Each family has its own archive with black and white photographs. But sometimes I want to know how that beautiful dress of my grandmother looked with color. Of course, to restore all the shades is unrealistic, but it is very possible to colorize the picture and dream up on the theme "But how was it ..." There are many ways to colorize a black-and-white photo in Photoshop as naturally as possible, the article will show the fastest and highest-quality processing option.
Initial stage
Before you start creating, you need to prepare the original photo for coloring. For this, the highest quality image is selected and loaded into the program. To make a color photograph from black and white in Photoshop, you need to create a copy. To do this, on the thumbnail you need to right-click and select "Create a duplicate layer." This is done in order to compare the original photo with the resulting result. If the photographer is not comfortable with something, you can erase it with the Eraser brush or slightly lower the opacity.
Dividing a picture into color objects
The next step, go to the menu "Images" and find the parameter "Mode", it selects the sub-item RSL. How to colorize a black-and-white photo in Photoshop? After the photo is ready for work, it needs to be divided into sub-items, for this the previous step was created. Now you need to select different parts that will be the same color in the future and transfer them to a separate layer To perform the action, you need to right-click on the picture and select “Copy to a new layer.” And add a “Quick mask” (hot button D) to it, take a brush of the required size and paint over the skin.
You need to be very attentive to the eyes, they must be left intact, for this you can take a white brush and walk so that the selection is removed. And you also need to do with any site, if the photographer was mistaken. Therefore, do not get too hung up on how carefully the line is drawn.
How to colorize a black and white photo in Photoshop
Coloring the first area: when the entire area of the skin is selected, without clothes, eyes and other unrelated things, you must again press the hot key Y to switch to normal mode. Now this place can be inverted (fast invert Shift + Ctrl + D).
Similarly, you should do with all areas, clothing, hair, additional items and so on. Coloring a black and white photo in Photoshop as a real professional is very easy.
Go back to the first layer of the coloring and find the menu "New Adjustment", after that select the sub-item "Layer" and after that click on "Light balance". Check the box "Use layer", which is located above, to create a clipping mask, and then click "OK."
A new dialog box has opened, in which you can customize any color, even giving the skin a shade of blue or purple color is very easy. In general, the colors for black-and-white photography in Photoshop are chosen by the person himself. But the photographer’s task is still to take a natural picture, so you need to choose the appropriate shades. For skin color, the following values are suitable:
- Dark areas: +72 -10 -41.
- Halftone: +21 -6 -26.
- Light: +9 5–10.
That's right, step by step, we colorize a black-and-white photo in Photoshop.
The original photo has already begun to take on shades, which is very good. Now the most important thing is to select each object and repeat all the steps in the same way as it was with the skin. So you can color absolutely any photo. Thus, the question of how to colorize a black and white photograph in Photoshop is no longer a question.
Light correction
After the picture becomes color, you can give it even more naturalness. Of course, this item is optional, you can stop at the previous step, but there is the opportunity to conjure a bit. You can change the black and white picture of the whole picture in different ways, but this is the lightest one.
First you need to go to the "Filters" menu and select "Rendering", where the "Lighting Effects" parameter will be located. Click on it, a new window will open, where using various sliders you can very easily customize the picture to your liking.
And also above is an example of processing that you can focus on. It is worth remembering that the work in Photoshop is completely creative, so you should not do everything according to the template.