How to colourize Black and white Photo

10 easy steps in Photoshop to bring some colours back to old photos!

We all know how to convert a colour image into a black and white photo in Photoshop. But converting a Black and White photo to colour is not as simple.

To colourize a black and white photo you need to understand the colour in the picture and try to be as close to real colour as possible.

In this tutorial I am going to discuss a simple yet effective skill to add colour to pictures. Whether you have old photos or you just want to experiment with a new technique – this tutorial will keep you entertained!

 

1-Open an image in Photoshop

2-Go to Image>Mode and select CMYK (it gives you more control over the colours than RGB)

3-Select “Quick Select” tool and start selecting your first item in the photo. In this image I selected the flower first.

4-Go to “Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer” and select “Curve” 

5-Now on the “Proprieties” window you can select each colour channel and adjust them to your liking. In this image I want to create a different colour flower so I added more Yellow to make it the way I liked it.

6-Continue tweaking your selection on this adjustment layer until you’re happy.

7-Select “Quick Selection” tool again and select another object in the photo. In this example I selected the background.

8-Repeat steps 4 and 5. I wanted a nice green background.

9- Job done! As you see Photoshop created a layer for each selection, which allows me to go back and fine tweak them later if I want to.

10-Save your art work as a PSD file if you think you’ll want to tweak it again. Or “Save As” a Jpeg for print, just remember to change the Mode from CMYK to sRGB for prints.

Happy Colouring

Ted and Omnilargess Team

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