How to make a photo black and white. Convert black and white photos to color online

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Hi all! As usual, I am with you, Dmitry Kostin. And today we will photoshop again. Remember how we did? Be that as it may, this is not surprising, since it is not at all difficult to desaturate the image. But how to turn a black and white photo into color? Is that possible?

Of course available. Already, even entire films are being colored. Why make some image color? But it’s still a very interesting experience. Can you imagine? You can come up with the colors you would like to see in this photo. For example, you can set the color of your eyes, hair, skin, clothes and much more. This is how I colored old photographs. It turned out funny)

Let me not make long introductions. Let's start coloring right away. Open any b/w photo (I chose a photo I found on the Internet).

Just look at what mode the photo is in. It's just possible that it was saved in the format "Grayscale", then you simply won’t be able to work with color.

Change the color mode to RGB. To do this, go to Top Menu and select “Image” - “Mode”. Well, if it’s not RSL, then install it.

Let's look at the first method, namely the one familiar to you.

Blending Options

Here is another fairly effective trick for coloring photos. The main thing here is to create a separate layer for each element. I took new photo for these needs.

By the way, this was the very first method that I learned about. When I found out about it, I liked it so much that I colored a lot of photos).

Layer mask

Well, the last method of transformation for today is using a layer mask. Let's get straight to the point.

Well, in the end it turns out beautiful color photography and she looks completely different. Oh, but of course I messed up a little. But you can always correct this.

I will never cease to be amazed at the power of Photoshop. Indeed, in many cases, the same problem can be solved in several ways, and you yourself can choose the method that suits you best. By the way, which method do you like best? Or do you have your own way of turning a black and white photo into color in Photoshop, which I did not describe here? Please write in the comments.

If you want to as soon as possible to explore the possibilities of Photoshop and learn how to work with it, I strongly recommend that you take a look excellent video course. Everything is described in detail, everything is told in human language and laid out on the shelves. The material is easily absorbed. So I recommend it.

Well, I'm done for today. I hope that you liked my article. Be sure to subscribe to my blog updates, then you will always be aware of the latest information on the blog. I won't spam. I promise). I wish you good luck in mastering Photoshop. Bye bye!

Best regards, Dmitry Kostin.

For more than a century, monochrome photography has been dominant. Until now, black and white shades are popular among professionals and amateur photographers. In order to make a color picture decolorized, it is necessary to remove information about natural colors from it. The popular online services presented in our article can cope with this task.

The big advantage of such sites over software is ease of use. In most cases, they are not suitable for professional purposes, but they will be relevant for solving the task at hand.

Method 1: IMGonline

IMGOnline - online image editing service BMP formats, GIF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF. When saving a processed image, you can select the quality and file extension. Is the simplest and in a fast way applying a black and white effect to a photo.

Method 2: Croper

Online photo editor with support for many effects and operations for image processing. Very convenient when using the same tools repeatedly, which are automatically displayed in the panel quick access.

Open the tab "Files", then click on the item "Load from disk".

Click "Choose File" on the page that appears.

Select the picture to be processed and confirm with the button "Open".

Send the image to the service by clicking "Download".

Open the tab "Operations", then move the cursor to the item "Edit" and select an effect "Translate to b/w".

After previous action The tool you are using will appear in the Quick Access Toolbar at the top. Click on it to apply.

If the effect is successfully applied to the picture, in the window preview it will turn black and white. It looks something like this:

Open menu "Files" and press "Save to disk".

Upload the finished image using the button "Download file".

Upon completion of this process in quick panel downloads a new mark will appear:

Method 3: Photoshop Online

A more advanced version of the photo editor, equipped with the basic functions of the program. Among them there is the possibility detailed settings color tones, brightness, contrast and so on. You can also work with files uploaded to the cloud or social networks, for example.

In the small window in the center of the main page, select "Upload image from computer".

Select the file on disk and click "Open".

Open a menu item "Correction" and click on the effect "Bleaching".

If you successfully use the tool, your image will acquire black and white shades:

On top panel select "File", then click "Save".

Set the parameters you need: file name, format, quality, then click "Yes" at the bottom of the window.

Start downloading by clicking the button "Save".

Method 4: Holla

A modern popular online service for image processing, with support for Pixlr and photo editors. IN this method The second option will be considered, since it is considered the most convenient. The site's arsenal includes more than a dozen free useful effects.

Click "Choose File" on home page service.

Click on the image to process it, and then on the button "Open".

Click the item "Download".

Choose from the presented photo editor "Aviary".

In the toolbar, click on the tile that says "Effects".

Scroll to the bottom of the list to find the right one using the right arrow.

Select an effect "B&W" by clicking on it with the left mouse button.

If everything went well, your photo will appear in black and white in the preview window:

Confirm the application of the effect using the item "OK".

Finish the image by clicking "Ready".

Click "Download image".

Method 5: Editor.Pho.to

A photo editor that is capable of performing many image processing operations online. The only site on which you can adjust the intensity of the selected effect. Able to interact with cloud service , social networks Facebook,

Many people have at least once thought about restoring old black and white photographs. Most of the pictures from the so-called soap boxes were transferred to digital format, but never found 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

If you do color photo It’s simple in black and white, but solving the problem in the opposite direction becomes much more difficult. The computer needs to understand exactly how to color this or that fragment consisting of large quantity pixels. Recently, the site presented in our article has been dealing with this issue. This is the only one so far quality option, operating 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 neural network, picking up required colors for the uploaded image. 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.

The second or third reincarnation of the trend with black and white photographs that contain one or two color elements. I am aware that such processing is done once or twice and in Photoshop but living in the world mobile devices, I’m writing a short guide on processing such photos using smartphone applications.

I use the app to edit photos Snapseed. If you haven't downloaded it before, be sure to do so right now. My humble opinion- This best app for processing photos on a smartphone. It's free and available for iOS and Android.

Convenient service for auto-posting, analytics and working with personal messages on Instagram.
To get a week of free use!

Processing photos in Snapseed. Turning color into dignity

First, select a photo. For the material, I specifically took a simple photograph with a large colored object, which I want to further emphasize with the help of processing.

As soon as you decide on the photo, we retouch it a little using the tools in the Correction section: “Contrast”, “Brightness”, “Light Balance”, “Saturation” and so on. We get intermediate result 1. Good, but boring and banal.

In chapter Brush We are now only interested in the tool for working with Saturation, the last brush in the section. This tool has two extreme values +10 and -10. Accordingly, in the first case it increases the color saturation of your image, and at a value of -10 it is able to completely remove the colors and leave a black and white area, which is exactly what we need.

After you have chosen Saturation -10, let's start shading the image. If there are an abundance of small details that you plan to make in color, feel free to paint over the entire photo in “black and white”, then using the eraser tool (average value between -10 and +10) you can easily return the color to the necessary elements.

For convenience, I select the “eye” located in the lower right corner. It shows where you have already swiped your finger and where you need to apply more. Important: the saturation does not go away the first time and for complete black and white you will have to run your finger over the elements 3-4 times.

We get the following result. It seems good, but I'm missing something. Drama of the photo and contrast.

Our section is responsible for drama Sharpness- tool Structure. Since I don’t see boundaries at all, I twist the structure into +100 , getting this result.

Of course, the photo does not have much creative value and was taken before entering the office, but I hope I was able to explain the principle of such processing. A little more examples I have pictures like this Instagram profile, somehow this kind of processing really suited me, now I’m experimenting and trying to learn how to do it “beautifully”.

The latest and most current news about Instagram in my,

Many photographers agree that vintage black and white photographs have such an attractive charm and allure that their modern digital counterparts, devoid of a certain “soul,” cannot hold a candle to them. Of course, black and white photography does not require old photographic films, solvents and developers... To make it, you just need a modern digital camera.

What advantages do such photographs have?

Of course, not everyone is a creative person who has a keen sense of the style and character of a photograph. Do you have black and white photographs any real benefits that an experienced photographer can take advantage of? Yes, and there are many of them.

The fact is that black and white photography not only arouses nostalgia in viewers, but also focuses their attention on the photograph itself. This is especially valuable for portraits: have you ever wondered why this particular photo format is preferred? The fact is that they allow you to focus attention precisely on the foreground, making everything that is behind the person unimportant. In addition, such an image allows extra costs process objects in photos.

In addition, black and white photography is indispensable when decorating a room in a vintage style, when you want to set a certain background. Even seasoned designers often use this method, so you can also try yourself in this field.

How to make it?

In most modern digital cameras There is a mode for automatic shooting in this mode. Is it worth using the mentioned program? No no and one more time no! It makes more sense to shoot in normal mode, “bleaching” pictures into application programs. In this case, you can adjust dozens of parameters that the camera simply “cuts down”. In addition, using the same Photoshop, you can restore old beautiful black and white photographs by scanning them and improving the color balance.

We'll first look at the extremely popular Photoshop, and then we'll cover a couple of other image editors.

A quick way to convert a photo to black and white

First, open any photo you need to convert. Go to the “Image” menu, go to “Adjustments”, where click on the “Desaturate” command. It should be noted that this algorithm will allow you to make any photo black and white in just a couple of seconds, but the result is unlikely to greatly inspire you for further research... This is how a black and white photograph is made in Photoshop if the user is too lazy to spend time on it.

The photo turns out flat and blurry. In a word, it’s better to use automatic modes on a soapbox...

Black and White Adjustment Layers

It's much better to use the "Black and White" layer. This method is not only simple, but also reversible. The fact is that when saving to the program, it makes changes to the second layer, and not to original image, which provides the opportunity for wide creative experiments. In addition, such black and white photography turns out to be really three-dimensional and beautiful.

Converting the image

First, open the photo you want to redo. Double-click with the left mouse button on the “Background” tab if it was previously inactive. To create a black and white layer, you have to follow a few simple steps.

First, you need to open the “Correction” palette (follow the “Window/Correction” path), and then left-click on the “Black and White” layer icon, which is visually similar to a rectangle divided into two halves by a diagonal line. Immediately after this, a layer with a desaturated image will be created, after which several dialog boxes with sliders with which you can set precise color gradation.

How can you make a photograph in black and white, but at the same time maintain maximum contrast between different zones in the image? To get the most contrasting picture possible, simply move the sliders until the quality suits you. Dragging the sliders to the right will make the colors lighter; dragging to the left will make them darker.

There is a drop-down list at the top of the palette: experiment with its options. You might get some interesting effect. If you click on the “Auto” button, it will display the parameters of the “ideal” image in grayscale on the monitor. This button can also be used if your experiments in desaturating images have gone somewhere wrong.

Sepia effect

Remember the relatively recent photographs from the times of the late USSR, where there were not only black and white colors, but also a shade of brown? Do you know how to achieve such an attractive effect in a modern photo? Nothing could be easier!

There is also a Tint checkbox at the top of the palette. If you check it and click "OK", the program will automatically add a brown tint (sepia effect), this applies to all elements of the image. To the right of the checkbox there is an icon in the form of a colored square: click on it if you want to add some other shades to the picture. This way you can take so-called false two-tone photographs.

Here's how to make a photo black and white.

GIMP

All of the above is true for Photoshop program. No doubt, this application is a recognized world leader. But isn't there another one that is just as functional? There is one. It's called GIMP and has long been positioned as an alternative to its paid competitor.

To be fair, it should be noted that not in all cases such a replacement will be adequate, but for desaturating photographs, the mentioned program will be more than enough.

Using adjustment layers in Channel Mixing

Let us immediately note that this photo program uses layers in the same way, so almost all the techniques that can be used in the case of Photoshop are quite relevant here. First, still make sure that the “Background” is open on the image you have opened, left-click on the icon with the image of a diagonally crossed out two-color circle at the bottom of the palette, and then in the appeared context menu select the Channel Mixing option.

After this, the “Correction” dialog box will immediately open, select the “Monochrome” checkbox at the top of it, and then select one of the lightening options offered by the program in the drop-down list located here. This method will allow you to get beautiful black and white photographs, each of the elements in which is edited individually.

Important! If you want to make a picture with printing quality (which can then be printed), then it is advisable to use in a special way calibrated monitor. Otherwise, you will probably be disappointed due to the mismatch in brightness of colors and shades.

Using "Brightness"

What is the Lightness channel for? In it, the application stores all the illumination parameters of the picture, which form all the visible contours of the image too. Thus, if you take it separately from all other picture settings, you will get a regular black and white photograph.

Open the “Image” menu, select “Mode” there, and then click on the “Channel” option. A palette of the same name will appear, on which you need to select the “Brightness” item. If you don’t like the result, go back to the “Mode” item and select the “Grayscale” option there. Left-click on the “OK” button, after which GIMP will automatically delete all existing color information.

Additional gradation of parameters

The picture will become black and white. If you need more careful and detailed processing of black and white photos, try “playing” with the parameters, achieving the ideal display of color, brightness and contrast of the image. It should be noted that in many cases this method produces an overly bright, but pale, pattern. However, you can play with such color gradations, interestingly blurring

By the way, do you remember what we talked about the techniques of professional photographers at the very beginning of the article? Yes, yes, it is with the help of this method that they create amazing effect, when the face in the photograph literally has a life of its own. This “miracle” owes its existence to the usual psychological characteristics of a person: firstly, in color pictures we constantly pay attention background, even if unconsciously. Secondly, black and white photographs themselves force the focus to be on the central figure. Considering that the background is already becoming blurry, the brain involuntarily focuses on the foreground, picking out more and more details.

Using the Camera Raw plugin

If you are a professional photographer and work with RAW format, we recommend using the Camera Raw plug-in to convert your photos. It can be used with equal success not only in GIMP, but also in Photoshop. Download the module from the official website, after which you can start creating and experimenting.

Correct use of the module

In the main Camera Raw window, open the HSL/Grayscale window. To do this, you can click on the button of the same name. Check the “Convert to grayscale” checkbox. A panel with a set of sliders will immediately appear on the right side of the working window. To add contrast to the image, simply lighten any of the areas in the image by moving the slider to the right. However, we talked about exactly the same thing at the top of our article, so you can see the relevant recommendations there.

Then you need to open the “Basic” panel, and then “play” with the “Exposure” slider, adjusting in detail all the parameters of the black and white image. Try to “play” with the settings, after which you yourself will be amazed at what an irresistible impression “ordinary” black and white photography can produce!

PaintNet

If you are not an experienced user, then you have probably already doubted your ability to master the capabilities of the programs described above. Which, however, is not surprising, since they have a rather complex interface. Because of this, it is not advisable for novice users to install these applications just for the sake of converting several photos to black and white format.

Therefore, we would recommend that not too confident and “fledgling” artists install the completely free PaintNet program from Microsoft on their computer. Despite its compact size, it is very functional and can be successfully used for our purposes. However, almost everything free programs for photographs that currently exist can be described in exactly the same way.

Working with layers

Since this application also uses layers, the main stages of our work will be largely similar to the techniques described above, but your work will be much more pleasant. This is largely due to the fact that the interface here is as simplified as possible. First, you should copy the layer that will contain a copy of the color image. Go to the "Layers" menu, then select "Make a copy of layer." As you can see, everything is as simple and accessible as possible.

However, copy the right piece images can be created directly from the Layers window. We will need it later. After the mentioned procedure, you are left with two layers, each of which contains exactly the same fragment of the image. In the same “Layers” menu, turn off the top section of the picture by left-clicking on the corresponding item.

Go to the “Corrections” menu, after which select the item there with the characteristic name “Make black and white”. After this, the image is completely discolored. It should be noted that the picture quality in this case may not be too stunning. Keep in mind that it is strongly not recommended to process scanned old black and white photographs in this way, as their quality may be seriously affected.

Is it possible to colorize a monochrome image?

Having spent so much time describing the transformation of color images into monochrome, it’s time to tackle the exact opposite process. We will make a colorful collage from an old grandmother’s photo, as if it was recently captured on a modern camera. Is this real? Yes, but you will have to be patient.

First, you will need to take the Brush tool, and then begin to carefully and consistently paint parts of the photo. Once you're done with a section of the image, it's time to change the blending mode for that particular layer. You can choose “Darken” or “ Soft light" By the way, this method works great for coloring black and white photographs of flowers. Let us immediately note that this is necessary since you are unlikely to be able to achieve the required accuracy with a mouse.

Combining various algorithms in different parts of the photo, you can achieve the effect you want. We deliberately do not say the word “easy”, since this whole process will take a lot of your time. Yes, it’s long, monotonous and even a little boring, but the result is worth it! Here's how to colorize black and white photos. If you don’t want to pay immodest sums to organize photos from your family archives, you can try to do everything yourself.

Please note that such events require patience and perseverance, so we advise you to stock up on them. Good luck!