TGJ4M

Colourize Photographs

Colourizing black and white photos in Photoshop can be done in many different ways and can become tricky depending on the photo you begin with.!

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Colourizing a black and white photo brings out distinct lines and separates the different parts of the image which would otherwise blend together.! !

This tutorial will teach you the basics of colourizing photos using curves adjustment layers in two main steps.!

The end result will vary depending on the amount of detail in the selections as well as the quality of the image you start with.!

! ! ! ! ! ! Launch Photoshop. Open start.jpg - This is the photo we are going to colourize.! ! ! !

Start by changing the image mode to CMYK (Image Menu->Mode->CMYK Color).! This will give us more range/control over the colours.! Step 1 - Selecting! Now we will need to identify the different parts of the photo and make a selection.! Use the Quick Selection Tool to make a rough selection of the sky in the photo. The selection needs to be rened to better dene the line where the trees meet the sky.!

Open the Rene Edge tool. Select Smart Radius and set Radius to 10 and click OK to conrm.!

! Now save the selection (Select Menu->Save Selection).! ! Repeat the above steps to select the trees and the eld.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
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Colourize Photographs

Step 2 - Adding Colour! Now with all of the selections made and saved we will move on to colourizing each selection.!

! ! Load the selection of the sky (Select Menu->Load Selection).! !

Create a new curves adjustment layer from the selection by clicking the Create New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the layer stacking window and select Curves. ! ! - Do this to each selection!!

Select each channel (Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black) and edit them by clicking and dragging from the centre to your desired result.!

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This will bring up the curves adjustment window where we will be adding colour to the photo.!

For the green trees drag cyan up a little and yellow up as well.! w!

! For the blue sky drag cyan up a little and yellow down.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

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For the eld use the parameters in the image to the left.!

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Colourize Photographs

! You are now technically done colourizing your image! ! ! ! !

To make the nal image look a bit better we are going to add some adjustment layers to the entire layer.!

First we will add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and edit saturation to 20-25.!

Now we can add a new Curves adjustment layer to the layer and tweak it a bit to make the colours look more realistic and to make the eld look sharper.!

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Make sure these adjustment layers are above the other layers you want to affect.!

Experiment with different Adjustment Layers to get the look you think is most effective for whatever image you choose to colourize.!

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Colourize Photographs
This trick adds depth to a great image/poster and is sure to grab your attention.! (Can be used in E-waste poster to tweak/correct/add colours)! Here are some more examples of colourizing using curves.

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