Reviving History: A Step-by-Step Guide to Colorizing Black and White Photographs

How to Colorize Black and White Photos
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In this video, I show you How to Colorize Black and White Photos using Photoshop.
It's remarkably easy, and whilst there are automatic apps and tools to colorize photos, it's a fun and cathartic exercise to do it yourself.
The video shows you How to Colorize Black and White Photos in Photoshop using Solid Colour adjustment layers.
00:00 Introduction
02:21 Colorize Entire Photo
14:35 Fast Forward through an Edit
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[@martintolley9234]

Some really good work here. But word of warning, it can be very emotional. I did some restoration of some random photos from a box full I was given by a distant cousin when I was looking at our family tree. One of the photos I chose simply on the basis that it was relatively easy to do, a clear sharp image with an interesting naval uniform. It turned out to be a photo of a great grand uncle who'd had this picture taken on his 17th birthdaya week before he left on active service, and from which he never returned. It was the last photo he'd had taken. My great grandmother saw the restored photo and wept buckets. The colour work sha said had brought him back to the life.

[@kevin_mullins]

Indeed, I had spine tingles when restoring the image of my Nana.

[@abovemadness]

That’s amazing!!!

[@tonypmedia]

That picture was WAY before our time my friend, it's not supposed to look "perfect". It looks absolutely beautiful sir! Nanna was on fire! You restored a photo and extended her historic memory into our era that will now last a lifetime with no weathering and distress... You kept it's originality and tones as if it was taken with color at that time using the limited lighting they didn't have like we do now. Brother, this is the most awesome picture ever. Do another one of these great edits.

[@RS-Amsterdam]

Nice job and thanks for sharing. My father, who died when I was very young, and who was also an amateur photographer, did that coloring, by hand, on B/W photo's (shot with a Voigtlander with 35mm film before I was born), and I still have one or two (somewhere). Other story, my aunt and uncle had their 50 year wedding anniversary. In their bedroom was an old wedding photo and they told me my father took it, but over time it was scratched. So I asked if I could have it for a couple of days, made a scan, retouched it in PS and had it print on a tile and it turned out to marvellous (still hanging in their room) Funny feeling came over me when I was retouching it, 2 generations working on the same image with 50 years between it, who would have thought of that in those days when I was just out of my diapers.

[@kevin_mullins]

That's a lovely story. And yes, it's incredible seeing these things come back to life, and in your case, a cherished memory for those still around. It was touching for me working on my Nana's picture as she was a huge part of my life. And one thing I learnt from my great great great grandad.... Is that is where my eyebrows came from 😃

[@chipcurry]

Good stuff, good clear directions. I can use this. Thanks for taking the time to spread the word.

[@kevin_mullins]

Glad it was helpful!

[@michaellyne8773]

Thank you so much Kevin for sharing your knowledge /tutorial you have made colouring much easier. Thank you again.

[@kevin_mullins]

Glad it was helpful!

[@StewartChambers]

Excellent tutorial. Got some old B&W photos of my late father-in-law when he was in the Navy so will give this a try and see what the Mrs thinks.

[@kevin_mullins]

Enjoy :-)

[@mimidp2649]

How did that go? Such a lovely thing to do for your wife!

[@Luispaglezfoto]

Great video! And nice book: Road to seeing!!! Magnificent book!

[@keithsandercock1412]

Great video. I have restored dozens of old family photos in PS, but have never attempted colourizing. Your instructions are easy to follow thanks. I was also impressed with the transition from B&W to colour during your opening monologue.

[@kevin_mullins]

Thanks. It really is an easy process in Photoshop and a lot of fun.

[@lynnewatson855]

Thank you so much for this. I had tried the Neural filter in PS on a 50+ year old photo of me and my sister as children in the early 1960's, but this technique was much better and more subtle somehow. It was such fun recreating the colour of our party dresses - which I remember so well!

[@debz6110]

Thanks. Just wish you had shown how you did the flush and the highlights.

[@mrjohnbaseley]

Why on earth did someone give a thumbs down? Yes, it's a bit different from your usual type of upload, but It's like buying an Ice cream for a child as a surprise, then they get disappointed and complain it's not the right flavour..

[@kevin_mullins]

World we live in, John. 99.9 % of people understand the effort that goes into these things, even if it's not something they are interested in. There will always be a few though. Thanks for your support as always.

[@romaniromani4021]

good job man !😊 !Gracias amigo !😎

[@lewistaylor1965]

Big Thanks...Perfect tutorial...

[@kevin_mullins]

You're welcome!

[@Soori8]

Mode, CYMK helped me a lot. thank you for the tutorial.

[@BloodBoughtMinistries]

You can work in rgb and have your proof color mode set to cmyk. Then you still have access to all the effects that are only available in rgb mode.

[@razerblade3302]

Excellent Kevin, Happy Xmas..

[@kevin_mullins]

Same to you!

[@roger4008]

I downloaded the colorize filter in Photoshop several weeks ago and it worked great on several b&w pictures. Yesterday I attempted to colorize another b&w picture and I got the message to download the filter. When I attempted to download the filter, it would not download. I restarted PS but still got the same message. I restarted the computer but continued to get the same message. Any suggestions? Thanks

[@crsigns101]

Brilliant!

[@photowalk.podcast]

Nice job Kev!

[@kevin_mullins]

Thanks Neale.

[@timothywongej]

I'm a new subscriber! Absolutely love your work and it resonates immediately with me. Any thoughts on the new XS-10 camera by the way?

[@kevin_mullins]

I've not seen the X-S10 but the reviews seem positive so far. I'm not a fan of PASM dials though so I don't think it would be a good fit for me.

[@keithfincham8428]

Thanks Kevin, you make it all look so easy. I am seriously impressed by how accurately you can paint your masks, do you use a tablet or is that straight from the mouse or pad? I have been planning for a while now that when I get back home to Brisbane and have the time in retirement, that I would try and capture all our photographs and negatives digitally, planning then to try and "restore" and catalogue them, and having done that to try a produce a phonebook for each of our two sons. The size of the task was always a bit off-putting, but your process has motivated me to start. Is it rude of me to ask what scanner and was there anything special you did in the initial scan capture? Thanks again to you and Neale for all you do for us. Best regards and take care.

[@kevin_mullins]

At the moment I'm just using a mouse. I don't have a tablet though may get one. I scanned it with a £35 Canon multi-function printer/scanner. Ideally you want to be able to scan at 600DPI (these were only done at 150).

[@brynjarbjorgvinsson1987]

thanks, very nice,

[@kevin_mullins]

Most welcome 😊

[@tomchambers8686]

Love this and perfect timing as I am looking to providing some retouching for clients.

[@kevin_mullins]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TRUTHandANSWERS]

What dpi/ppi do you scan old photos at?

[@kevin_mullins]

These ones are only scanned at 300DPI but for serious ones, I'm scanning at 6000.

[@NeilWaybright]

That is a great book at your elbow...

[@kevin_mullins]

Indeed it is.

[@rotagbhd]

Here's a "great" tip: Don't say great great great grandparent, please, just say 3rd great grandparent. If you're talking about your 6th great grandmother do you really think people want to hear or count as you say great great great great great great grandmother? Lovely photographs, by the way.

[@waynejennings480]

Why colour them? They have a beauty as they are and a place in history, I hated the trend of colouring classic old films in the eighties.

[@kevin_mullins]

Some people like it, some people don't. I like it personally.