[Kombisaurus]

Hey guys,

Well, after trying this technique and being quite suprised at how well the results turned out, I just had to share it with you.

Just before Christmas I scanned a heap of old family photos, including many of my parents and grandparents when they were young.
A number of these very precious photos were in need of some restoration, so after scanning them I began going through some of them and cleaning them up in photoshop.

While I was doing this, I just happened to read an article about artificially-colouring images in photoshop. It was nothing special, but I was curious to see how effective it might be on these photos (expecting it to be a waste of time).

Although I spent a considerable amount of time finishing the example image below (which is my grandparents wedding day back in 1944), I did an initial "rough draft" of this image in about 15 minutes that looked 90% as good.

The thing I particularly like about it is that it not only looks like a "real" hand-tinted photograph, but the technique is actually quite similar to that used with photographic paints I'd imagine (apart from having the benefits of zoom and undo).



Now, here's how I did it:
1. Open the image in photoshop.
2. Adjust the contrast/levels and clean up the image so it is a good b/w image to begin with.
3. Create a duplicate layer of the background, change it's mode to "color" and set it's opacity to about 70%
3. Select the new layer (the translucent one) as the active layer.
4. Select the "brush" tool from the toolbox at the side.
5. Set the "mode" (in the toolbar at the top) to "Color".
6. Select a colour you wish to tint with.
7. Paint away!

It's all pretty straightforward.. setting the draw-mode to "color" simply tints the image instead of drawing over it, and by drawing on a duplicate layer with only about 70% transparency, you can get a nicer, more subtle effect. Obviously in the example above, I also played with contrast and so on to get the other elements of the image as they are.
You can also do things like tint the original (bottom) layer sepia, and it will give a subtle sepia look coming through the colour, or else put additional adjustment layers on top to tint and adjust things further.

Now I don't think there are any real suprises in the technique involved... but the real suprise for me was in the result. It transformed the photo dramatically, and requires a lot less effort that I expected to get decent results. It is definately a worthwhile trick to have up your sleeve. I'm sure it can be abused and over-used, but when used sparingly and appropriately it can have a lot of impact.

Cheers
Adrian

ps: In a precious family photo such as this one, attention to detail is everything! Not only did I have to make sure the uniform colours were all accurate, but I even subtley got my mum to find out what colours the flowers were in my grandmother's bouquet. My grandmother noticed these things *immediately* when I showed her the photo. Disaster averted. phew!

Edit: I changed the caption in the photo to more accurately reflect the real owner of the photograph. I have no idea who the photographer was, but I fear he/she may have passed away.