How to convert a black and white photo to color in Photoshop? How to turn a color photo into black and white

Many at least once thought about the restoration of old black and white photographs. Most of the shots from the so-called soapboxes were digitized, but never acquired colors. The solution to the problem of converting a decolorized image into color is very difficult, but to some extent accessible.

Converting a black and white photo to color

If it is easy to make a color photo black and white, then solving the problem in the opposite direction becomes much more difficult. The computer needs to figure out exactly how to color a particular fragment consisting of a large number of pixels. Recently, this issue has been dealt with by the site presented in our article. So far, this is the only high-quality option that works in automatic processing mode.

Colorize Black is developed by Algorithmia, which implements hundreds of other interesting algorithms. This is one of the new and successful projects that managed to surprise netizens. It is based on artificial intelligence based on a neural network, which selects the necessary colors for the loaded image. Frankly, 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 image divided by purple line in half (1);
Save the fully colorized photo (2).

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

The results of image processing show that artificial intelligence based on a neural network has not yet thoroughly learned how 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 of the article were chosen incorrectly, the Colorize Black algorithm still picked up some shades successfully. So far, this is the only actual option for automatically converting a decolorized image to color.

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

This method is not new and not mine. Once I spied it on YouTube, now I will try to repeat it. During the campaign, I am sometimes asked to add color to old black and white photographs. This was the reason to write this article on the transfer of b / w images to color.

How to colorize a black and white photo in photoshop

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

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

As a result, my photo has changed a bit:

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, as I usually start by painting the skin of the face, arms, legs, etc. Initially choose color with code #ffcc99:

Give it a blending mode Color (“Color” in the Russian version of Photoshop). Who cares that we are doing this mode, then we enter in the google search "Color blending mode". The first couple of articles provide an exhaustive answer. In Photoshop, it is at the very bottom:

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

Change the flesh color in the new layer to the one with which we will dye the hair and give color to the hairstyle:

6. Now, step by step, we create layers and give color to all objects in the photo. I painted only the bride, since there are a lot of details in the photo, I will have time to color everything and update the article, but now we are making a color portrait from a black and white portrait of the bride. Paint lips:

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

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

Original black and white photo

Final color photograph

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

Hi all! We continue to conquer the basics of working in Photoshop. Today I have prepared a lesson for readers on the topic How to turn a color photo into black and white.

Sooner or later, while processing photos and images in Photoshop, we are faced with the need to turn a color photo into black and white. Therefore, I decided to prepare this short lesson for my readers to show how this is done visually.

There are many ways to perform this operation. As part of this mini lesson, we will not consider the methods used by professional photographers, we will consider the simplest and fastest ways How to turn a color photo into black and white. In the future, in future lessons, we will definitely return to this topic and see other ways, more complex and professional, used by advanced users of Photoshop.

We will get to know 3 ways converting color photos to black and white, I’ll say right away that these methods are not professional, the quality after processing by them is not the best, but these methods are quite suitable for novice users to learn.

So, I propose to move from words to deeds. First, let's open the image we want to make black and white.

Now let's start processing. I present to your attention the first method.

Method #1:

Converting a color photo to black and white using the "G" function grayscale".

To do this, we need to go to the top menu: Image/Mode/Grayscale. A window will appear with the question “Delete color information”, click delete and our photo has become black and white.

We go to the menu Picture/Modes/Grayscale

Very fast and easy, right? We move on.

Attention! Remember that you can always return an action back with the hotkeys CTRL+Z. Let's move on to the second method.

Method #2:

We turn a color photo into black and white using the " Discolor".

We rise to the top menu of the program and go to:( Shift + CTRL+U ) . See below the result of the operation.

Go to the top menu Image/Correction/Desaturate or press hot keys Shift+Ctrl+U

Method #3:

Making a black and white image using an adjustment layer " Black and white»

This method is also extremely simple and fast, its advantage is that when using adjustment layers, Photoshop makes changes and corrections to a special adjustment layer, and not to the original image, which we decided to make in black and white. We also have features such as: reverse the entire editing process, control the opacity of the layer, turn the visibility of the layer on and off. This method allows you to get a more beautiful black and white image, unlike the previous ones.

Step 1:

So, the photo is already open for us. Now go to the panel "Correction", if it is closed for you, then open it through the top menu Window/Correction. We find in the panel " Correction» adjustment layer « black and white” and click on it.

To open the Adjustment Layers panel, go to the top menu Window/Correction

Step 2:

After you click on the adjustment layer " black and white“, our image has been converted to black and white and a window with sliders has appeared. In this window, with the help of many simple parameters, you can adjust the black and white effect to your liking. Move the sliders until you get a sharp black and white image. Moving the sliders to the right colors areas that were previously colored with the slider's color a lighter shade of gray, while moving the sliders to the left colors areas a darker shade of gray.

At the top of this window, you can select pre-made sets or create your own set and then save it via the "triangle with stripes" menu, which is located in the upper right corner of the window. If you click on the " Auto“, Photoshop will automatically select the options for how it thinks the black and white image should look. Here's what happened to me.

Here's what happened to me

That's all for today, try to train everyone 3 ways and write about your results below in the comments. See you in the next lessons!

You will need

To perform the operations of this instruction, it is desirable that you be at least basicly familiar with Adobe Photoshop: you know what layers and layer masks are, you know how to use a brush and other basic tools of this program.

Instruction

To add color to an image - the color of a black and white or faded photograph, to color or recolor a pencil drawing or a solid color, etc. – special technical costs and complex operations are not 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. You can do this with a brush or other program tools. The original image in the right places will acquire the desired color scheme.
Of course, the hardest part is actually getting the color layer right, especially if you want to achieve the most photorealistic image.

To begin with, let's analyze: we will 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 of the same material, or objects that have a completely predictable combination of colors, solid 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 tend to one color, areas of medium illumination have their own approximately the same 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 action only applies to the desired fragment of the original image. For example, let's trace the outline of an object with the Lasso tool. After finishing the selection, create a new Gradient Map layer (Menu Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Gradient Map). In the layers panel, set the blend mode switch of the created layer to Color.
Let's start 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 will greatly facilitate the work, the nature of the image in which is similar to the one being recreated. This sample will already present the main combinations of colors in finished form, therefore, the colors of the gradient can simply be typed with an eyedropper tool from the sample. 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 layers as you need. Each layer in the layer list above can overlap layers below it, and if the layer masks overlap, then the top layer will be critical in rendering the color cast. Therefore, you can go initially from painting large spaces, to the subsequent creation of smaller color fragments, overlaying new color combinations on smaller and smaller details, creating new and new layers on top.
Of course, layer masks can be created not only by tracing objects along the path. The mask can simply be painted with a black or white brush, respectively, adding or excluding the areas of effect of the color layer. In order to “draw on the mask”, you must first click the cursor on the rectangle on the right - a schematic representation of the mask - in the line of the desired layer on the Layers panel (Layers).
It is very convenient that each created layer can be re-edited at any time, change the colors of the spectrum - just double-click on the line of the layer in the list of the layer in the list of the Layers panel (Layers), and proceed to modify the gradient. Also, the mask of each layer can be erased, corrected, painted over, or even re-created.

Having painted large homogeneous areas of the image in this way, we proceed 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 different angles, the same color tone looks different. Therefore, in addition to color gradients - tending to "flatten" surfaces, because with this method of coloring, the 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 towards blue, because next to it is a large blue wall, the reflected cold color of which will surely fall on the column and illuminate it, changing the color shade. The lower part of the column closer to the floor will take on the reflected tones of orange highlights from the parquet.
To show this in our work, just above the Gradient Map layer that defines the base color of the column, create a new clean layer (Layer>New Layer menu), and set it to Color blend mode. On it with a soft translucent brush, carefully apply the necessary spots - a cold shade at the top, a warm orange at the bottom. You can also play along with brown reflexes from a nearby walnut table. By adjusting the parameter Opacity (Transparency) of the created layer, you can reduce and 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 shady areas, the reddish color of the parquet will look more faded. And in the darkest places, the colors of all surfaces can have an almost indistinguishable color tone from each other.
Particular attention should be paid to human skin. First of all, the skin absorbs glare very well, therefore, for example, for a standing character, the side of the face that faces the column will be of a much colder shade than the one on which the light from the red curtain falls. In addition, the skin itself is rarely even in color - the cheeks are usually a warmer shade than the skin around the eyes, the exposed areas are tanned, blood vessels will be visible through thin skin, etc. Therefore, work on skin color is always very painstaking, but with sufficient observation, with a little practice, you can easily achieve a completely plausible 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, such as JPEG, for quick viewing, and other operations with the file, in which there is no 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 transport on the Internet, it is easy to save the image through the File>Save for Web menu.

Colorize a black and white photo online in one click in Algorithmia

In order to make a picture black and white online, dozens of Internet resources have been created, but only one is provided for the reverse function - Algorithmia. The work of this unusual site is built on the practical application of neural networks. In addition to the fact that he can convert an image from black and white to color, he can also:

determine the area depicted in the photo;
to distinguish the faces of people in the pictures;
analyze the positive/negative mood of the given text;
and much more.

Algorithmia has an English-language interface, but since the section we need - Colorize Photos - implies only one function, working with it does not cause any difficulties.

So, upload your bw photo, which we are going to colorize - this can be done by selecting a picture on a computer or entering a link to its location on the Internet.

If you just want to test how to turn a black and white photo into a color one, you can choose one of the pictures offered here for an example.

The coloring process takes about half a minute. Next, we are offered to evaluate the photo before and after.

Move the purple slider to see the effect of the changes

You can save both a fully colored drawing and the comparison itself - a photo partially in color and partially in b/w. I was a little disappointed with the watermark on the finished picture, but it is quite compact and modestly located in the corner. You can get rid of it by simply cropping the image.

Through several experiments, we found out that the service copes best with painting skin, water and trees. The clearer their boundaries, the better the result.

Let's compare - on the left is the original photo, which we discolored and uploaded to the site, and on the right - its colorized version

As you can see, Algorithmia distinguishes people well and automatically colors the skin in beige tones. True, the service does not feel the borders very well, so the cardigan, just in case, was also made flesh-colored.

In the background behind the girl, the editor "didn't recognize" the Christmas tree, so he left it just a dark spot. But he clearly defined the color of the gift and jeans and did almost everything right, except for the beige leg in the foreground and very blurry borders. The service decided to “revive” the bird in the corner of the picture, so it made it yellowish.

In general, of course, there are certain flaws in the result, but all the same, Algorithmia deserves respect, if only because it is the only site that allows you to turn a black and white photo into color.

How to colorize a picture in Photoshop: a simple guide for beginners

We want to say right away that this method will require much more time than the previous one. Also here you will need minimal skills in Photoshop, and the more of them, the more beautiful the result will be.

Load the image into Photoshop and create a new empty layer. Next, use the "Quick Selection" tool and click on the objects that we are going to convert to one color.

Use the Alt key to deselect unwanted area

Select the tool "Brush", select the appropriate color and sketch the selected fragments.

If you want the shades to be not too saturated, you can reduce the opacity and pressure of the brush.
In order to preserve the presence of shadows and color transitions, change the layer blending mode to "Overlay"
It already looks much more natural.

We repeat the same operations with the rest of the objects in the photo. Recall the sequence:

create a new layer;
select a fragment;
apply the desired color;
change the layer's blend mode.

For convenience, it is better to name each new layer in accordance with the fragment being painted.

If the edges are not handled too carefully, then this will definitely be noticeable and the picture will look unnatural. We recommend using the "Gaussian Blur" function with a small radius to smooth out all the imperfections a little.

In the "Filter" section, select "Blur", and then - "Gaussian Blur". Then just control the radius until you achieve an organic result.

Let's see what happened in the end. On the left is the original photo, which we then discolored, on the right is its color version.

In general, the new image looks quite natural, although many shades differ from those in the original version.

Summing up, we can say that making a black and white photo color in Photoshop is much more difficult and longer than using an online service. For comparison, let's say that the whole process took us more than an hour, although in Algorithmia everything would be ready in a few seconds. True, the result in Photoshop is more organic and predictable, and you can control all the moments yourself.

So far, these are all ways to colorize a black and white photo. Therefore, decide what is more important for you - efficiency or quality of the result, and rather use all the advice received in practice!