PhotoshopFilter: How to make a colourised B&W photo look stunning [or at least gift-worthy]?

December 22, 2007 9:49 AM

PhotoshopFilter: How to make a colourised B&W photo look stunning [or at least gift-worthy]?

I've been cleaning/repairing and now colouring this old [50-ish years] photo of my aunt, with the idea of framing it as an Xmas present [It beats another pair of socks, right?]

While I'm no stranger to Photoshop and have been able to clean it up pretty satisfactorily, I'm really falling down on the colouring aspect. I feel there's something wrong with the contrasting/exposure in the coloured photo - also the hair and make-up are freakish, at best.

What makes a great coloured photo? Any hints or tips would be of great help!

posted by Chorus to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

I'm not sure what you are trying to do. Are you trying to decolor the picture? I think you are right, the colorized version doesn't look very good.

I just desaturated the color (added a hue/saturation layer) and put a bit more midtone contrast in there.

You could clone in the corner highlight, I think it's distracting.

But the version you posted looks kind of like sepia, but not really. I like it desaturated myself.
posted by sully75 at 10:10 AM on December 22, 2007

In the final colored photo her hair has mostly turned completely black, as in it's just a helmet, you can't see individual clumps or strands of hair. This has the added "benefit" of bringing her pale face out even more, so it's almost starting to look pasted on. This occurred to small effect when you cleaned up the original, but then it went even further once you added the color. Also the original and cleaned up version have a soft quality while the final color version looks start and almost garish.

I'd go back to the cleaned up version and lessen the contrast a bit, then convert that to a tritone and see how a mix of magenta, yellow, and black would do.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:18 AM on December 22, 2007

How to make a colourised B&W photo look stunning [or at least gift-worthy]?

Convert to Grayscale > Adjust Levels > Enjoy

Just wanted you to consider leaving it black and white as an option. "Colorized" photos are rarely superior to a nice B&W print.
posted by jca at 10:19 AM on December 22, 2007

I would experiment with cropping it, because the original is a bit arm-centric.
posted by smackfu at 10:20 AM on December 22, 2007

Think like a painter, not a photographer—just because her hair is chestnut-brown doesn't mean the highlights in it will be brown too. In fact, they might be a bright yellow or even a bit blue due to sunlight bouncing off.

Also, it helps to treat it like a watercolor. Use broad, pale washes of color first (Multiply at 4%) and then get progressively smaller and more saturated.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:31 AM on December 22, 2007

To me, she's looking a bit beige - her dress, her skin tone, even her irises, are all browny-yellow, giving the image a bit of a jaundiced look. Maybe use Variations to shift the image to a slightly pinker hue, or re-do the skin to look a little bit warmer. Also - if you're not working from original information about what she was wearing - you could make the dress a whole different colour to stand out from her skin more.

Also, the whites of her eyes are the same skin-colour, and so are the pearls, so try and tweak them - I suspect it's little details like those that make the brain see the image as "fake-looking."
posted by so_necessary at 11:37 AM on December 22, 2007

I actually like the original best. The problem with taking the old photo and converting it to grayscale is that you are losing all of the warmth of the brown and yellow hues in the original. Part of the joy of old photos is that you can immediately tell by looking at the color that they are from a different time. When you eliminate those visual cues, you run the risk of retouching away an old photo's appeal... you are erasing history that way.

I would suggest starting over and merely retouching out some of the spots, and maybe adjust the levels and leave it alone. If you must convert to grayscale to retouch it, convert it back to a nice sepia when you're done (Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturation... then click the Colorize checkbox and adjust the sliders), even if you keep it subtle.

If you really feel the need to colorize it, put each color on a separate layer under the main photo layer (set the main layer to Multiply), and then you can adjust layer opacity and fool around with hue/saturation on each individual color until you get it right. Stick to very pale pastel colors (pale pinks and blues, maybe some yellow) and keep things extremely subtle.

If you're feeling creative, find a few other old photos and make it into a collage. One thing I've done several times for collages of old photos is scanning any hand written labels on the back and incorporating them into the design. Like this.
posted by MegoSteve at 11:44 AM on December 22, 2007

You could use a plug-in to give it an artistic look. Check out the Oil Paint filter in Snap Art.
posted by Xazeru at 11:58 AM on December 22, 2007

I'm not so sure about the advice you're getting in this thread.

I think you've done a good job so far. But... There are two major problems with your image. First, the blacks, as Brandon Blatcher mentioned, are too black. They're clipping. That's why the face and makeup looks freakish.

Second, there is really only one color in the image. I added a contrasting color and adjusted the contrast a bit to help you out.

Here is the result.

Here is the .PSD file so you can see the blending modes and alpha masks that I used.

Hope this helps.
posted by fake at 12:19 PM on December 22, 2007

Dudes et dudettes: the original photo is black & white. The OP wishes to colorize it.

If you want to colorize it, colorize it! Mostly you're doing fine, but so far, you've made her skin sepia. Her dress sepia. Her pearls sepia. Her eyes sepia. All sepia. Mix it up, like real-life styles. Whites of the eyes, white pearls. Contrasting dress color.

If you just want to make a sepia-tone image, then make a sepia-tone image the way MegoSteve says (Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturation, check "Colorize").
posted by wemayfreeze at 1:04 PM on December 22, 2007

Devil's in the details. Her eye-whites, the highlights of her eyes, her teeth, the pearls, her fingernails, the details of her belt. Clean all them up. Use a lighter colour on her hair, and don't just work in "blocks" of colour. Not just one black (or dark brown) for her hair, but rather try working with two shades of brown, same for her skin, does she perhaps have a little colour to her cheeks? Peoples faces aren't the same colour as their arms, etc.
posted by Iteki at 1:46 PM on December 22, 2007

I'd look into something like this, which is designed to color b&w photos.

Also, from a pure aesthetic perspective, given the era of the clothing, I'd say it's likely her lipstick was a red, not brown. Brownish reds were popular in the 20s, but fell out of favor after and didn't really come back as a popular choice until much later.
posted by Kellydamnit at 1:52 PM on December 22, 2007

ok. I couldn't resist doing one too--a little more contrast. I like to use color balance to change lights and darks so the colors are not as flat as using hue/saturation. I kept the hair lowkey, brightened the eyes and I selected hurriedly so the edges are messy! also the necklace should be more contrasty but i don't have time. With old photos, I like to keep it a little monotone, like background and dress being shades of each other to keep something of the feeling of the original.

here
posted by beckish at 8:24 PM on December 22, 2007