In this tutorial we'll look at some techniques for applying color to black
and white images. Before we get started, if you're watching this video on YouTube
you'll find a link in the description below that will take you to our tutorial
page on Corel's Discovery Center. Here you can also download a written copy of this
tutorial along with the sample images you can download to try out the steps
yourself. I have PaintShop Pro open in the Edit
workspace. I'm bringing in this image to edit. The first step with black-and-white
images is to make sure that the color depth is at least RGB 16-bits. I can do
this in the Image > Increase Color Depth menu. 16-bit supports 16.7
million colors, as opposed to just 256 with 8-bit. This is why when scanning a
black and white image you should always choose to scan in full color. I need to
have both my Layers and Materials palettes open. This can be done in the
Palettes menu or by pressing F6 and F8. In the Layers palette I'll click the New
Layer icon and choose New Raster Layer. I'll name the layer "skin" and set the
blend mode to Color (Legacy). This means that the textures and shadows from the
original image will show through and the applied color will be partially
translucent. With this layer active I'll start painting in some color. I'll zoom
in on the face and click the foreground swatch to choose my first color. I'll use
the color wheel to find a skin tone and because I'll need to get the same color
back later for painting over the arms, I'll click Add to palette. I'll create a
new palette called "colorize" and name this color "skin tone."
Now I'll click the Paintbrush tool and adjust the brush size by pressing the
Alt key while dragging the mouse. The brush hardness is around 50 so that the
color will be feathered or faded toward the edges of the brush. While zoomed in
closely I'll use a small brush size and drag all around the face, being careful
to stop at the edges. Then I'll fill in the rest. In this area I'll need to
reduce the brush size a bit. For the dress I'll add a new layer with the same
blend mode. I'll use some creative license and
choose a light blue paint color which I'll add to the same palette.
With a slightly harder brush I'll use a small brush size when tracing around the
border, and it's recommended to paint using a series of short strokes rather
than a few long strokes. This is because you'll probably find yourself needing to
undo sometimes and it's better to undo a little at a time than a lot at once. Now
I can increase the brush size for filling in.
I painted blue over the flower on the dress and over the purse but I can go
over these areas with new colors and small brush sizes when zoomed in very
closely. Things look messy but everything looks better when zoomed out.
For the arms I'll make this skin layer active and go back to the skin tone
swatch from before. I can hover over a swatch to see its name.
For the rest of the image I've added layers for the walls of the house, which
I've gone over in red, another for the steps and one for greenery. I've also
added in some hair color. One nice thing about having separate layers for
separate parts of the image is that I can go back and adjust that one part. For
example if I want to change the dress from blue to orange I can make the dress
layer active. I'll choose a light orange color and activate the Color Changer
tool. I'll click anywhere that's blue to switch to orange. The purse and flower
remain as they are since they're not blue. When I'm finished, if I save this
image as a PSP file all of the layers will be preserved. If I save as another
format such as JPEG, all layers will be merged into a single layer. Now I'll
demonstrate a second technique using this wedding photo. I'll increase color
depth first and as before, I'll add a layer and this one will contain all of
my color changes. This layer also will have normal blend. This time, instead of
painting directly onto the canvas I'll mark off the areas to paint in advance.
From the Selection tool bar I'll choose Freehand Selection then I'll zoom in and
carefully trace around the groom's face. This is done with one long dragging
operation. With my paintbrush I'll choose any color
and fill in the entire masked area. The paint doesn't go anywhere outside this
area. Then I can reduce the layer blend to get the face back. For adjusting the
color I'll choose Adjust > Hue and Saturation >
Hue/Saturation/Lightness. I'll click Colorize and adjust the sliders to get
just the color I want. Then I'll press Ctrl+D to unselect. To
outline the uniform I'll use the Smart Selection brush. I'll return to the
background layer, where clicking on a color selects everything of the same
color. I'll set the mode to Add so that every time I click I'll add more to the
selected area. Now I'll activate the color layer and this time I'll use the
flood fill tool to paint this entire area with one click. I'll use Colorize
again to get just the right uniform color.
I'll repeat these steps to give the woman a red dress. I'll increase the
Smart Selection tolerance and use a smaller brush for small areas. Even
though I'm colorizing an image, I can uncheck Colorize and play with the
colors here as well. One nice thing about PaintShop Pro is there are a number of
different ways that you can colorize an image and this is what makes the
application so powerful and fun to use. I've done some more colorizing adding
hair and skin colors even coloring the cameo and I'll add one final touch,
giving the newly married bride a rosy cheek. I'll use paintbrush with this
brush size a pink color and a very low brush hardness. One click adds a nice
glow. This brings us to the end of this tutorial on colorizing. If you've been
watching this video on YouTube please follow the link in the description below
which will take you to this tutorial page in Corel's Discovery Center. Here
you'll find a written version of this tutorial
along with the sample images you can download and follow along.