Coloring a black and white photo in Affinity Photo V2

[vpkumar]

I am attaching the B&W photo which I am editing. I need to colorize this. I can do most of it. But the stripes or black stripes in the skirt are difficult. Is there an easy way to change the black checks into blue without selecting each stripe?

In case of a color photo, I can use the hue range mask as suggested by Luke G in his youtube video. Is there a similar method for Black and white photos. Any suggestion would be welcome.

Thanks.

P.S. I am attaching the afphoto file, because the jpg files is refusing to upload and is showing Error 200

vas in checked.afphoto

[firstdefence]

You can apply a recolour adjustment layer and paint on the recolour adjustment layer with black, anything you don't want blue but I doubt there is a quick and easy way to do this.

[ChopperNova]

How I'd do it on Windows 10

1. Create a fill layer with the color you want. Layer-->New Fill Layer...
2. Mask that layer to the overall area you want colorize. Don't waste time being precise.
3. Set the fill layer's (NOT the mask layer) Blend Mode to Lighter Color.
4. Click the little gear icon next to Lighter Color to display the Blend Options panel. Adjust the Underlying Composition Ranges curve to your satisfaction.
5. Touch up your mask if needed, and you may need to do manual touch up as well.

 

I'd repeat this step for each basic color needed. For the bamboo, I used a green Fill Layer and set the blend mode to Linear Burn. Note how "sloppy" the mask is, and shape of the blend curve I used:

 

It's easy to experiment with Blend Modes, just hold your pointer over it and roll your mouse wheel. Once you create your mask, simply using a combination of Blend Modes and Blend Curves, you can quickly colorize files, and you'll be surprised how well it works on complex images. Be careful with skin tones!

Tip: Sometimes it pays to scale up (resample) the picture about 4x, colorize, then back down for export. This tends to hide many flaws from manual detail painting.

[vpkumar]

Hi ChopperNova,

Thank you so much for your valuable procedure. It is working wonderfully. I am still playing around with the method and trying to master it.

Thank you one again.

[erminlindaserket]

Ah, the age-old quest to turn monochrome into Technicolor! If only there were a magical "stripes to blue" button.