The following is the result of a project I had to do for my Photoshop class at the College of DuPage. I was quite impressed with the results. Following the photo is an edited version of the instructions for the assignment.
Colorized Black and White Photograph
The following are the instructions as given by my instructor, Curt Cechowicz:
“Convert Grayscale document to RGB.
Repeat the following steps with the circle bullet for each area of different color!
o Create a new layer and name it something useful (hair, skin, eyes, etc…).
o Change the blending mode of the layer to Color.
o Use the color picker to choose a color to paint with.
o Paint over the appropriate area using the Brush tool (Normal Mode, 100% Opacity, 100% Flow).
o Remove color from areas you accidentally painted, with the Eraser Tool.
o Modify the color by adding an adjust layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation).
In the New Layer dialog box make sure to check the “Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask”
o Adjust the Hue and Saturation sliders to modify the color.
Repeat for new area or color until the entire image has color!”
Begin in the background and work forward. Using the Hue/Saturation adjustment you may turn the color you’ve piced into almost anything, so there is no need to get the exact color to start with.