Convert a color photo into black and white online. How to make a photograph, picture, image black and white
HOW TO MAKE A BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO COLOR IN PHOTOSHOP
Today we will learn how to turn a non-color photograph into a color one. I’ll make a reservation right away for those who are looking for the “make a photo in color” button in this article. Alas, such a button has not yet been invented. You can desaturate a photo with one click, but you won’t be able to color it with the same click, because a black and white photo does not have color information. So we’ll have to work with our hands and fill our black and white image with color information in the most literal sense. Some plugins for Photoshop do a good job of colorizing photos, but we won’t discuss any plugins that we don’t know where to get from. Let's talk about what is available for colorization in Photoshop itself. And there is a lot in it.
The method of coloring a photograph is simple and primitive. A five-year-old child can master it in 10 minutes. I will tell you about all the ways to colorize a photo, and also show how this simple operation can be taken to a new, more professional level. So let's get started.
THE EASIEST WAY TO MAKE A PHOTO Blend Color
To colorize a photo you will need to know how to use the tool. Brush Tool, as well as have an idea of how other Photoshop tools work. The ability to select areas of a photo and basic knowledge about layers and masks, which you can glean from my article Masks in Photoshop, will not hurt. In this lesson, you will see in practice how you can automate work in Photoshop using masks, and have full control over color settings.
I borrowed a photo from the collection of a photographer friend of mine. Black and white photographs look mysterious and conceptual, but what happens if we color it a little? Create a new layer on top of the photo Layer > New > Layer or click on the small layer icon in the layers palette Windows > Layers
Now select a tool Brush Tool, a brush with soft edges, make it larger and drag the mouse over the new layer with some red color. The natural result is a red smudge on a skillfully taken photograph. This doesn't suit us. In order for the red color to color, you need to change the settings of the layer itself. These settings are called overlay settings Color Mode. You can find them only in the layers palette Layers, above the layers themselves. Click on this drop-down menu, you will see a whole list of different blend modes. The point is that by changing the color blending mode, we establish new rules by which the layer's color interacts with the colors of the layers below. The blending mode we need is called Color, and its meaning is simple - it colors the image in the color we need, while maintaining the naturalness of the colors. Install let's decide Color, choose the color you need and color the girl’s hair.
That's all. Quite simple isn't it? Spare me the trouble of stretching out this process over 10 pages and demonstrating how I paint the skin, gloves, eyes, and so on, step by step. The coloring depends on your imagination, and the realism depends on the quality of the work and the naturalness of the selected colors. Work with the brush, select the size, adjust the opacity and fill parameters, which you will find in the brush settings menu Windows > Options
This is the “mask” my wife sketched for a few minutes of work. Note that the layer blending mode is Normal. I hope you are convinced that making a color photo in Photoshop is very simple.
And this is what happens if you change the layer blending settings to Color.
COLORING A PHOTO THROUGH LAYER STYLES (layer style)
Now let's start going deeper and complicating the process. Complication is not meant to make the work more difficult, but to make the work easier. You know, all these kali malis on one layer are of course wonderful, but they are more suitable for creative individuals, those who like to sit and spin a clay pot on a gurney for hours. Spreading one color and another on this layer is perhaps convenient for artists from the academy who were banned from Google, which is why they still have not heard about Photoshop. Alas, even cartoons are drawn on a computer; 1000 drawings on paper, which are then quickly flipped through, remain in the 20th century. Personally, as a designer, I would like to have more control over color and settings. I would like to effectively and quickly tweak colors through the menu, rather than redraw the layer.
How could we bring more control over the image? To begin with, it would be nice to divide one layer into several layers. Let's create
There really are a lot of layers. And each layer will be responsible for its own area. Create a layer "hair", layer "eyes", "gloves", "nails" and others. I started coloring the photo myself, creating thematic layers for this. Now the control process is more manageable, at least the coloring is not on one layer. Any part of the coloring can be muted, turned off, in other words, you can do with it everything that can be done with a layer. Other layers with coloring will remain untouched.
But none of this still makes much sense. The color of all layers is still arbitrary. On layer "Hair" You can still draw with both blue and red. In other words, still Kali Mali, but more manageable Kali Mali, divided into sectors. And I would like to control the color too. I want to change the entire color with one click, and not sculpt with a brush and constantly redo the result with my hands. I'll show you how to do this using layer styles. layer style.
Create a layer and name it "Hair". Dye your hair any color, even green. Go to the layers palette and set the fill Fill on 0% Thus, what you drew will become invisible.
Roughly speaking, we create a kind of raster area, turn off the fill fill and apply layer styles to the area. The area itself does not become invisible, as is the case with Opasity. The content of the area becomes invisible, but not the area itself. Therefore, the applied layer styles will be visible. But if we set the Opasity to 0%, the entire layer along with the styles would become invisible. We will give the area a certain style, but since we will still have to apply layer blending to paint, the original color must be removed by setting the Fill to 0%, otherwise when blending it will become visible and we will not get the desired result.
Now let's create a style for the layer Layer > Layer Style > Color Overlay In the mixing menu Blend mode set the mode Color. And in the color box, set the color we need.
If you forgot to set the fill to 0%, you can do this in the same window, in the blending settings tab Blending Options. If you did this in the layers palette Layers, then the fill will already be installed as needed.
Now we have full control over color. Give each layer a different style. Double-clicking on the layer will automatically bring up Layer Styles, where you can change the hair color with one click. You don’t have to smear everything 100 times, the color changes in one second, and you see the result in online mode. Choosing a color has become much easier.
This is what I call color control. Now let's go even deeper.
COLORING PHOTOS THROUGH FILL LAYERS (fill lyers)
You know what I think. These efforts to control the image are certainly cool, but somehow difficult. What if you need to change the color? You have to constantly click on the layer, bring up the styles window, go to the tab Color Overlay and change something there. Not such a fast process if you want to quickly change the colors of the layers. Of course, if we have 2 layers it’s not difficult, but what if we had 102 layers? We need to make this process even easier. This is where the real work with layers begins. Now I'll show you how to color a photo using fill layers.
Create a new fill layer Layers > New Fill Layers > Solid Color The fill layer completely covers the photo, filling the entire working surface. We just don't need this. As you can see from the Layers palette, the fill layer is created with a ready-made empty mask. We need to turn the white mask into a black mask to hide the entire fill layer. You can click on the mask icon and select Delete.
Or select the mask icon and do the same from the menu Layer > Layer Mask > Delete. Now create a mask from scratch, but not an empty one, but a hiding one. We did this in my article "Masks in Photoshop". Select Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All
Or you can go another way. The mask is the same working surface as the layer itself. The mask can be drawn manually using any drawing tools. For example, with a brush Brush Tool. Only unlike a layer, the mask is created in a gradation from black to white, where white is the visible part, and black is the hiding part. Click on the mask icon in the layer palette. The mask must be selected so that you can draw on it. Then select the fill bucket Paint Bucket Toll and black color. Click on the work surface. An empty mask has become a hiding mask.
Now select a regular brush Brush Tool and white color. Create a hair mask by drawing on top of the mask exactly as you
would draw on a layer. You can enjoy all the benefits of brush settings. Make it transparent, change sizes, soft edges. All this will only affect how visible our mask is. And of course, don't forget to set the layer's blending mode to Color, so that you can immediately see the result of painting. We could have gone a different way. For example, leave the mask white and paint the entire area around the hair black. But you must admit, it is somewhat tedious to cover up 70%
work area. And of course, don’t forget to work on a mask, the mask must be selected. This can be done by simply clicking on its icon in the layers palette.
As a result, you should have a fill layer with a hair mask. The advantage of this method is that you don’t need to delve into color settings every time, which are unclear where. One simple click on the layer fill brings up a window with a color choice.
Paint other areas of the photo in the same way. In some areas where the color doesn't lend itself to soft transitions, you'll need to create highlight areas. For example, in the case of nails, I created selections with the tool Magic Wand Tool And Polygonal Lasso Toll. Otherwise, I made do with changing brush sizes and switching between soft edges and hard edges.
Once you've created all the photo area layers, you can create other tint layers that create hair tones, shimmers, and other lighting effects. This is a professional result. Now let's look at alternative options for coloring photographs.
MAKE A PHOTO COLOR THROUGH ADJUSTMENTS LAYERS
Here's another way to make a photo in color. Let's use the color correction settings adjustments. I can already imagine how you open familiar ones to everyone Image > Adjustments, select an area and apply effects. No, we certainly won’t do that. We will get the same kala malya. Of course, selecting an area, applying color correction, selecting a new area, applying color correction again is an option. Only this option is dull, without any opportunity to tweak and change the results.
Therefore, we will use color correction layers Layer > New Adjustment Layer. A color correction layer is the same color correction, only it is not applied to the graphics layer, but is itself a layer. Imagine that the photo is our layer. And on top we put red glass, which changed the color of the photo. The red glass is the color-correcting layer. You can remove it, make it invisible, apply layers, a mask and more.
Which color corrections are suitable for coloring? In my opinion, color correction is the best option. Photo Filter. Select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter Or create a color adjustment layer through the Layers palette menu Layers.
Now I want you to do everything that I described for coloring photographs through fill layers. Create a mask, fill it with black and use a regular brush to apply the filter to the area you need. This is what you should get:
At the same time, you can reconfigure the filter color, change the color and adjust the mask at any time. Just click on the color correction layer and in the palette Adjustments customize the color. If you don’t know where this palette is located, call it through Windows > Ajustments. You will see for yourself that using color correction to make a photo color is as easy as using fill layers, but I personally prefer the latter.
I hope there is no need to demonstrate step-by-step coloring. You already understand that you need to color all areas of the photo in a similar way. I will give you the final version of the photo colorization and wish you successful experiments in Photoshop. Now you know how to make a photo in color.
There are many ways to convert a color image to black and white in Photoshop.
Now we will show you the 4 most popular methods.
Open your photo in Photoshop.
Let's start by introducing you to the two easiest ways to convert an image to black and white.
1 - function Grayscale(Grayscale)
2 - function Discolor(Desaturation)
We don’t argue that these are the simplest methods, but the quality is not the best. Here the contrast is very low, the image is slightly cloudy.
Let's show with an example:
1. Grayscale
Image - Mode - Grayscale(Image - Mode - Grayscale)
Very simple, right?
2. Discolor
Image - Correction - Desaturate(Image - Adjustments - Desaturate)
Fast and easy - but the image contrast is very low, the image looks dull and flat. This is not at all what we are striving for. What we especially like about high-quality black and white photography is depth and high contrast. Okay - it's time to introduce you to more serious methods!
3. Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer
The method we are going to tell you about is to use several adjustment layers. Hue/Saturation. This means that you can return to its original appearance at any time. Plus, you are NOT changing the original image. Now go to the menu Layers - New Adjustment Layer - Hue/Saturation(Layers - New Adjustment layer - Hue/Saturation).
Leave all layer properties unchanged. Change the layer blending mode to Regular(Normal) on Chroma(Color).
Then add another adjustment layer Hue/Saturation(Hue/Saturation) - but this time in the layer properties, move the slider Saturation(Saturation) to -100.
So, get ready... This is what the image looks like now:
Now the fun begins! Double click on the first adjustment layer you made, or just open the properties. And now the slider Color tone(Hue) move to this position until you are satisfied with the resulting effect. You can also work with Saturation ( Saturation ) .
These are the settings we used to get the image you see below. Now it looks much better, although it still seems like something is missing...
Now change the blending mode of this newly created layer to Chroma(Color) on Overlap(Overlay), and reduce it a little Opacity(Opacity), in our case up to 65%.
This is what happened now. Contrast has increased noticeably. No detail is lost, adding depth to the image.
Please note that each image requires an individual approach. What suits this image may not suit yours. So don't be afraid to experiment with settings, layers and modes yourself :)
4. Channel mixing
The last technique you'll learn about in this tutorial is using an adjustment layer. Mixingchannels(Channel Mixer). With the original image active, go to the menu Layers - New Adjustment Layer - Channel Mixing(Layers - New Adjustment Layer - Channel mixer).
When this window appears, check the box next to the function Monochrome(Monochrome).
Now select the shades of black and white simply by moving the sliders that correspond to the red, green, and blue colors of the image. Important: Try to keep the total number of values around 100 to avoid blurry areas in your image. We set the red and green channels to 0 and the blue to 100. This gives the skin intense black and white tones.
Final step: duplicate the adjustment layer. Then change the blending mode from Regular(Normal) on Overlap(Overlay) and reduce Opacity(Opacity), for example, for this image it turned out to be 44% - but often it is necessary to lower it to 20-30%. Look, below is the result of our labors.
It turned out to be a very atmospheric image. We are waiting for your impressions. We hope this article gave you a lot of useful information.
See you in the new lesson!
Good day to you, my dear readers. I was recently looking through my childhood photographs (up to 6 years old) and how many of them were in black and white. Previously, this was a common thing, but now there are no purely black and white cameras, but it is still sometimes very nice to look at a photo without color. In some cases, it is even more pleasant to look at. Don't you think so?
Many cameras have a non-color shooting function (b/w, sepia, etc.), but in this article I would like to tell you how to make a picture black and white in Photoshop. And it doesn’t matter what kind of picture it is. The main thing is that this function still remains and no one is going to give it up. By the way, in my article about I actually used the effect of turning a color photo into black and white. Remember?
So let's get started! What do you want to convert to b/w color? Personally, I want to desaturate the car that I showed you in the tutorial about.
The easiest way to desaturate an image is through the Image menu. To do this, go to the menu “Image” - “Correction” - “Desaturate”. The photo then instantly removes all color.
Grayscale
This method is similar to the first and will be just as easy to complete. You need to enter the “Image” menu, then select “Mode” from the drop-down menu, and only then "Grayscale".
Voila! Your black and white image is ready.
Both methods are the simplest, but not the best. For a more subtle transformation, it is better to use other methods.
Black and white
This method is convenient because we can adjust the image as we need, so the quality of the resulting photo will be better.
Go again to the “Image” menu, then select the familiar word “Correction”, and at the end feel free to select “Black and white...”.
As you can see, our image has become black and white, and at the same time various sliders with the names of colors have appeared. With the help of them we will correct our b/w image. Try moving different sliders in turn and you will see that the contrast and image quality change, and in certain areas. Each area has its own color.
In this way, adjust all the colors until the image has better saturation and contrast. Voila.
Just don’t click on “Tint”, otherwise you won’t get any black and white image. If you don’t want b/w, but want it in yellow or other tones, then please.
Adjustment Layer
The best way to create a black and white image from a color image is to create an adjustment layer. But here too there are several different ways of such a transformation.
Channel mixing
Black and white
Here I will go over briefly, since this method is identical to the “Black and White” method, which we did above. Only here everything happens through an adjustment layer.
Well, in general, these are the methods I wanted to show you. I hope that they will be enough for you). If you have any questions, then ask. I will be happy to answer them.
In addition, I would like to recommend the wonderful Photoshop video tutorials for beginners. Everything a beginner needs is collected here, the material is presented superbly and everything is explained in great detail. Each element is broken down into pieces, so you will know Photoshop completely. So be sure to check it out.
Well, for today I say goodbye to you. Tomorrow will be a new day and a new lesson. And get a good night's sleep today. Most importantly, don’t forget to subscribe to updates on my blog articles. Good luck with your learning and everything else. Bye bye!
Have you ever wondered how to create beautiful black and white photos? Well, there's good news and bad news. First of all, shooting in black and white is still photography. This means that if the image is unsuccessful, then no amount of black and white magic will save it, that’s a fact. But the good news is that by following a few rules when creating black and white photos, you will have a lot of control in post-processing. Here are three that you might find useful.
№1 Initially do correct settings
Let's get started. There is only one requirement for creating black and white photographs - raw format. If you can't shoot in raw, shoot JPG in color. Ironic, I know, but I'll explain why later.
This is not an ironclad rule, but it is better to lose detail in the shadows than in the highlights. This means that it is better to underexpose than overexpose, as this will greatly damage the black and white photo. But this of course remains at your discretion and intention. If you want to overexpose for a specific reason, then do it! Depending on the image below, you may want the highlights to be blown out.
Most modern cameras can shoot in pure RAW and display the image on the screen in black and white. If this is possible in your camera, then take advantage of it! This way, as you shoot, your image will be closer to the final result you had in mind.
#2 Two things to look for
Black and white photographs are usually considered last. If the image doesn't look good, convert to black and white and get a good shot. But it doesn't work that way. If an image looks good in black and white, it means all the necessary elements were there to begin with. In any case, intentional black and white photographs will always be superior to those taken as such as a fallback option.
When you shoot black and white photography there are two things to look for, contrast and shapes.
Contrast in light and color
Look for contrast in highlights (light versus dark) as well as contrast in color (ironic again!). Once again, these rules are not mandatory. But if you are just starting out, it is better to first understand the rules and then break them.
Let's look at the graphs:
On the color wheel, shades that are close to each other will tend to look flat (like the two orange shades above). And colors that are far apart, like opposite sides of a circle, will appear more contrasty (blue and orange).
Search forms
In black and white photography, objects are reduced only to their essence, since there is no color to distract attention from the form. This means that the composition must be strong as the elements of the photo become more obvious. Black and white photography doesn't seem so simple anymore, does it? Let's look at another example using the colors above.
The blue bunny stands out more than the dark orange one due to the color contrast.
INLightroom
This is where black and white photography really comes to life. First, I'll explain why I recommend shooting in color (or raw). The thing is, if you shoot straight in black and white, you'll get many shades of gray that the camera captures. But if you're shooting in color initially, you'll have much more control over tones in post-production. See below:
One stripe of color creates three different stripes of black and white (gray shades). The black and white shades you get are malleable. See how the red spot gives you three different shades of grey.
When shooting in color, you can say "red becomes very dark and blue becomes very light." You can do the opposite and say “the blue becomes very dark and the red becomes very light.” Now do you understand why it's so important to shoot in color? You lose these options when shooting in black and white.
PanelB& W VLightroom
In Lightroom, go to the Adjustments module, scroll down and click on B&W (right in the HSL/Color/B&W panel). All the color sliders are at your disposal here. Take the first slider. Moving red to the left will make all shades of red darker. The same goes for the rest of the sliders; orange, yellow, green, cyan, indigo, violet and magenta.
The good news is that you can work directly on the image. See that weird circle in the top left corner? If you click on it and hover over any part of the image, click and drag up, down, left or right, it will automatically sample the color and allow you to edit the black and white mix from there. You will see the corresponding sliders move and all similar colors (shades) in your image will be adjusted.
The image on the left is straight from the camera in formatRAW. On the right, all I did was darken the blues using the blue slider.
Once you've completed the black and white conversion, tweak the clarity and contrast. Again, this won't magically make the image beautiful, but if the composition is right, you should get a good result. Here's the final image:
Conclusion
As you can see, good black and white photography is based on the same rules that make a good photograph. But other than that, this special black and white aspect is about understanding how color transforms into monochrome. A good exercise is to convert color images and experiment with conversions to better understand how it works. Be yourself, stay focused and keep shooting.
Many people have at least once thought about restoring old black and white photographs. Most of the photographs from the so-called point-and-shoot cameras were transferred to digital format, but never gained color. The solution to the problem of converting a bleached image to a color one is very difficult, but to some extent accessible.
Converting a black and white photo into color
While it’s easy to turn a color photo into black and white, solving the problem in the opposite direction becomes much more difficult. The computer needs to understand exactly how to color a particular fragment consisting of a large number of pixels. Recently, the site presented in our article has been dealing with this issue. So far this is the only high-quality option that works in automatic processing mode.
Colorize Black was developed by Algorithmia, a company that implements hundreds of other interesting algorithms. This is one of the new and successful projects that managed to surprise network users. It is based on artificial intelligence based on a neural network, which selects the necessary colors for the uploaded picture. Frankly speaking, the processed photo does not always meet expectations, but today the service shows amazing results. In addition to files from a computer, Coloriz Black can work with pictures from the Internet.
- Save the image divided in half by the purple line (1);
- Save the fully colored photo (2).
Your picture will be downloaded to your computer via your browser. It looks something like this:
The results of image processing show that artificial intelligence based on a neural network has not yet thoroughly learned to turn black and white photos into color ones. However, it works well with photographs of people and paints their faces more or less well. Although the colors in the example article were chosen incorrectly, the Colorize Black algorithm still selected some shades successfully. For now, this is the only current option for automatically converting a bleached picture into a color one.
