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How To Color Old Black and White Photos

March 18, 2010 31 Comments

Have you ever found old black and white photographs and wondered what they would look like in colour? Here is a simple short tutorial to show you how you can add colour (or change colours) in any photograph.

Tutorial Details

Program: Photoshop
Version: CS or Higher
Final Image Preview: Click to Enlarge

Step 1

Take your black and white photograph and open it in Photoshop. The first thing we must do is unlock the background layer and add a Layer Mask. Double click the background layer in the layers panel and choose OK to unlock it. To add a layer mask choose Layer > Layer Mask.

Step 2

Next, duplicate the background layer and name it something it will relate to in the photograph, eg “Red Paint”.

Step 3

Choose Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Make sure the Color Tick Box is checked and move the sliders until you get your desired colour. Note: Do not tamper with the Lightness Settings for now.

Step 4

Select the Layer Mask for the Red Paint layer and choose Image > Adjustments Invert. This will reset the picture back to black and white. Now, take a medium hardness brush and paint back in the areas you wish to colour with White.

Step 5

Duplicate the background layer again and name it appropriately. Eg. Gold Paint.

Repeat the previous steps with the Hue/Saturation and colour in the parts you want gold.

Step 6

Just keep repeating these steps for various colours. The more objects you choose and the more colour differences you apply the better your final image will look. Note: I tend to put all my other truck related layers below the Red Paint Layer, this means if I have taken my time with that I can afford to overlap and be slightly more messy on the layers beneath it.

Step 7

Now we can add some Layer Adjustments. With your top layer selected choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels and click OK. Adjust your levels slightly to make the image a bit more crisp.

Step 8

Create a new layer above everything, call it Channel Black. Choose Window > Channels. Cmd+Click/Ctrl+Click the Red Channel to highlight it on your image.

Choose Select > Invert. This will swap the selection for everything that is NOT selected. Set your colour to Black (hit D to reset your colours) and return to your new blank layer. Choose Edit > Fill and with Foreground Color selected click ok.

Set the Blend Mode to Soft Light and the Opacity to around 50%. This will just add a little bit of Contrast to our image.

And that is it. Obviously the more time you spend and the more colours you add the better your overall image will turn out.

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About Craig

Craig Abbott is an independant Graphic Designer from Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK). Since Photoshop 7 Craig has nurtured an unhealthy obsession with the software. Which has seen his self-taught talents blossom into some serious skills.

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31 Responses to “How To Color Old Black and White Photos”

  1. Levinson Axelrod March 18, 2010 at 2:35 pm

    Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing the instructions.

  2. Kartlos Tchavelachvili March 19, 2010 at 8:08 am

    Very nice, I will try this at home, thanks!

  3. Craig March 19, 2010 at 11:35 am

    Thanks for taking the time to comment guys =)

  4. Carl P March 19, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    In the last step, why do you only highlight the red channel? Will that work the best in all photos, or would you select the green or blue channel depending on the photo? (Maybe I’m just missing something.)

  5. senshikaze March 19, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    Cool tutorial. Keep it up! :)

  6. Craig March 19, 2010 at 10:58 pm

    Thanks Senshikaze

  7. Craig March 20, 2010 at 9:23 am

    Thanks for asking Carl, I should have explained that i choose the red channel because it is the brightest one. You choose each one in turn, and see how big of an area highlights, you want to choose the one that selects the biggest area. Sorry.

  8. DiNovici March 22, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    hehe, fantastic tutorial! I am using actually a piece of software to color black and white pictures but of course PS is doing a very good job too :) Thanks!

  9. Craig March 22, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    Thanks for the comment DiNovici i’m glad you like the tutorial =) Out of curiosity what is the software and how well does it work?

  10. Vincent March 26, 2010 at 8:27 pm

    Hi, great tutorial!

  11. Geciktirici April 9, 2010 at 10:51 am

    Cool tutorial. Keep it up! :)

  12. pariuri sportive April 14, 2010 at 10:32 am

    It’s an interesting tutorial but unfortunatelly it’s nothing new here.

    Anyway is there any source of inspiration that you use for publishing your articles?

  13. Lee Fuller April 22, 2010 at 11:04 am

    Such a good effect, very simple to achieve, thanks for sharing!

  14. Craig April 22, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    Thanks Lee – Appreciate the time you have taken to leave feedback =)

  15. Shah May 10, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    This is awesome!! Thanks!

  16. Sahil May 14, 2010 at 2:15 am

    very short tute…!
    but
    i must say its very powerful tricks. all D best..!

  17. asif August 13, 2010 at 7:18 am

    its interesting i realy like it.thanks
    God bless you.

  18. logo templates October 5, 2010 at 7:55 am

    Great tutorial. Now I will definitely color some old photos to make them effective. Thanks for sharing.

  19. Brett Widmann November 3, 2010 at 2:21 am

    This is a very cool tutorial. Thanks for sharing.

  20. Nemesis February 4, 2011 at 9:48 pm

    I love the tutorials on this site, fantastic, I have an old black and white photo of my grandfather and I have to try this, thanks for that :)

  21. Cyberdog September 22, 2011 at 9:05 pm

    I like this and was looking at doing something to my nan’s old photos but i think it would be just too time consuming but than again maybe not! :)

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