COLORIZING B&W photos

LMgraphics · Post by **LMgraphics** » Wed Mar 12, 2003 10:26 pm

Hello everyone,

I'm colorizing photos for memorials and many come as you may know already, totaly damaged and most of the time because they're old they come in black and white. I'm using color balance to colorize them in CMYK mode. I already tried to use the new feature of using the color
layer mode but don't find it accurate enough and the process i use takes many time to finish.

Do you know any plugin to improve this type of work ? Any action ?

Thanks,

Luis Monteiro - LMgraphics ( Portugal )

Post by **HaraldHeim** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 9:15 am

I guess the most work is to create selections around the image areas that you want to colorize. So speeding up this process should save you most of your time.

There are some tools out there e.g. MaskPro or KnockOut that claim to help you create selections and mask faster and more accurately. As I never tested them, I can't say if they are worth their money or not.

LMgraphics · Post by **LMgraphics** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 11:11 pm

HaraldHeim wrote:I guess the most work is to create selections around the image areas that you want to colorize. So speeding up this process should save you most of your time.

There are some tools out there e.g. MaskPro or KnockOut that claim to help you create selections and mask faster and more accurately. As I never tested them, I can't say if they are worth their money or not.

Thanks for the help.

My problem is more with the right color tone because it's quite easy to do something good enough but doing a real professional work is where i find my difficulties.

Anyway i'll have those names in mind,

Luis Monteiro

Post by **HaraldHeim** » Sat Mar 15, 2003 2:16 am

You mean colorizing B/W areas still lets them look quite boring and not really natural?

Trance · Post by **Trance** » Tue Mar 25, 2003 11:27 pm

I use brush for this purpose. *shrugs*

Photofix · Post by **Photofix** » Fri Apr 04, 2003 10:19 pm

HI,
I read your note and would like you to check out this link which is a tut on doing just what your talking about. I hope this helps you.
Photofix

http://www.stamphistory.net/allpics/ind ... izing.html

himself0314 · Post by **himself0314** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 11:15 am

I was randomly reading, found this, and wandered back here to share:

http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161015

"Colouring black and white images using red, blue, and yellow"

hope this helps...

Jaci · Post by **Jaci** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 1:11 pm

Basically, this is what I do for colorizing photos:

First of all I create a selection (either with the polygonal lasso or with quick mask), save it to a channel (just in case).
Then I add a new layer, change the blending mode to color and fill it with a color that I think is close, which makes no difference because I will be changing it with the Levels (manual levels).
After I get a nice color, I finish adjusting it with the Curves so that it looks more natural and preserves the shininess, contrast, etc. from the original image.

The two secrets here are Levels and Curves. What I like in Levels is that it is the key for defining a lighter or darker color. Curves can be a little bit tricky to master but it also makes a huge difference.

Jpegman · Post by **Jpegman** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 6:38 am

You might try the following web site for a product called BlackMagic. The home version is $39 and it automates the conversion process. I haven't tried it, but a trial version is available for download.

http://www.timebrush.com/blackmagic/

To quote the web site

BlackMagic may be used to colorize Black & White, Sepia, or IR (infrared) photos, or to color-correct ones with faded or inappropriate colours. Being extremely simple to use, its a software that transcends age and professional boundaries, providing an immense sense of achievement, pride and satisfaction for kids and adults alike. The resulting colorized photos have optimally saturated and consistent, correct hues - giving the appearance as if the photo had originally been 'shot' in colour! BlackMagic delivers such professional grade results with the minimum of fuss, and just a few minutes worth of effort.

BlackMagic incorporates "TimeBrush™ RLC [Real-Life-Colour]™" standard. The TimeBrush RLC technology was specifically created for colourizing black & white motion pictures of the Hollywood fame. This feature provides BlackMagic the ability to render superb, rich, vibrant looking colours, that are not under/ over saturated, yet look completely natural.

JPeg

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COLORIZING B&W photos

COLORIZING B&W photos

Colorizing B/W Photos