Black and White to Colour

Black and White to Colour

By Nick Mullen

Spruce up a standard black and white photo with a little color. Here's how it's done!

Step 1 - Create a Layer and Mask

In the layout pallet, drag "Layer 1" over the "create a new layer" button

This will replicate "layer 1" -- rename this layer "Girl Outline". Now you will need to add a mask

to this layer. If you have any colors selected in your color pallet, you'll notice that they are now black and white.

When using masks, black can't be seen through. This means that we can use black as an eraser, but we can also use white to un-erase a selection at any time.

The outline around the girl was created using the paintbrush at various brush sizes. If you're more comfortable using the pen tool, that will yield the same results.

Step 2 - Skin Tones

Now we have the main outline that we'll work with. Here are two methods by which you can accomplish the color on top -- I'll explain each of them on different layers.

The first thing to do is replicate the "girl outline" layer again, and re-name this layer "Skin". Go to image> adjust> hue/saturation> and select colorize.

Use the settings: Hue: 36 Saturation: 41 Lightness: 0 to get a nice peachy skin color. Notice in the Layer pallet below how the entire image has been colourised, yet in the full size image we can still see the grey background that's being masked.

Step Three - Hair

Now that the skin looks good, we need to fix the hair. Replicate the layer called "Skin" and rename it "Hair". For this step, we need to remove the face.

So click on the layer mask thumbnail for the hair layer, and fill the area of the face and arm with black. You'll be left with the beanie and the hair. Again go to image> adjust> hue/saturation> and select colorize.

Use the settings: Hue: 40 Saturation: 25 Lightness: 0 and cange the opacity to 80%.

Step 4 - Face

Next is to throw a little color on the face. Create a new layer, call it "Face", and select the paintbrush.

Now, using the color #CE0606, paint the lips. Then select white and paint the eyes.

Now, drop the opacity to 40% and change the layer blending to color. Click on "add mask", and just tidy the lips and eyes up a little. Why use a mask for this step? Good question -- it's really only a matter of preference. I personally try to use masks as much as I can so that I can change things later, and so I don't have to be as worried about precision on the actual layer.

I repeated this process for the cheeks using a light shade of pink (#FFC9C9) just under the eyes, lowered the opacity to 34%, and changed the layer blending to color. That's it!

Step 5 - Background

Select the "Girl Outline" layer and duplicate it. Rename this layer "Background" and move it to the top of the layer pallet.

Select the mask for this layer, and go to image> adjust> invert (CTRL+I). Due to the fact that the background in this image is so out of focus, I'll simply colourise the layer -- anything more and we might end up killing the image.

Select the "Background" layer thumbnail and go to image> adjust> hue/saturation> Then select colorize -- in this example I used Hue: 151 Saturation: 13 Lightness: 0. That's it! The effect is complete! Here's what you should have:

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