[Tutorial] Colour an old photograph!

[K4rMa]

Photoshop - Colour an old photograph

Works in all versions of photoshop but works better with photoshop CS and newer versions

 

 

You may have seen old photographs coloured with photoshop. Here is a tutorial on how to colour an old photograph using photoshop's basic tools. Remember, you are the one to catch the colour detail and you must trust your eye.

 

STEP ONE

Start by opening Adobe Photoshop.

Look for a black and white/desaturated photograph.

Choose FILE-Open.

The photoshop should load it. Should look like this. In this case, here's mine.

 

 

STEP TWO

Now, it's time to begin selecting parts of the image to colour them.

Now, duplicate the first layer.

Then, go to IMAGE-ADJUSTMENTS-LEVELS

Arrange the levels and click OK. In this case, as you saw, the photo was too light, the dark parts weren't shown well enough. So drag the dark slider to the right to make the black appear more.

In my case, I used the SHADOW/HIGHLIGHT TOOL.

I know, this is suppose to make less shadow or highlight in the photo, but in this case, it gave me the shadows back.

Here are the settings for it.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour3shadowhighlight.jpg[/img]

 

STEP THREE

Start by, selecting the male skin. To do this, you can use MASK, PEN TOOL or POLYGONAL LASSO.

The PEN TOOL + MASK for soft selections will give the best results. That's what I used in this case.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour2selectionskinm.jpg[/img]

 

STEP FOUR

For the skin near the hair line, I used the MASK tool to get a softer (less transparent) result. Then go to SELECT-INVERSE. This is done to select the skin, because as you saw, I masked the outside of the skin.

Note: DO NOT SELECT THE INSIDE OF THE EYE, TEETH OR HAIR. Only face and hands.

After you're done selecting the skin, go to edit, COPY, then PASTE it on the new layer. It'll go on a new layer. Then go to IMAGE-ADJUSTMENTS-LEVELS AND ADJUST THEM AGAIN. THIS TIME IT'LL ONLY EFFECT THE SKIN.

Note: It'll only effect the layer of skin on this layer, not the original photo.

Name this layer SKIN SELECTION M

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour4levelsskin.jpg[/img]

 

STEP FIVE

Now, highlight your new layer SKIN SELECTION M, and go to

IMAGE-ADJUSTMENTS-HUE & SATURATION.

Do these settings. Ofcourse, this will vary with every photograph.

Don't worry about the colour yet. This is just make make it a bit red.

 

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour5huesaturation.jpg[/img]

STEP SIX

Now, select the female skin. Use the same techniques to select the skin and paste it on a new layer.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour6selectionskinf.jpg[/img]

 

STEP SEVEN

Now go to IMAGE-ADJUSTMENTS-HUE & SATURATION

Again, use the same settings as for the man.

Then, select the female hair using the MASKING tool. It's better because you may use a soft brush for the hair. Then copy and paste it on a new layer. Same as before. Then use these settings for the hair.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour7hairlooks.jpg[/img]

STEP EIGHT

Now, the real skin colouring begins.

Go to layer SKIN SELECTION M, select the outside of it (not the skin, the background) and go to make a new layer.

Then select the brush tool and with the selection still on (INVERSE IT to select the skin), start painting. Now, you won't have to worry about painting in areas that you are not suppose to as the selection prevents it.

Choose 3 colours. 1 dark, 1 medium and 1 light. . Now  with a low opacity brush, paint the dark areas with the darker colour. You can keep stroking the brush over an area to make it even darker, since it's low opacity. I used it at 25% opacity.

Then select the medium skin colour and paint in medium areas. Do the same with the light one. Set the layer's blend mode to COLOUR.

You should get something like this.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour8skinretouchM.jpg[/img]

 

STEP NINE

Do the same thing for the woman.

NEW LAYER AND PAINT WITH 3 COLOURS TO GET SOMETHING LIKE THE ABOVE.

Then, I adjusted the levels of both skins seperately.

IMAGE-ADJUSTMENTS-LEVELS and got this.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour9finalskinlevels.jpg[/img]

 

STEP TEN

I wasn't happy enough with the skin so I went to the layer with "colour" blend mode" of the male skin, and I used dodge and burn for better lighting.

I did the same with the woman skin.

This is the result so far.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour10dodgeandburnskin.jpg[/img]

 

STEP ELEVEN

Now, select the male eyes. It's better to use the masking tool, since the brush is round and it's easier to select the eyes with it.

Then go to SELECT-INVERSE, so that it'll select the eye.

Then choose EDIT-COPY (ctrl+c)

Make a new layer and choose EDIT-PASTE (ctrl+v)

This will paste the eyes on that new layer.

Now you may colour it using Hue & Saturation tool. IMAGE-ADJUSTMENTS-HUE & SATURATION.

As you may have already noticed, his eyes are light coloured, so choose a light colour.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour11eyeselection.jpg[/img]

 

Do the same for the female eyes.

 

STEP TWELVE

Now, select the necklace on the woman.

As you may notice, the middle part of the necklace has a different colour.

So make sure you select them in seperate layers.

Again colour them with Hue & Saturation.

I think you have got the technique so far. No need for deeper explanation.

Here's the necklace

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour12necklace.jpg[/img]

STEP THIRTEEN

The necklace was lacking shadows and light. So Use dodge and burn effectively. Here's the result after DODGE & BURN.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour13necklacedodgeandburn.jpg[/img]

 

STEP FOURTEEN

Now, I noticed that the dress (woman's dress) was lacking some shadows and light.

I selected the dress, pasted it on a new layer, and used the levels tool for better contrast. Drag the black slider to the right and the light slider to the left.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour14dresslevels.jpg[/img]

STEP FIFTEEN

Then, I selected the female lips. Again, I used the same technique. I selected it with mask tool, INVERTED selection, pasted it on a new layer and added a reddish colour with Hue & Saturation tool.

Here's the result.

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour15lips.jpg[/img]

 

STEP SIXTEEN

Do the same for both drinks with seperate layers, one for each drink and colour them with Hue & Saturation. tool.

This is the Final result of the image

 

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm249/HBK47/Tutorials%20photoshop/colour16final.jpg[/img]

 

Credits for sharing ~~>  HBK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ZeRo*]

Wow! Amazing guide K4rMaArr0ws ... Let's see how i can make my family xD

[Morian]

Lawl the last result is amazing! Very good guide karma, keep this awesomes shares! Thank you.

[Bleik]

Good job, But I think it is a bit difficult ...anyway gonna try it with my parents pics xD

[UnknownX]

GREAT!!!!!!!