name and storage location on disk. And in a format suitable for transportation on the Internet, you can easily save the image via the File>Save for Web menu.

Video on the topic

Sources:

• how to make it black white photograph in 2019

Black and white photograph you can, using the tools of the Photoshop editor, completely or partially turn into color image. The most obvious way to do this is to paint parts of the photo using a brush.

You will need

• - Photoshop program;
• - black and white image.

You can step over the edges, it’s even better to do it. After you have painted over all areas of the skin without missing a single pixel, press the “Quick Mask” button again. A highlighted area should appear. Make sure all the skin is included:

• Go to the top menu “Layers”, select “New Fill Layer”, then “Color”, you can give the layer a name. Select the mode “Soft light”, click “Ok” - a palette appears where you need to select a color:

• It’s not easy with skin, you need to look for yellow and pink shades. If you can’t find a natural color, then choose the tone that best suits your skin color, and we’ll try to correct this later. Click OK.
• We go to the “Layers” window and see that a new fill layer has appeared there, consisting of two parts. Click on the second part in the form of a black square, a white frame should appear around it.

• In the tools, we should still have the “Brush” active with the same settings. The main color on the toolbar should be black - this is important. Now the brush will work like an eraser. We remove everything unnecessary - what we painted over by accident, leaving the color only on the skin. We try to do this carefully:

So, we have painted the skin, to adjust its color, go to the “Layers” window, select the fill layer and duplicate it.

Now in the new layer, double-click on the colored square - a palette appears. Choose another color that will be superimposed on the first layer and mixed with it. You can mix pink and yellow shades, then you get a natural tone:

Now go to the “Background Copy” layer, click “Quick Mask” again and continue coloring, creating new fill layers. Don't forget to return to the main layer every time, otherwise nothing will work.

In the example, we dyed our hair in Brown color, then lips red:

And we paint the iris of the eyes green. Next we made the clothes purple:

Then a blue background, since our model is sitting by the water. And painted separately green trees, reflected in the water, as well as the boards on which she sits, although they are almost invisible. Details are always important. Result:

It is especially interesting to color retro photos. if you have family archives with rare photographs, now you don’t need to take them to the workshop, but you can digitize them and make them in color yourself.

Having mastered this technique, you can also do color on black and white in Photoshop. This is a rather original solution, you've probably seen photos like this.

For example, below we gave the girl red lips and turquoise eyes, leaving everything else black and white:

In exactly the same way, you can change the tones in color photos, for example, change the color of hair, clothing, background, and so on.

If you want to dramatically change a photo with just one simple step, there's nothing here that compares to converting it to black and white. By converting to grayscale, you can also save an image that cannot be helped by color correction, or make more beautiful than a man, who needs to seriously whiten his teeth or take care of his own skin. These problems almost disappear when you enter the black and white kingdom.

But does this mean that you need to set your digital camera to black and white shooting mode? No no and one more time no! It is much better to shoot in color and then desaturate the images in Photoshop. In this case, you get a huge number of possible creative solutions, for example, the effect of partial desaturation, achieved by desaturating not the entire picture. And while I'm on the subject of color, Photoshop has several tools that let you change the color of everything from your car to the hair on your head. In addition, you can give new life old photographs, adding color to them.

You've probably heard the expression “How we get paid is how we work!” In Photoshop, this expression is converted to "Most quick way- not always the best". In other words, for some techniques - these include converting a color image to black and white- you will have to spend a little extra time, but the result is worth it.

Let me explain with an example. Open a color image. I'll take Daska's photo.

Select the menu command Image => Correction => Discolor (Image => Adjustments => Desaturate).

Desaturation means removing all the colors from an image.

Photoshop has no problem converting an image to black and white, but the result is unlikely to inspire you.

2. Create a “Black and White” adjustment layer.

Open the palette Correction, selecting the menu item Window => Correction (Window => Adjustments), and click on the Black & White layer icon (looks like a rectangle, diagonally divided into black and white halves).

Photoshop will turn the image into black and white and display several sliders and other controls in the palette that you can use to fine-tune the created layer.

3. Move the sliders until you get a high-contrast black and white image.

Although the program has desaturated the image, there is still room for improvement. Move the different color sliders to make the items in your image look even better. Moving to the right colors areas that were previously colored with the slider's color a lighter shade of gray; moving to the left colors areas a darker shade of gray.

There's also a ton of preset settings in the drop-down list at the top of the palette—select items from the list one at a time to see how they affect your photo. If you click the Auto button, Photoshop will show you what it thinks your grayscale image should look like.

4. Save your photo to PSD format, if you want to edit it later.

Lightning touch up

You probably already noticed the Tint checkbox at the top of the Adjustments palette when you created the Black and White adjustment layer. If you check this box, the program will add a brown tint (called a sepia tone) to the entire image. If you want to use a different color, click on the colored square to the right of the checkbox to open the color selection dialog box. This technique allows you to create so-called false two-tone images.

Channel Mixer adjustment layers

Using Black and White adjustment layers is the fastest and easiest way to desaturate images, but layers can also be used for this purpose. They have no advantages over adjustment layers.

First, make sure the Background layer (or the image layer you want to work with) is selected in the Layers palette, then click the half-black, half-white circle button at the bottom of the palette and select team Channel Mixer. When the Adjustments palette opens, select the checkbox Monochrome at the top of the palette, and then move the sliders Red, Green and Blue, as you like, or choose one of the ready-made presets from the drop-down list at the top of the palette.

If you want to darken or lighten the entire image, move the Constant slider at the bottom of the palette left or right.

Channel "Brightness"

As noted in the article about, Lab mode got its name from the names of three channels. The letter "L" stands for the Lightness channel, in which the program stores all the light values ​​and thus all the visible edges and details of the image. (The letters “A” and “B” stand for channels a and b, which store color information.) This means that the Brightness channel, taken separately from the rest, is a black-and-white version of the image.

To see what the channel looks like, open the image and select Image => Mode => Lab from the menu. In the Channels palette, highlight Brightness. If you like the resulting image, select Image => Mode => Grayscale from the menu and click OK when Photoshop asks for permission to remove the color information.

In my case it turned out too bright and pale. This option is not suitable, but you need to know about it. On different photography he will play differently.

Converting to grayscale in the Camera Raw plug-in

If you take pictures in Raw, then you can also use an external module to convert them to grayscale. This module is easy to use and also performs conversions well. To open an image in this format, double-click its file icon and it will automatically open in Camera Raw.

1. In the Camera Raw window, open the HSL/Grayscale panel.

To open this panel, click on the button of the same name. Then in this panel, check the box Convert to Grayscale. A group of sliders appears on the right side of the Camera Raw window. To add contrast to an image, you can lighten a color by moving its slider to the right, or darken it by moving the slider to the left.

2. Open the Basic panel and move the Exposure slider to adjust the black and white image. Also move the sliders with various other settings in this tab and you will be pleasantly surprised at how your black and white photo will sparkle!

Even dandelions began to look like dandelions!

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