Colorizing Software: Does anyone have any recommendations related to software used to colorize old photos? I understand this can be done with Photoshop, but I am interested in...

lorvey Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Does anyone have any recommendations related to software used to colorize old photos? I understand this can be done with Photoshop, but I am interested in something easier, possibly using AI.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Photoshop has a "push button" applet that colorizes. However, as impressive as it tries to be, it does miss some things.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-677634-1.html
--Bob

lorvey wrote:

Does anyone have any recommendations related to software used to colorize old photos? I understand this can be done with Photoshop, but I am interested in something easier, possibly using AI.

lorvey Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Thank you Bob for the link. I am interested mainly in stand alone AI software, or a Plug-in for PS Elements. I was inspired by the video below. Granted this video does a little bit more than colorize, but it piqued my interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s_hIs8s_N4

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

lorvey wrote:

Thank you Bob for the link. I am interested mainly in stand alone AI software, or a Plug-in for PS Elements. I was inspired by the video below. Granted this video does a little bit more than colorize, but it piqued my interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s_hIs8s_N4

Impressive. And I expect the cost of the software is even more impressive.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

lorvey wrote:

Does anyone have any recommendations related to software used to colorize old photos? I understand this can be done with Photoshop, but I am interested in something easier, possibly using AI.

In testing Photoshop's colorizing option, I find that it is easily confused. I will post a B&W image that I took in which I emphasized backlighting. And then I will show two examples. First is the one colorized by Photoshop. The second is colorized by the genealogy software MyHeritage which embeds the ability to colorize images.

MyHeritage photo colorization technology that powers this feature was licensed from DeOldify, created by software engineers Jason Antic and Dana Kelley. See: https://deoldify.ai/

On less demanding images, it seems that MyHeritage still does better than Photoshop on other images I have tried.

The camera I used was a modified Sony A6300 in which the color filter array had been scraped off turning it into a mono sensor. A 630nm red filter was used for the original image.

Original

(Download)

Colorized with Photoshop
Colorized with Photoshop...

(Download)

Colorized with MyHeritage
Colorized with MyHeritage...

(Download)

lorvey Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

JimH123 wrote:

In testing Photoshop's colorizing option, I find t... (show quote)

Wow! Some interesting comparisons. Thanks for the link. I will give MyHeritate a try.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

lorvey wrote:

Wow! Some interesting comparisons. Thanks for the link. I will give MyHeritate a try.

Here is another example that is somewhat easier to colorize. Photoshop absolutely blew it in the upper right corner.

original

(Download)

Colorized with Photoshop
Colorized with Photoshop...

(Download)

Colorized with MyHeritage
Colorized with MyHeritage...

(Download)

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

This one offers a free download. It ain't ultimate but it is fun and I have used to to to restore a few old family photographs. It's FUN and the price right. After colorization, you can edit it further in your existing softwear to control contrast, clone out defects and apply diffusion.

https://www.myheritage.com/photo-enhancer/result/837504401-500001

Here's an experimental image:

lorvey Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

JimH123 wrote:

Here is another example that is somewhat easier to colorize. Photoshop absolutely blew it in the upper right corner.

It is quite amazing that the blue sky was found in the right top corner on the MyHeritage example. I've tried a few examples of my ancestors, and it does a pretty good job. Thanks for the recommendation.

lorvey Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

E.L.. Shapiro wrote:

This one offers a free download. It ain't ultimate but it is fun and I have used to to to restore a few old family photographs. It's FUN and the price right. After colorization, you can edit it further in your existing softwear to control contrast, clone out defects and apply diffusion.

https://www.myheritage.com/photo-enhancer/result/837504401-500001

Here's an experimental image:

Very good!!

rmcgarry331

Adobe introduced colorization as a guided edit in Photoshop Elements 2020. It did not get a lot of fanfare, however since I need to occasionally colorize an image, I bought PSE 2020 despite being a Creative Cloud subscriber. I have worked with the AI based engine in PSE and the new beta engine in PS 2021, as well as trying some of the online options. Some thoughts:
1. While AI does a good job at finding and colorizing faces, it frequently misses areas of an image, or colorizes them radically incorrectly.
2. Both PSE and PS allow masking and spot color picking to allow a human to identify and colorize areas of an image that AI misses or gets wrong.
3. At this time PSE is a little better than PS at finding and picking colors.
4. The select and mask tools in PS are much better than the same tools in PSE
5. PS outputs to multiple layers, where as PSE places the results on a single layer. Having the colorization on more than one layer simplifies the future workflow refining the image and making the results look more realistic.

Just my thoughts

lorvey Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

rmcgarry331 wrote:

Adobe introduced colorization as a guided edit in ... (show quote)

Thank you, I will look into PSE 2020. I have 2019.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

I colorize the manual way, in Photoshop. Pick the color, paint, blend. Much more satisfactory, and not really that hard if you try.

Kozan Loc: Trenton Tennessee

lorvey wrote:

Does anyone have any recommendations related to software used to colorize old photos? I understand this can be done with Photoshop, but I am interested in something easier, possibly using AI.

Try MyHeritage.com. I believe it is free And I believe it is entirely web based. One of the guys in our photo club uses it, the the results look pretty good.

lorvey Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Kozan wrote:

Try MyHeritage.com. I believe it is free And I believe it is entirely web based. One of the guys in our photo club uses it, the the results look pretty good.

I've tried MyHeritage. It does a great job, but after colorizing 10 images, you have to subscribe to continue. They want $12.46 per month. MyHeritage is really an ancestry site with provides the ability to set up your family tree, get a DNA kit, and more. The colorization of photos is an add-on to their real purpose.

I think they are missing the boat in their pricing structure. I understand charging the monthly fee for the ancestry functionality, but I'm not going to pay a subscription fee monthly to occasionally color a few old photos. They should unbundle the photo colorization software from the ancestry feature and set up a software license arrangement for the colorizing function. But it's their business, so they can do whatever they want.