Photoshop: Colorize a Black & White Photograph Image

Posted January 30 '09

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Original photo by Alex Patru.

The above colorization took about an hour to complete with very basic Photoshop coloring
methods. You can certainly achieve even more interesting results by putting more time into
yours.
The Mechanical Aspect Of Colorizing
While there is no automatic way to achieve a result that matches the quality and detail you see
above, Photoshop makes this task extremely easy by providing us with a built-in Color layer
mode. This allows us to alter the hue of any part of the image without affecting the integrity of
the image. The entire process of colorizing the black and white picture above is simply a
repetition on applying these color layers to sections of the original image.
The Artistic Aspect Of Colorizing
Finding the colors themselves is only a matter of trial and error, and is an inevitable outcome for
anyone trying to get it just right. What is a little less intuitive is the issue of tonality. Even when
the colors are correctly chosen, improper tonal value will invariably result in an over-saturated,
artificial looking picture.
For this, there is a simple rule to carry out through this process. The most color shows toward
mid-tones. Where the image becomes brighter or darker, less color is to be applied, i.e. more
gray is to show. In Photoshop, we accomplish this with layer masks, gradients, and the smudge
tool.
Let's Get Started!
Here is the original image, which you may use to follow this tutorial. Right click on it, save it,
and load it into Photoshop.
Coloring The Skin
We'll start with the skin. Create a new layer and name it "Skin."

Take a large pencil and paint over all the skin with any color you'd like. We will change this
color through the Blending Options later so it doesn't matter what you use right now. After
blocking in the major areas, zoom in with a small pencil to get the finer areas between the hairs
and around the curves. This is not to be completed in seconds. If you're new to this, spend at least
5 minutes getting it about as detailed as you see below.
The magic occurs when you change the layer mode to Color.

Notice the integrity of the image is intact; all that has changed is the color value.
Now we'll open the Blending Options and try to find the right shade for this woman's skin. To
do that, right-click on the layer in your Layers window and select "Blending Options..." Once the
window appears, click the Color Overlay tab on the left panel. By default, the color is set to red
and the Blend Mode is set to Normal. Change the blend mode to Color here as well.
At this point, you should be looking at something like this:
Click on the red square to enter the color picker, and proceed to select a yellowish color. This
will be the base upon which we'll add additional color later. Incidentally, you'll now realize it's
quite difficult to find the correct color for the skin. This is why we simply selected an arbitrary
green at first and are obtaining the proper color here through the Blending Mode, as it allows us
to experiment very easily with the eye dropper.
I've selected a beige, which has a hex value of "F5C99E." You can type this into the box where it
currently says "FF0000." Click OK when you're done:

Adjusting The Tone

Looking at what we have so far, there is a definite tonal flatness, particularly noticable around
the nose, cheeks, and forehead. These are the areas where light is hitting the most, so they need
to be desaturated a bit. Mild variations of light on the mouth, chin, and fingers should also be
addressed.
In your Layers window, with the Skin layer selected, click the Add layer mask button.
You'll notice that a white square has appeared next to your Skin thumbnail and that your pencil
color has automatically become black. The white square is the layer mask, and the layer mask
only accepts black and white input. When you draw on the layer mask with black, it hides the
corresponding area of the layer that is being masked, which is the image represented by the
thumbnail to its left, our Skin color layer. When you draw on the mask with white, it reveals
those areas again.
This is useful because we can erase certain parts of our skin color layer in an experimental
manner, by drawing on the mask with black; we don't lose any of the original data, as it's merely
being "masked" or hidden. Should we wish to unerase, we can retrace those areas in white. And
should we wish to create a gradual erasure, we can use the Smudge tool to smear the eraser
effect to a desired gradient.
If I haven't explained it clearly enough, don't worry too much about it right now. You'll get a
better understanding of it as we move along. But for your convenience, here is an article that
explains the function of the Layer Mask in greater detail.
With the layer mask in place, we can start removing areas of color that are too saturated, and
subsequently blend them into adjacent areas with the Smudge tool. Click the layer mask to be
sure it is activated; you should see a border around the mask's thumbnail. Then with your pencil
with a diameter of about 10 pixels and black currently selected, draw thick lines and dots over
the areas that are highlighted and shaded.
Then select the Smudge tool and, with a slightly larger brush size, proceed to blend these areas
in nice and smooth. You may want to zoom in for this. Do it slowly and make multiple passes
until the grays turn into a subdued beige. Remember, you can draw on the mask with white to
restore some of the color if you go too far with it.

Pink Hues
Now we need to give her some pink hue on her nose, chin, cheeks, and fingers. For this, we'll
repeat the process we used for the original skin tone. Create a new layer and change its layer
mode to Color. Then color the areas as needed, using the Smudge tool to blend them in.
After adjusting the Blending Options, using the hex value "ED7757" for a pinkish color, I have
the following result.

This needs to be toned down, so I will reduce the opacity of the layer to around 50%.
Coloring The Eyes & Lips
The only part of an eye that is colored is the iris; the pupil is literally just a black hole.
As we've done twice so far, create a new layer and change its Blending Mode to color. Now we'll
draw a thick line around the pupil, within the confines of the iris. The eyes are quite dark so the
effect will be minimal, but visible nonetheless. I've given her some blue eyes.
We also need to colorize the sclera, which is the dominant whitish area. Under most light, it has a
slight yellowish pigment. Repeat the process for the sclera, taking care not to overdue it as the
eyes will otherwise appear jaundiced; you can decrease the layer's opacity to subdue the effect.
There are also some veins, which are currently represented as dark gray blotches. These need to
be colored pink. Also color the lips in the same manner.

Coloring The Hair

Pencil in the hair color layer just as we did with the skin.
Now we'll go ahead and change the layer mode to Color, and use the Blending Options to give it
a brownish hue. I've used the hex code, "E8B06F." Then I decreased the opacity of the layer to
about 50%. Next is dealing with the individual hairs standing against the background. To me, the
tedium in coloring each hair seemed a little much, so I resorted to pulling a little bit of the
existing color over them with the Smudge tool.

You'll notice some of the color inevitably appears outside of bounds. This is tolerable since we'll
be using a similar color for the ceiling. The only thing left to do is adjust the tonality. Desaturate
the darkest and lightest areas as we did with the skin using a layer mask, black pencil, and
Smudge.
Coloring The Ceiling & Floor
The only thing that I did differently here was give them a gradual desaturation into the distance. I
did this simply by applying black-to-transparent gradients on their layer masks, which you can
see from my thumbnails below. I also slightly desaturated the ceiling lamps.

Finishing Up
After completing the train, scarf, and gloves with a repetition of the techniques I've used thus far,
I applied an overall color wash using a Color Balance adjustment layer.
This will give you a window where you can play with Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights,
which you can access with the radial buttons at the bottom. I made rather subtle adjustments in
all three, favoring an overall pinkish hue.

Finally, I made some small last minute adjustments here and there, and the end result: