Photoshop Tutorial: Convert Black and White Photo into Color

In this tutorial we will learn how to convert our black & white photos into color. For this I am going to use a black & white image (this one).

Final Result

Software used: Adobe Photoshop CS4

Skill: Semi Advance

Time: 1 – 2 Hrs

Step 1

Open your picture and Desaturate (Ctrl + Shift + U) it.

Step 2

Duplicate your picture and name this layer ‘face co’. Now go to image>adjustments>hue/saturation. Click on colorize and manage some hue and saturation (Ctrl + U) as below:

Step 3

Duplicate again your image and name it ‘eyes co’. To colorize the eyes can change colors as per your choice. Here I give greenish color to the eye with the help of hue and saturation (ctrl + U) as below:

Now take layer mask and fill with black with the help of ‘Alt + Del’ keys. This will make the Foreground layer transparent.

Take brush of 3px with opacity 20% and flow 17% and start coloring the ‘eyes’ with white color.(White color makes the layer opaque while black makes it transparent) as below:

Step 4

Duplicate your image once again and manage some hue, saturation and lightness to 360, 93 and -47 respectively as below:

Take layer mask to give lips color same as step 3 but manage brush opacity and flow with 100 % as below:

Do some work also on roses.

Step 5

Duplicate your image for coloring hairs and name it ‘hair co’. To give oranges color on hair, apply settings of hue, saturation and lighting same as below:

Take layer mask and fill with black color (Alt + Del). Take brush of 3px diameter with opacity 37% and flow 29% and again color the hair area with white as below:

Step 6

Duplicate your image and name it ‘BG co’ to give greenish color to bg. Apply hue, saturation and lighting as below:

Repeat the same process as above. Take layer mask and fill with black. Take brush with white color and color BG as below:

Step 7

Now it is time to color clothes. Duplicate your image and name it ‘cloth co’. Manage hue, saturation and lighting as below:

Same as above take layer mask fill with black. Now select white brush(B) of size  2-8 px diameter with opacity 96% and flow 86% as below:

You will get this:

step 8

Again, to color the hair golden, duplicate the image, click on colorize and manage some hue, saturation and light as indicated below:

Now manage some level also to give dark golden color.

Take layer mask and filled with black color. Take brush (B) with white color to give colorize hair.

Step 9

Duplicate the image and name it ‘face 2 co’. We are going to give some eye shade. Go to hue/saturation (ctrl + U) and click on colorize for eye shade:

Take layer mask and fill it with black same as above step. Take brush (B) of size 6 px diameter with opacity and fill 23%. Give shade between eye brows and eyes with white color.

Step 10

Add a brown colored layer and mask out the areas that needs shadows.

Step 11

Take new layer and name it ‘rit hand glow’ and fill it with white color to adjust the brightness on the right hand of the character.

The Final result: