Colourising Photographs. A comprehensive, no nonsense tutorial.

Colourising black and white photographs is a simple process and easy to learn. With practice, the results are very convincing. You will need to be familiar with Photoshop although no great expertise is required.

This tutorial applies to any version of Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Similar methods apply to other photo editing software such as Gimp, provided a layer function is offered.

Choose a fairly large black and white image, I prefer a photo which is at least 1000 pixels along its longest side. The picture should be clear with a good degree of contrast; not too many dark or very bright areas.

Open the image in Photoshop and first ensure that it is in RGB mode

Should the title bar show (gray/8) simply click on the IMAGE drop down menu and choose MODE and click RGB. This will change the mode of the picture and enable the use of colour.

If necessary, adjust the brightness and contrast of your image using the tools from the IMAGE menu.  The LEVELS, CURVES and SHADOW AND HIGHLIGHT settings are particularly useful. Use of the latter tool requires some care in order to avoid a washed out look but it can reveal otherwise obscured detail.

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Enough of the preliminaries, we are now ready to add some colour.

In the LAYER palette click on the NEW LAYER icon as circled below

You will see that a new Layer 1 highlighted in blue has appeared. As multiple layers are to be used, it is important to rename each one in case adjustments are needed later.

I have double clicked on the words “Layer 1” and changed to name to “baskets”. I have also clicked the drop down arrow in the small window above and changed the blending mode from NORMAL to COLOR. This allows us to paint over part of the image whilst retaining the shading and tones of the original.

Click on the foreground colour panel and select a suitable colour for the baskets in the picture. Using a hard solid brush, simply paint over the baskets. You may wish to vary the shade or opacity between the various baskets.  You will frequently need to change the size of your brush. Do this using the { and } keys as a quick and easy shortcut.

The shift key allows you to paint in a straight line. Hold down the shift key and click on your first point and then the last. This will improve accuracy when painting large areas.

The mouse isn’t always easy to control when painting. Click, CTRL,  Z and ALT to un-do your mistakes !  Don’t try to paint a large area in one go, keep releasing the mouse key and your errors will only be small ones.

You will often need to zoom in to the image for greater accuracy. There are many ways to do this in Photoshop. I prefer either the zoom tool or the blue arrow in the navigator palette.

You will often find that the colour you have painted with is too strong and looks un-natural. Adjust the opacity of each layer until you are satisfied.

Save your image as a PSD file. Do this frequently. Photoshop can crash causing you to lose your work.

Now create a new layer and re-name it. I have called mine “flesh”. Choose a skin tone and paint faces, hands legs etc. Again, adjust the opacity to suit. When painting a close up of a face add a new layer with a darker shade for the lips.  Next reduce the opacity to about 15% and add shading to the skin to avoid a flat finish.

Continue to colour the picture layer by layer. The sequence does not matter although you may need to change the order of the layers to place one colour above another. Having finished colouring the image, reduce the opacity of any layers where the colour looks too strong, especially for background features. Now you will see the value of naming each layer.  Save the image once more as a  PSD file. In this format, each layer is saved and the photo can be edited later. Now FLATTEN the Image (bottom option in IMAGE menu) to merge the layers , Make any final amendments  that you wish to the brightness and contrast – the CURVES tool is a good option. Save as a JPG or other preferred file type.

The finished, fully colourised photograph is seen below.

 

 When colouring foliage use a soft brush unless leaves are in close up.  Experiment with different textured brushes from the brush menu and find one that gives a lacey effect

You will find that painting in black or dark grey is ineffective If you wish to enhance these shades, try using the burn tool on the original image. This will have the effect of darkening and giving greater contrast. Alternatively, try painting with a very dark blue.

Areas of sky often appear white or pale grey on a monochrome photograph. There are a number of ways to apply colouring:

1.  If there is sufficient tone, you may be able to paint over the area with a pale blue colour using a very soft brush. Apply the BURN tool with a low exposure to the background image. His will darken the picture and bring up the colour.

2. If there is sufficient contrast between the sky and adjacent areas of the picture, click the background layer and then use the MAGIC WAND tool to select the area of sky. Create a new layer for the sky and drag it down until it is below all other layers other than the background. Set the foreground and background colours to blue and white respectively. From the FILTERS menu, choose RENDER, then CLOUDS.  Should the result be unrealistic, make adjustments using filters such as GAUSSIAN BLUR  from the BLUR menu or DUST AND SCRATCHES from the NOISE menu.

3. Create a new layer and leave the blend mode at Normal. Paint over any areas of sky with a blue colour and a very soft brush. Leave some areas white to represent cloud making adjustments with the ERASER tool on a soft setting and reduced opacity.  Now drag this layer to the very bottom of the stack having first unlocked the background layer. Click the background layer containing the original monochrome image and change the blend mode from Normal, trying each mode in turn until a suitable result is achieved. Try the DARKEN mode with the opacity of the sky layer reduced.  This method is useful where light is showing through foliage and it would be difficult to colour numerous small areas.

The following method of colouring an advertising sign saves a lot of trouble when details such as lettering are encountered. This is most effective when there is strong contrast between colours.

1. Using the magic wand tool click on the background to select it. From the Select menu click on Similar and this will add missing areas such as the middle of letter O to the selection.

2.  Create and name a new layer with a Color blend mode. Research will show that these signs were orange dark blue lettering so set the Foreground Color to an orange shade and using a hard brush, paint in the background. 
3. From the select menu, click on Inverse and now the lettering will be selected. Set the foreground colour to a dark blue and paint over the lettering. As we are painting over black, the colour may not be seen. Click on the layer containing the original image and apply the Dodge tool to the lettering. This will lighten the black letters and make to colour visible.
4. Ensure that the lettering layer is at the top of the stack for the sharpest result.

My  example image is from the Imperial War Museum and shows Oswestry Market Place in 1944.  The picture is in the public domain.