Colouring black and white

simon.deighton · 22 Feb 2012 at 11:57

Whats the best way to colourize black and white photos?

Would you rcommend manualy in photoshop with layers or are there any great programs out there, maybe even a photoshop extension?

stufflol · 22 Feb 2012 at 15:10

I recolored that in after effects you could do the same in photoshop but masks are more easily re ajustable in AE

Thats about 35+ layers in AE

Another one not so many layers done in the same program

gord · 22 Feb 2012 at 15:25

Are those movie clips you have recoloured stuff? Or stills? Just wondering because AE still seems like an odd choice. What AE masks are you using?

They're really effective though.

simon.deighton · 22 Feb 2012 at 15:34

Are you doing somethign along the lines of masking out the area then creating the solid colour layer above then changeing the blend mode?

stufflol · 22 Feb 2012 at 15:36

They are stills , the reason I used AE is simply because I find it easier/qicker to adjust the masks ( made with the pen tool ). Touch up after in photoshop ofc.

Paint the color - change the blend mode to colour - mask the colour - feather it to suit maybe expand/reduce some and adjust it so the colour fits perfectly

each layer Im haveing like 5+ masks in each layer so its a lot of work

( that was one of my first recolours done quite a while ago if your wondering why I have so many points on my masks I was noob )

gord · 22 Feb 2012 at 16:01

Interesting work flow. Thanks for sharing. I'm not entirely convinced it's better than paths in PS but if it works for you.

stufflol · 22 Feb 2012 at 16:05

thing is , when I first decided to do a recolour I wasnt so familiar with photoshop but I had done some work on after effects found it easier at the time. Although I do still find it easier to navigate then PS