How to Restore Color to a Black and White Photo Using PhotoPad

How to Add Color to an Old Black and White Photo Using the PhotoPad Colorize Tool

Ever wanted to see your old black and white family photographs restored in color? This video below will show you how to do so in our popular and easy to use photo editor:

PhotoPad's new Colorize tool allows you to do this by using transparency to overlay the color onto your image without losing the detail if you were to just paint over it.

To start:

1. Use a scanner to import the photo into PhotoPad
2. Once you have the black and white photo open, go to the Tools tab and pick Colorize.
3. Once you have decided what to color first (background, subject, etc), click the Select Color button and either pick the color with the slider or enter in a hex/RGB value.
4. Pick the appropriate brush size with the brush slider (bigger - quick wide coverage, smaller - detail work)
5. Click and drag over the photo in the areas you want in that color. The color will seem much darker initially but will fade in softly and naturally once you have finished that section.
6. For detailed sections, you can zoom into the photo with a small brush to color in difficult-to-reach spots. You may also decrease the opacity to make the detail work more subtle, and paint over previously painted spots to blend the color.
7. Repeat the process for each different section/color - it is suggested that you add a new colorize layer for each color you use to make editing and redoing significantly easier.

PhotoPad does most of the work for you, making you look like a master of restoration. Colorize is a complex tool that is really easy to use!

For more PhotoPad tutorials:
www.nchsoftware.com/photoeditor/tutorial.html

Click on the link to download or purchase:

PhotoPad Image and Photo Editing Software by NCH