Hello, dear readers of my site! Today I will tell you how I add color to b/w photos.

This method is not new and not mine. Once I spied it on YouTube, now I will try to repeat it. During the campaign, I am sometimes asked to add color to old black and white photographs. This was the reason to write this article on the transfer of b / w images to color.

How to colorize a black and white photo in photoshop

1. First we need the original photo. I took a photo from the article "". Here she is:

2. Since old photographs are often digitized using a conventional scanner, they acquire a greenish or bluish tint. Therefore, we translate the photo into black and white using Photoshop, more precisely into shades of gray. This is done in several ways, but for this method it is better to do it as follows. Pressing a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+U and drag the slider to the very beginning, as in the screenshot below:

As a result, my photo has changed a bit:

That's it, now we can quickly and easily turn any photo into black and white in Photoshop.

And we give it a flesh color, as I usually start by painting the skin of the face, arms, legs, etc. Initially choose color with code #ffcc99:

Give it a blending mode Color (“Color” in the Russian version of Photoshop). Who cares that we are doing this mode, then we enter in the google search "Color blending mode". The first couple of articles provide an exhaustive answer. In Photoshop, it is at the very bottom:

4. Now select the brush and color white and paint over the areas that we need to color. At the same time, if you made a mistake and painted over the excess, then change the color of the brush to black and adjust it. As a result, I gave the skin color as follows:

Change the flesh color in the new layer to the one with which we will dye the hair and give color to the hairstyle:

6. Now, step by step, we create layers and give color to all objects in the photo. I painted only the bride, since there are a lot of details in the photo, I will have time to color everything and update the article, but now we are making a color portrait from a black and white portrait of the bride. Paint lips:

7. To give the eyes more expressiveness, I simply created a new layer by pressing the keys Shift+Ctrl+N. Selected tool Brush (Brush) and gave it a color close to black (code #161616 ) and summed up the lines of eyelashes, eyebrows and tinted a fountain pen (actually it is ballpoint or gel, I don’t remember already). As a result, I got this photo and the following layers:

8. For comparison, I post the result of how I made a color photo from a black and white photo using Photoshop:

Original black and white photo

Final color photograph

If you have any questions about how to add color to a b/w photo, then ask them in the comments or through the feedback tab.

Hi all! With you, as usual, I, Dmitry Kostin. And today we will photoshop again. Remember how we did? Be that as it may, this is not surprising, since it is not difficult to discolor an image. But how to make a black and white photo color? Is that possible?

Of course available. Already entire films are coloring. What is there to make some image color? But it's still very interesting experience. Can you imagine? You can think of the colors you would like to see in this photo. For example, you can set the color of eyes, hair, skin, clothing and much more. This is how I colored old photos. It turned out funny)

Let me not make long introductions. Let's start coloring right now. Open any b/w photo (I chose a photo I found on the Internet).

Just look at what mode the photo is in right away. It's just possible that it is saved in the format "Greyscale", then you just won't be able to work with color.

Change the color mode to RGB. To do this, go to the top menu and select the item "Image" - "Mode". Well, if it's not the RSL, then put it.

Let's look at the first method, namely the familiar one.


Overlay options

Here is another fairly effective trick for coloring photos. The main thing here is to create a separate layer for each element. I took new photo for these needs.


By the way, this was the very first method that I learned about. When I found out about it, I liked it so much that I colored a lot of photos).

Layer mask

Well, the last way of transformation for today is with the help of a layer mask. Let's get straight to the point.


Well, as a result, a beautiful color photograph is obtained and it already looks completely different. Oops, I just screwed up a little. But you can always fix this.

I never cease to be amazed at the power of Photoshop. Indeed, in many cases the same problem can be solved in several ways, and you yourself can choose the method that suits you best. By the way, which one do you like best? Or do you have your own way of how to make a black and white photo color in Photoshop, which I have not described here? Please write in the comments.

If you want to explore the possibilities of Photoshop in the shortest possible time and learn how to work with it, then I strongly recommend that you look great video course. Everything is told in detail in it, everything is told in human language and laid out on the shelves. The material is easy to digest. So I recommend.

Well, I'm done for today. I hope you enjoyed my article. Be sure to subscribe to my blog updates, then you will always be aware of the most relevant information on the blog. I will not spam. I promise). And I wish you good luck in mastering Photoshop. Bye bye!

Sincerely, Dmitry Kostin.

Hi all! We continue to conquer the basics of working in Photoshop. Today I have prepared a lesson for readers on the topic How to turn a color photo into black and white.

Sooner or later, while processing photos and images in Photoshop, we are faced with the need to turn a color photo into black and white. Therefore, I decided to prepare this short lesson for my readers to show how this is done visually.

There are many ways to perform this operation. As part of this mini lesson, we will not consider the methods used by professional photographers, we will consider the most simple and quick ways How to turn a color photo into black and white. In the future, in future lessons, we will definitely return to this topic and see other ways, more complex and professional, used by advanced users of Photoshop.

We will get to know 3 ways converting color photos to black and white, I’ll say right away that these methods are not professional, the quality after processing by them is not the best, but these methods are quite suitable for novice users to learn.

So, I propose to move from words to deeds. First, let's open the image we want to make black and white.

Now let's start processing. I present to your attention the first method.

Method #1:

Converting a color photo to black and white using the "G" function grayscale".

To do this, we need to go to the top menu: Image/Mode/Grayscale. A window will appear with the question “Delete color information”, click delete and our photo has become black and white.

We go to the menu Picture/Modes/Grayscale

Very fast and easy, right? We move on.

Attention! Remember that you can always return an action back with the hotkeys CTRL+Z. Let's move on to the second method.

Method #2:

We turn a color photo into black and white using the " Discolor".

We rise to the top menu of the program and go to:( Shift + CTRL+U ) . See below the result of the operation.

Go to the top menu Image/Correction/Desaturate or press hot keys Shift+Ctrl+U

Method #3:

Doing black and white image using an adjustment layer Black and white»

This method is also extremely simple and fast, its advantage is that when using adjustment layers, Photoshop makes changes and corrections to a special adjustment layer, and not to the original image, which we decided to make in black and white. We also have features such as: reverse the entire editing process, control the opacity of the layer, turn the visibility of the layer on and off. This method allows you to get a more beautiful black and white image, unlike the previous ones.

Step 1:

So, the photo is already open for us. Now go to the panel "Correction", if it is closed for you, then open it through the top menu Window/Correction. We find in the panel " Correction» adjustment layer « black and white” and click on it.

To open the Adjustment Layers panel, go to the top menu Window/Correction

Step 2:

After you click on the adjustment layer " black and white“, our image has been converted to black and white and a window with sliders has appeared. In this window, with the help of many simple parameters, you can adjust the black and white effect to your liking. Move the sliders until you get a sharp black and white image. Moving the sliders to the right colors areas that were previously colored with the slider's color a lighter shade of gray, while moving the sliders to the left colors areas with a lighter shade of grey. dark shade gray.

At the top of this window, you can select pre-made sets or create your own set and then save it via the "triangle with stripes" menu, which is located in the upper right corner of the window. If you click on the " Auto“, Photoshop will automatically select the options for how it thinks the black and white image should look. Here's what happened to me.

Here's what happened to me

That's all for today, try to train everyone 3 ways and write about your results below in the comments. See you in the next lessons!

Looking through photos in fashion magazines or in social networks, you can be sure that black and white photography does not lose its relevance over time and is always popular. With the advent of digital cameras, one very important change has taken place. In the era of film photography, we shot on a special black and white film, but now, using digital cameras, we convert a color photograph into black and white using graphic editors.

In this article, you will get acquainted with the most common and widely used methods for converting a color photo to black and white, learn about the pros and cons of each of them. All transformations are carried out in Photoshop CS and Elements.

Digital conversion to black and white photograph It has many advantages over film. In film cameras, the conversion process occurs directly during shooting, and if you want to somehow change the properties of black and white, then you need to apply color filters (for example, a red filter to make the blue sky darker).

WITH digital photography everything has become much easier - you control the entire translation process, and, knowing the basics, you can easily, for example, darken some part of a photo in a few mouse clicks.

Shoot in RAW, it saves more information and gives you more options during the conversion process. We also recommend converting the file to 16-bit Tiff format, as 16-bit files store more information than 8-bit ones.

Almost all digital cameras have a black and white photography mode, i.e. the camera itself converts the image from color to black and white, the result, as a rule, is of poor quality, so we advise you to forget about this mode and use the techniques below.

Methods for converting to black and white

With some techniques of converting to b/w, it is impossible to correct certain parameters during or after conversion. The only way to change anything in such a case is to undo the entire action.

But there are also methods that allow you to make changes in the process and after the conversion using adjustment layers. All manipulations are saved on a new layer, while the original image remains untouched. Then, when all the necessary changes have already been made, you reduce all the visible layers into one image, then nothing can be done. But before merging the image, you can at any time adjust the necessary conversion parameters by simply clicking the adjustment layer icon.

Naturally, translation methods that retain the possibility of corrections are more preferable. We've worked in Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS3, but these techniques apply to other versions of the program as well.

1. Translating with Grayscale

This is perhaps the easiest method of converting to black and white. But all information about the color, unfortunately, is lost as a result.

  1. Image> Mode> Grayscale (Image> Mode> Grayscale)
  2. Click ‘Discard’

In Photoshop Elements:

  1. Image > Mode > Grayscale
  2. Click ‘OK’

pros A: Fast and very easy.

Minuses: Color information is lost.

2. Translation using Hue / Saturation Tool (Tool Hue / Saturation)

This technique gives exactly the same result as Grayscale. The only advantage is the ability to create an adjustment layer.

  1. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation).
  2. Click ‘OK’.
  3. Move the slider responsible for saturation (Saturation) to the left to -100 and click OK.

Pros: Quick and easy, it can be applied as an adjustment layer in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

Minuses: The translation process is not controlled.

3. Translation method with LAB color

As part of this method, the photo is transferred from RGB mode to LAB mode, in which different channels are responsible for color and brightness.

  1. In Photoshop CS3:
  2. Image> Mode> Lab Color (Image> Mode> Lab Color)
  3. Go to the Channels window and select the Brightness channel.
  4. Image> Mode> Grayscale (Image> Mode> Grayscale)
  5. Click OK

Pros: This method gives better results than all of the above.

Minuses: During the conversion process, it is not possible to influence individual parameters.

4. Translation with Gradient Map

The Gradient Map tool works based on the brightness values ​​of your photo. Dark areas turn to black or dark gray, and light areas turn to white or light gray.

In Photoshop and Elements:

  1. Hold down the D key to set black and white colors as the main ones.

  1. Go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Gradient Map (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Gradient Map).
  2. Click OK

Pros: Fast and easy process, color information is saved.

Minuses: Lack of control over the conversion process.

5. Use the Channel Mixer (Channelmixer)

This method exploits the full potential of the color information that an image contains, which makes it different from the above methods. Color photographs contain three color channels: red, green and blue, their combinations give millions of the most different colors and shades.

With the Channel Mixer tool, you can adjust the ratio between red, green and blue channels during the conversion process. The Channel Mixer works based on the brightness values ​​of the image. As you move the slider for a channel, areas of the image that are close to the color of the channel on the color wheel become lighter, while areas that are opposite on the color wheel become darker. For example, by increasing the value of the red channel, you make areas of the image close to red in color lighter and blue areas darker.

The Channel Mixing section can be called the digital analogue of color filters used by photographers. Setting the red channel brightness to 100% in the editor gives the same effect as using a red filter and black and white film.

  1. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Channel Mixer (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Channel Mixing)
  2. Put a tick in front of Monochrome (Monochrome)
  3. Move the sliders in the Red, Green and Blue channels to make areas of the image lighter or darker. Remember that the sum of the values ​​of all channels must be equal to 100, otherwise various defects appear.
  4. Click OK.

Original photo:

Red 80%, Green 10%, Blue 10%. With 80% red, we darkened the blue sky and made the red balloon lighter:

Red 20%, Green 40%, Blue 40%. And with 20% red, we made the blue sky lighter and the balloon darker:

Pros: This method gives you control over the conversion process.

Minuses: Take a lot of time.

6. Convert to B&W to toolElements

This tool is a simplified version of the Channel Mixer described earlier and is only available in Photoshop Elements. There is no way to create an adjustment layer.

  1. Enhance> Convert to Black and White (Enhance> Convert to B/W)
  2. Move the sliders to the right or left to lighten or darken the respective hues. To compensate for changes in contrast, use the Contrast slider. You can also select one of the presets already set by the program in the menu on the left.
  3. After all the manipulations, click on the OK button.

Pros: Pretty flexible conversion system using color channels.

Minuses: There is no way to create an adjustment layer.

7. Double use of the Hue/Saturation tool

This technique uses two Hue/Saturation adjustment layers. The top layer is directly responsible for the conversion, and the bottom layer is responsible for the changes in the color of the original photo, which naturally affect the shades of brightness in the black and white version. Using this technique gives you good control over the conversion process.

In Photoshop CS and Elements:

  1. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation (Layer> New Adjustment Layer>
  2. Move the slider Saturation (Saturation) all the way to the left (-100) and click OK.
  3. Activate the background by clicking on the background layer.
  4. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation), click OK.
  5. Change the blending mode of the lower adjustment layer to Color (Color).
  6. Double click on the bottom Hue/Saturation layer icon.
  7. Move the slider Hue (Color tone) and see how the brightness of the image changes. You can also experiment with the Saturation and Lightness sliders.
  8. We press OK.

Original photo:

Hue +81, Saturation +22:

Hue +68, Saturation +56:

Pros: Control over the process of translation into b/w.

Minuses: None.

8. Adjustment layerBlack&White

This method gives you complete control over the process of converting a photo to black and white, it involves mixing channels and changing saturation and hue, and you have 6 sliders at your disposal, each of which is responsible for a separate color.

  1. Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Black and White (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Black and White)
  2. We press OK. The adjustment layer window pops up:

  1. Move the sliders to the right or left, depending on whether you want to darken or lighten an area whose color is close to the six listed. You can also select one of the presets in the Preset menu.
  2. Move the cursor over the photo and hold down the left mouse button. The cursor has changed, thus activating the point adjustment tool, which allows you to select a specific area of ​​the image. While holding the left mouse button, move the cursor to the left or right, the selected areas will become darker or lighter, respectively.
  3. We press OK.

Original photo:

Red 70, Yellow 60, Green 40, Cyan 60, Blues 20, Magenta 80:

Red 27, Yellow 244, Green 40, Cyan 101, Blue 146, Magenta -144:

Pros: The most flexible way, giving the most control over the process.

Minuses: Not available in earlier versions of Photoshop.

Conclusion

So, you got acquainted with the most common methods for converting a color image to black and white. It is worth paying attention to each of them and choosing the most suitable for you, because all Photoshop users have different requirements and goals.

Today. digital camera Almost everyone has it in one form or another. And photography, in itself, has become a truly mass hobby. Digital technology is developing so rapidly that now, in order to receive high quality photos You don't have to have an expensive, professional camera. After all, today, even cameras on phones have learned to take good pictures. For example, the same iPhone, now shoots no worse than a full-fledged digital camera. What can we say about semi-professional or professional mirrors.

But until recently, cameras were exclusively film, and photographs were mostly black and white. And the process of developing photographs was a whole mystery. Now we remember all this with a smile, and some, in a nostalgic impulse, even acquire or restore old photographic equipment, trying to repeat the unforgettable experience of obtaining analog photographs.

But it's one thing to apply the effects of an old photo to an already finished image, and quite another to restore old photo to new condition, or colorize photo in photoshop.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to completely eliminate all the defects of old photographs, because. it all depends on the general condition of the photo, as well as factors such as:

  • Photo age
  • Color fade in photo
  • Scratches and microcracks on the front surface of the photo
  • Irreversible loss of some snapshot elements

In most cases, an old photograph can be significantly improved, or even completely restored to its original characteristics. And you can do even better than the original source. About one of these operations, namely, how to turn a black and white photo into color, we will talk in today's material.

Color matching

It will be more difficult to make a photo in color in Photoshop than to draw reverse operation, where the whole process can be reduced to literally a few mouse clicks. This will require painstaking handmade in the graphic editor Adobe Photoshop. Therefore, in order to turn a black and white photo into color, it will be necessary hand colorize the image. At the same time, for some parts of the image, it will be possible to show imagination, and arbitrarily color them, choosing individual colors.

For example, the black-and-white photo shows a portrait of a man in a Quid suit. Let's say we don't know the original color of the suit, so we can color it however we like, for example, beige. The color of other elements of the image can be determined by one or another, obvious signs. It goes without saying that we will paint the sky predominantly blue, and the clouds gray-white. Definitely, the grass and foliage on the trees should be dyed green.

But still, in most cases, the original colors of some elements of the image will remain unknown, and they will need to be selected in order to get a photo image that is natural in color.

Therefore, before making a color photo out of a black and white photo, you must first decide on the color design of all elements of the photograph. If you are at a loss with the selection of colors, then you can look at the color analogues of photographs that are similar in structure, or ask for help from people who understand this, for example, from photographers or graphic designers.

Color fill

After the colors are selected, we proceed directly to the process of coloring a black and white photograph. ways colorize photo with photoshop, there are several. We will consider one of them, namely - color fill method for individual adjustment layers. For this we need:

  1. original photo file

  2. Graphic editor Adobe Photoshop

  3. Layout with selected colors for filling (remember, we had to define it in advance)

  4. Time and a little patience, because the operation is quite laborious.

In order to make a black and white photo color, we perform the following steps in stages:

1) Uploading a photo to Adobe Photoshop
2) In order to always return to the original file if our experiments go too far, we create in Photoshop duplicate layer
3) In the layers palette, click on the icon New adjustment layer", and in the proposed options for creating a layer, select - Color or Chroma (solid color)

After that, a color palette will appear, in which you need to select the color closest to the color of the part of the photo image that we intend to fill. For example, if it is grass, then choose green color, if the sky, then blue, if the sun, then accordingly yellow. Again, based on the layout of colors that we made earlier, before starting to turn a black and white photo into color.

Let's say we decide to start coloring our photo from the face. Accordingly, select in the color palette of the new adjustment layer, a dark beige color ( closest to the color structure of the face, in our case).

So, the color for the face is selected, but now it completely fills our entire photo. To exclude this, in the layers palette, select from the drop-down list of options - Color or Chroma. By default, it is set to - Blend Mode and this needs to be changed.

Great! Now the adjustment layer only affects the color of the bottom layer, and we see our photo with a tint of the color chosen for the face. Now our task is to leave this color only on the part of the photo image for which it is intended. In our case, this is the face. To do this, click on the icon Layer mask, after which an outline will appear on the layer thumbnail.

Now select in the Photoshop tool palette - " Eraser", and erase everything except the face.

Attention! As you can see in our example, the neck and part of the chest have a similar color characteristic to the face. But we will also erase them, and create for them separate adjustment layer. This is explained by the fact that the color shade between the face and neck is still quite different. And, later, these differences will be possible to emphasize only on different layers.

The more adjustment layers we create, the better it will be to color a black and white photo into color later.

Editing the finished layout with adjustment layers

So, we filled it with a color similar in color, our first element is the face. The same is to be done with all other elements of the photographic image. Those. simply repeat the above operation for other elements of the photo, taking into account their color features. Don't worry that the colors will be hyper-exaggerated and unnatural. We will fix this a little later by editing each adjustment layer. Now the main thing is to fill in the main elements of the photo image colors similar in color. Moreover, the more elements will be selected in a separate adjustment layer, the better!

After we have worked out all the elements of the photographic image, it will be much easier for us to cope with the task of making a color photograph from black and white. Of course, now the colors look artificial, but, nevertheless, we have a ready-made layout with different layers that are available for processing separately, which will give us undeniable manufacturing advantages. color photo through photoshop. Actually, we will now proceed to this processing.

Let's go in order, and start with the first layer. We need to correct color scheme faces. As you can see in your original version, the skin tone is hyper-exaggerated and certainly doesn't look natural. Let's try to fix this.

4) Double click on the layer thumbnail in the layers palette and experiment with the adjustment layer settings. It is necessary to work with the existing color, so you do not need to touch the tone settings, but operate with the sliders responsible for the brightness and color saturation of the edited area. We need to achieve the most natural color reproduction by controlling the changes in color parameters in live preview mode.

Well, that's a completely different matter. We do the same with the rest of the layers. That is, we just double-click on the thumbnail of each layer, and in the settings we change the color parameters to the most natural colors. This is very convenient, because working with many layers, we are able to convey color shades much more accurately than in the case of manually painting over individual elements of the image, described in most of the methods that teach how to make black and white photos colored.

At the very last stage, we change the corrective color of the background and eyes. For a more harmonious visual effect, you can choose colors for the background to match the color of the eyes, or vice versa, the color of the eyes to match the background color ( unless of course it contradicts the general concept of the picture).

When creating an adjustment layer for small elements of the image, for example, for the same eyes, you need to erase the entire image with an eraser, except for the iris itself. This is a rather painstaking operation, so in case of an error, just switch to the mode - Brush, and repaint the area where you erased the excess. At the same time, it is recommended to set the brush strength to 50% .