Photoshop Elements 8 for Windows: The Missing Manual

Colorizing Black-and-White Photos

So far, you've read about ways to make all or part of a color photo black and white. But what about when you've got a black-and-white photo and you want to add color to it? Elements makes that easy (or at least possible). For instance, you can give an old photo the sort of hand-tinted effect you sometimes see in antique prints, as shown in Figure 10-7.

You can easily color things with Elements. But before you start tinting a photo, first make any needed repairs. See The Clone Stamp for repair strategies. For fixes to the exposure, see Fixing Major Exposure Problems.

SPECIAL EFFECTS: Hints for Coloring Old Photographs

If you want to add some color to an antique black-and-white image, it's easier to put each part of a face that you're going to color—lips, eyes, cheek color, skin—on a separate layer than to try to control different shades on one layer. That way, you can change just one color later without a lot of hassle. (You can always merge the layers—Layer →Merge Visible, or Merge Down—later when you know for sure that you're done.) Here are some other tips when you're aiming for that 19th-century look:

• If you want to create the effect of a photo that was hand-colored a century ago, paint at less than 100-percent opacity—the tinting on old photos is very transparent.

• If you select the area before you paint, then you don't have to worry about getting color outside of where you want it, because your paint is confined to your selection.

• Skin colors are ...