Monday, March 07, 2011

Photoshop - Coloring a black and white photograph

My mom and dad's wedding photographs were taken in black and white. My mom had always told me how beautiful the yellow flowers were and that my dad had on a stunning blue suit. You can imagine her surprise when I scanned in the old photograph and added the color that wasn't there before!

Let me show you how easy it really is.
  • Open your black and white photo and copy it to a new layer
  • Under Image > Mode > change it to RGB if it isn't already
  • Select your foreground color then select a soft edged brush
  • In the options palette for the brush change Mode to Color
  • Change the opacity of the brush down from 100% (try 70-80% to start)
  • Start painting in color - adjust the size of the brush as needed
  • If you overpaint into an area you didn't want, just use the sponge tool set to desaturate to remove the extra color
Want to watch my example? Click my movie below. Enjoy!

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