Applet Orchard

How To Colorize a Black and White Photo in Photoshop

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I spent some time the other day experimenting with colorizing a black and white photograph. The image I worked on is a photo of my Grandad during WW2. The original has that washed out sepia look to it, as you would expect from a snapshot from the 1940s. But after scanning and processing it in Photoshop, it’s brought to life in full colour and much better contrast, which really helps you imagine the scene for real.

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39 responses to “How To Colorize a Black and White Photo in Photoshop”

  1. TheHaydock91 Avatar
    TheHaydock91

    Brilliant tutorial, one of the better ones out there as you explain things really clearly 🙂

    Reply
  2. SassmanGaming Avatar
    SassmanGaming

    Really good video, I really do mean it but the part when you say to fill the layer mask with black and then don't show and/or explain how to do it. Now that I've taken the time to look it up, I see now it's just a command you can do (still rather new to all of this so partially my fault)but still a little frustrating. I'm sure doing the command is probably more of a habit for you and it just slipped your mind. Just kinda weird how detailed this whole video was except this minor detail which held me up for a good 30 minutes. Anyway, sorry if this came off snarky or anything but just thought it'd be a good heads up.

    Reply
  3. Rowbance Avatar
    Rowbance

    Nice job m8 ! Very well explained. It's less complicated then i thought it would be 🙂

    Reply
  4. hemetas Avatar
    hemetas

    hard to understand, too fast……sorry

    Reply
  5. Lily Iwani Avatar
    Lily Iwani

    at 2.16 how did you change the layer mask to black?

    Reply
  6. Paul Mitchell Avatar
    Paul Mitchell

    Hey I have to say thank you so much for this tutorial. I watched it a few times and picked up on it very quickly. For examples of what I have done in just a couple of weeks take a look at my flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul-mitchell

    Reply
  7. Schorchy Avatar
    Schorchy

    How did you switch the color in the color fill box to black im having trouble

    Reply
  8. Chknise Avatar
    Chknise

    dam bro! this is a great topic. I only used this feature in the past to turn individuals into the hulk, but this takes it to another level. Subscribed!

    Reply
  9. Nate Gaming Avatar
    Nate Gaming

    still waiting in the logo on Adobe illustrator !!!

    Reply
  10. ScubbaCarita Avatar
    ScubbaCarita

    Chris… your tutorials are the best in the entire internet… gosh.. so great.
    Thank you so much.

    Reply
  11. Graphic Unlocked Avatar
    Graphic Unlocked

    great tutorial, my grandma was so happy when i showed her family portrait colorized

    Reply
  12. Noah Weaver Avatar
    Noah Weaver

    you are absolutely brilliant!

    Reply
  13. MultiSciGeek Avatar
    MultiSciGeek

    This is actually pretty amazing

    Reply
  14. Ryan Tiago Avatar
    Ryan Tiago

    Great Job! Thanks for sharing!
    I liked your wallpaper too! 😛 But I couldn't find it on a google image search 🙁

    Reply
  15. Joke sparrow Avatar
    Joke sparrow

    for me its pretty difficult, but i'll try it

    Reply
  16. OLALA DAVID Avatar
    OLALA DAVID

    You look like your granddad ……..COPY

    Reply
  17. TrueMagix Avatar
    TrueMagix

    Now watch the holocaust!
    IN COLOR

    Reply
  18. runningheadcom Avatar
    runningheadcom

    Good job Chris, very inspiring!

    Reply
  19. Eco Graphics Avatar
    Eco Graphics

    Did you watch the video on colorized black and white photos from Vox?

    Reply
  20. barni freak Avatar
    barni freak

    Top Daumen hoch

    Reply
  21. Muhammad Eid Avatar
    Muhammad Eid

    Amazing .. Thanks

    Reply
  22. Sabir Ali Avatar
    Sabir Ali

    very useful tutorial to colorize old black and white pic i will try thanks Chris for sharing amazing ideas and tricks

    Reply
  23. Artyom Ivchatov Avatar
    Artyom Ivchatov

    you make it look so easy

    Reply
  24. Evian622 Avatar
    Evian622

    You look like your granddad!

    Reply
  25. Luciano Moreira Avatar
    Luciano Moreira

    Sensacional. Obrigado.

    Reply
  26. Angel A. Acevedo Avatar
    Angel A. Acevedo

    Nice! will try this with some of my great grand-dads WWI photos.

    Reply
  27. Diego Avatar
    Diego

    great video man!!

    Reply
  28. Jason Smith Avatar
    Jason Smith

    Fast and easy to do, great

    Reply
  29. Syed Shazli Avatar
    Syed Shazli

    Great work Chris. Can you make a tutorial with advanced tips on using liquify filter? How can we make an obese person slim or any other subject of your choice?
    I hope you'll be able to provide a tutorial on this.
    I'm reading your awesome tutorials since 2010 and I can tell you that you've helped me a lot in achieving my goals as a graphic designer. Thanks

    Reply
  30. Philipp Hofheinz Avatar
    Philipp Hofheinz

    Great work! Thank you very much for these!

    Reply
  31. Dylan Vargas Avatar
    Dylan Vargas

    i feel like there were some elements missing from this. as a whole, it was a spectacular introduction video to colourizing and making the image stylized, but i feel as if to actually colourize, it might be beneficial to mess with the hue, saturation, and tones of each layer of colour rather than just the whole image. laying a colour over the whole image might assist in determining the tone of the image, but it can eliminate your original interpretation of the colours when looking at this photo with only face value. this is an opinionated approach but i feel as if a more "trial-and-error" approach would be better.

    your videos are very precise and very informative on new methods in each program and i absolutely adore them for this reason. for example, i didn't know about the dust and scratches removal, because photoshop doesn't label it as removal or add, but only dust and scratches. i was just writing to inform you that as face value with this channel, i don't see tutorials on how to do each, but rather applicable methods for each program.

    Reply
  32. Matthias S. Avatar
    Matthias S.

    This can't be a coincidence that the YouTubechannel "Vox" uploaded a Video called "How obsessive artists colorize old photos", about exactly this topic, today. ^^
    P.S.: It is really interesting, so you should pass by and watch it 😉

    Reply
  33. Tycho X Avatar
    Tycho X

    Brilliant.

    Reply
  34. hime alice Avatar
    hime alice

    thank you very much!!!

    Reply
  35. Pandy Payne Avatar
    Pandy Payne

    But how do you actually know which colour to colourize a specific object with… or you just guess.

    Reply
  36. Nurb 2Kea Avatar
    Nurb 2Kea

    I would use gradient map layers to match the high, mid and shadow tones. Sample the gradient colors from a newer images skin tones, apply and use a mask. The same for the clothes etc. Lot less layers to use. Also you can dodge and burn afterwards. Maybe use two different gradient map layers.

    Reply
  37. AND #GamesEduUu Avatar
    AND #GamesEduUu

    This is amazing!

    Reply
  38. Jon Wilson Avatar
    Jon Wilson

    Brilliant

    Reply
  39. Alise Gabriela Avatar
    Alise Gabriela

    this seriously blows my mind

    Reply

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