What if you want to digitally colorize a black-and-white photo or one whose colors have faded so much they're all but gone? How do you know what the original color was? Fortunately, guessing the color is the hardest part when making a photo restoration of a faded color picture. You can add any color that you like via a new layer.
By layering on colors, you create a color wash on top of a faded or black-and-white photo. Think of this layer as the clear plastic overlays in the old anatomy books, in which each successive layer adds some content (the respiratory system, the digestive system, and so on) until the body is complete. You can add layers of color on top of the faded image, achieving the look of rich color that the original image doesn't have.
So what does a new layer do for your color? Well, nothing if it's just a regular old blank layer. But if it's an adjustment layer, it can do a lot. This article shows you how to use layers in Paint Shop Pro, but most other software works with a similar process. You can find this same process available in Photoshop - just use the Layer --> New Adjustment Layer command, and its submenu offers a similar set of choices for the role the new layer will play.
To create an adjustment layer in Paint Shop Pro, follow these steps:
1. With your faded image open onscreen, choose Layer --> New Adjustment Layer --> Color Balance from the main menu bar.
The dialog box that appears lets you raise and lower the color components, one level at a time. If your image is in RGB (red/green/blue) mode, you have those three levels to adjust. If your image is in CMYK (cyan/magenta/yellow/black), you can tweak those levels.
Each of the New Adjustment Layer submenu commands produces a different dialog box, and each dialog box offers sliders and text boxes into which you can enter levels for the image component that you want to adjust - brightness or contrast, hue, lightness, and so on. If you can't tell which of these components your image needs help with, be brave and do some experimenting. You can always undo an edit by pressing Ctrl+Z (Command+Z on a Mac).
2. Make your adjustments by dragging the sliders to the left or right, or by entering new color levels.
You can also choose which elements of your image you're going to adjust: Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights.
3. To see the results of your adjustments before you commit to them by clicking OK, click the Proof button (the big eye) to get a preview in the image window.
With some image editors, the results of your change appear in the main image window as you apply them.
4. When you like the results, click OK to apply the changes to your image.
A new layer appears in the Layers menu.
Of course, if you change your mind after adding an adjustment layer, you can use the Undo command or History palette (if you're using Photoshop or Elements) to go back in time before you created the adjustment layer. You can also delete the layer, and your image returns to its original state.
