Does anyone know someone who can colorize an old black and white photo?

[gippersmom]

It is my mom and dad's 60th anniversary and I would like to find someone who can convert their first photo as a married couple (it is black and white) to color. I have a reference photo in color of my mom, ironically in the same dress. I was going to try and do it myself but I am just not educated enough in Photoshop to be able to do it. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you so much for your help.

[Ryogenetic]

Welcome to CiC! This sounds like a challenging project, I assume you have the photos in digital format? I think you could do a good job in photoshop by opening both and using color replace. Check Youtube for the plethora of videos. If you cant find anyone, I could use the challenge.

Ryo

[gippersmom]

Yes, Ryo, I do have it scanned, I Was going to upload it with my post but couldn't figure out how to do it. (I'm afraid I am not very computer savvy) but I do thank you for the info although I think I have waited a bit too late to do it myself.

[Ryogenetic]

Do you have a photobucket or flickr account? If not you can use this thread: HELP THREAD: How can I post images here? Then you can post your pics for editing. An alternate would be to email them.

Ryo

[gippersmom]

Please bear with me as I experiment with uploading pics. This is the one I would like to see in color. Let me know what you think as it is sixty years old and not the best pic to begin with.

[gippersmom]

hmm..not sure I did this right..still working on it.

[gippersmom]

The above pic is the reference pic to use for restoring the first pic. The only pic I have of my dad in color from that time, is a very poor photo (he took it of himself) when he was overseas in Korea. The first pic that I am trying to get colorized, was taken in January, it was winter, most everything was brown...the buildings, the grass and the trees. Thank you Ryo for your help, I am trying to do the tutorials for photoshop but haven't been too successful with my attempts.

[Ryogenetic]

What color is his shirt and tie? Here is what I am Starting with, if you dont like the colors let me know I still have a lot of editing but this should give you an idea:



Ryo

[Ryogenetic]

Some days I really, really hate Photoshop, so I was close on finishing this project and I edited the wrong layer, and could not undo the damage, If you like this minus the artifacts I can start that layer again...



Ryo

Im afraid it does make it look unnatural.

[Ryogenetic]

This is about the best I can do, there is a lot of artifacts in the picture which makes some of the editing challenging..
To start I turned the original to a solid black and white, sliding the color bars till reaching the best detail setting. Next I used the single of your mother, to color her in. I know you said it was January, so brown/gold but I just could not get those colors to fill in with out them being red. Added another layer to sharpen and blur, edited out the creases in the photo, took out a lot of the artifacts, used curves to balance everything just right. I am not a professional and mean no offense with my edit. This was a great learning experience.



Ryo

[Dizzy]

Ryo,

I think you've done a stonking good job of colorizing that image, and the
colors etc. are very believable for the period.

Gippersmon, I think your parents are going to be thrilled with the updated
image!

By the way, what's your first name? CiC is a rather informal place, and a
first name is much better than calling you "Gippersmom" in every response..

Mike

[gippersmom]

Oh wow, WOW, WOW!!! That is sooooo amazing! Ryo, you are the BEST! That is so awesome! I do not know what color the tie was, or the shirt but I will ask my aunt later this evening as she has a mind for remembering things (and that building was at her childhood home) if you want to change it and if not, that is okay also. The suit and shoes are right on as well, I believe as my dad wasn't so strict on polishing his shoes once he got out of the army...hee hee. For not having a reference for my dad, you sure nailed it. (I'm attaching another photo for you to see how close to reality you are!!) I am just shocked at how wonderful and quickly you were able to accomplish so much! Thank you ever so much for all of your hard work! Dizzy, you are right, my parents are going to be so thrilled to see this picture (first of all, improved as much as it was because it had a lot of yucky noise on it). Thank you, from the bottom of my heart...I am just...certainly not speechless, lol...but I am deeply moved by how wonderful it looks, and how nice of you to help me....Martha

[Ryogenetic]

Martha, I am happy that you are pleased with it, If the house color, shirt, and tie need to be adjusted let me know I saved the editing file for just that purpose. You will need to get me a color sample as I am terrible with colors.

Ryo

@ Mike Thanks for the kind words, I hope you get some good pics from this years Sedro-Woolley competition.

[rosapearl]

Ryo,

That is a masterpiece.

Jeannie

[gippersmom]

Jeannie, I think so too. :-) I could never in a million years have done it. I thought I had patience, but I am definitely out of my element with photoshop.....
Ryo, I quizzed my parents on their memory (I made up a story and told them for anniversary parties there was a game to play to see which one could remember the most details of that day...just a tiny little fib, but I got the info I Wanted) I found out dad's suit was grey (I would guess more like the light color of mom's suit on the middle picture), the shoes were brown (mom giggled because his shoes didn't match his suit, but he only had the one pair) and the tie was white with a black swirl down the side (my dad said it was the only tie he had) But neither he nor mom could remember the color of the shirt except my mom said she thought it would make a nice dish rag....tee hee...but I like the shirt the way it is. :-) and if the suit were grey, it would match quite nicely....Would it be too difficult to change the suit color and the gold on the tie to shiny white? Like in the palette, pantone pastel uncoated 9063C is the closest I could get to the color as it is almost a dirty white....I took a photo of them today, would you like to see it?

[Ryogenetic]

Send it! Ill get started on the changes.

Ryo

This is as close to gray as I can get with out major issue, tie is fixed...

[gippersmom]

I thought you would like to see how cute they are today. :-)

[gippersmom]

I think it looks great! The tie is spot on and the suit color is great! Not sure about the building (Aunt says it was washed out lumber...was originally brown but it had grayed with age so you couldn't really see much of the original color...it was actually an abandoned loading station of some sort). Thank you so much for all of your hard work. For not being a professional, you sure have done a superb job. I am excited to find this site...I have so many things I want to learn and can't wait to dive in! :-)

[Ryogenetic]

That is an awesome pic. Love the way his collar still holds back behind the neck. Top tip the next time you talk to him, only one break in the trousers is authorized. My grandfather was Army Air Corps/Air Force.

Ryo

[gippersmom]

lol...I will tell him...he will laugh I'm sure! :-) Thank you sooooo much!