Colorizing Black & White Photos Tools, Processes & Tricks

Overview Tools: Resizing Images Compositing Colorizing Magic Wand, Quick Selection Lassos Healing Brush Resizing Images Compositing Colorizing Using Photo Filters Looking at Lens Flares Manipulating Text

Overview - Goal Begin With: Create This:

To Start: Access and open the following files: Kitten.tiff Car_Original.psd SquashBackground.bmp Working with multiple files – To make it easier the arrangement of the images can be altered. Use Window > Arrange and select an option to re-arrange the three images

To Start (cont.) Click on the squash background image – change the color mode to RGB Image > Mode > RGB (Index mode limits what you can do color wise) If necessary, pull each image down from the top so you can see all three.

To Start (cont.) At this point, the three images should be accessible like the following image

Selecting & Compositing Using the kitten.tiff file – resize the image Select Image > Image Size to reduce width to 150 pixels, resolution to 72 ppi and Bicubic Sharper

Selecting & Compositing Select the kitty’s background using the Magic Wand or Quick Selection Tool Click/Paint anywhere on the white background Selects the background but to select the kitty, use Select > Inverse and note where the marching ants are

Selecting & Compositing Use the Move Tool Click and Drag the Kitten onto the Car_Original image to create a new layer with the kitten on it. Name the Layer Kitten Can now close the kitten.tiff window (Don’t need to save the changes)

Colorizing To begin working with the Car_Original image and its background layer Make the background layer into a new background (Right Click > Layer from Background) Name the new layer Car Should have two Layers: Kitten & Car

Colorizing Make sure to have the car layer be the active layer Use the Quick Selection tool to select the entire car so it can be painted. Select the Quick Selection Tool. Set the properties to about 20 pixels, brush hardness to 88% When making selections like this, it can take some tweaking of the brush to find a good size to work with.

Colorizing When using the Quick Selection Tool – use the [ or ] key to increase/decrease the size of the brush while working Remember to use Alt + Clicking to deselect See below for a general idea of the selection:

Colorizing To begin coloring the car: Select the Brush Tool On the Control Panel Bar – Set the Mode to Color The Color Mode makes the color transparent – otherwise it would just be opaque and cover the details of the car.

Colorizing Select a color from the color picker on the Color Panel or a Swatch from the Swatches Panel Making sure the active layer is the Car layer – begin to paint over the car Once done painting the car – Deselect (Ctrl + D)

Colorizing Having gone through the process, try adding color to some other areas of the image such as: The woman’s Dress The man’s paints, top and/or tie To give an idea of the possibilities, see the image below:

Colorizing To try colorizing with the Magic Wand Tool Select the Magic Wand Tool (Sub-tool to the Quick Selection Tool) Set the tolerance to about 45 and select the trees. It is ok if the selection doesn’t select all the trees Go back to the Brush Tool and select a color and paint to see the effect you get with the trees. Deselect (Ctrl + D)

Healing Brush Using the Healing Brush, will be able to remove the power lines in the sky in the picture Begin to paint over the Power Lines to remove them and only have the sky area showing

The Lens Flare Again…not a window into your soul… Will be used with the front hub-cap Navigate to Filter > Render > Lens Flare Choose any one of the Lens Flares to try Take down the brightness to 50% Click on the hub-cap in the thumbnail image to place the Lens Flare Click OK

Adding Text To finish the image, will add the title, “Washing the Car” Select the Type Tool and also navigate to the menu bar and choose Window > Character Although the control option bar offers the type controls, the Character Panel provides more detailed controls

Adding Text Select the Typeface of your choice with the the color and size Click on the image and begin to type out the phrase, “Washing the Car” Remember as long as the type is active, can re-highlight and make changes To commit the changes, choose the check mark on the control panel bar OR hit Enter on the numeric keypad