Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Colourise a black and white photo in Affinity Photo


Recommended Posts

It's perfectly possible

 

One example is to use a pixel layer and set it to "Color" blend mode. Then just paint with the desired colors. You may want to look for photoshop tutorials on this topic, they will also work in AP.

 

William, no Software in the world will ever Color a black and white image by itself :D (unless it is RAW)

I assumed that he knew he could color it manually with layers  :P

 

also I wouldnt be so sure about that, someday it probably will happen :ph34r:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if that algorithm can detect skin outlines and outlines of everything else....but it'll still be impossible to tell what tint the skin or the Color of a car or anything else actually is

I disagree slightly, would this be able to perfectly replicate the color original? of course not, but I think it could get the colors pretty close ie a maroon car might come out red but its right color just a different variation

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bear in mind that there are infinitely many different BW conversions because you can mix and switch the channels als you like (to get good contrast or whatever your goal is)

 

Thus any Color can have any greyscale value

Yea i guess i assumed you would know the algorithm used to make it bw which is not necessarily true

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...

William, no Software in the world will ever Color a black and white image by itself :D (unless it is RAW)

 

Try this:

 

1. open Grayscale image in Photoshop;

2. open "Info" tab;

3. move wtih the mouse over the image.

 

You will see there are RGB/CMYK values shown on Inffo tab. So, the question is: is it possible to use this values to restore the color of the image, and how? Just a task for our favourite Affinity team to solve this problem.  ;)

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well..... :D  :D

 

Grayscale is an element of color so you can express greyscale values in RGB (R=G= B) and LAB (A=0 and B=0) as well, in CMYK the values depend (one option is to go C=0 M=0 Y=0) but still the same bottomline. 

 

So although you know the RGB value of a greyscale image it does not mean that it becomes "colored" 

 

Thank you for your professional explanation of colors.  ;)

Sorry for my bad English, though.  :D

What I meant was that those RGB values in Info palette could be used to recolor the grayscale image with some new (additional) tool in APhoto(?)

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry if I just state the obvious ...

 

Well but how should they provide any info? They just tell you how they grey is composed out of the channels and that is the same for every lightness.

And you also know the lightness in a BW colorspace. So the "color colorspace" does not add any info, it just translates the limited info (greyscale) into a more complex space where it then only occupies a small fraction.

 

It is up to Affinity team to see if it is possible and to react accordingly if they find this interesting.

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is up to Affinity team to see if it is possible and to react accordingly if they find this interesting.

In the digital realm, grayscale images are defined as those having only one value per image pixel, which specifies its intensity (also known as brightness, grayness, luminosity or luma). They have no color channels, no color space from which color information can be extracted.

 

Without some other external reference for this information, like a neural network AI that has analyzed thousands of color images & can recognize the similarities in the grayscale image to make an educated guess about what its colors should be, there is no way this would be possible.

 

In short, you can't manufacture information out of nothing.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi R C-R,

Have you read my post #12 in this topic? And more important, have you tried it?

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi R C-R,

Have you read my post #12 in this topic? And more important, have you tried it?

I did read the post. Try it with a grayscale image & see what happens.  ;)

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know what I am talking because I have tried. Would you please try this image?

post-232-0-75920800-1469812974_thumb.jpg

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That image uses the RGB color space. Thus, it is not a grayscale image. Try this, the same image converted to a grayscale color space JPEG image:

 

post-3524-0-34496700-1469813643.jpg

 

Or do the same thing in Affinity Photo, Photoshop, or any other app that supports changing the color space.

 

EDIT: also note the dramatic reduction in file size.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That image has RGB color space because it has been scaned as RGB image. I don't know how the scanner added that RGB values.

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That image has RGB color space because it has been scaned as RGB image. I don't know how the scanner added that RGB values.

The scanner used the RGB color space because it was set to use it. The scanner manual should explain the options but usually there is a B&W, a greyscale, & one or more color options. B&W is one bit, converting everything to either black or white, & produces a very small file. Greyscale ignores all colors & only stores intensity values, usually at 8 or more bits.

 

Sometimes the options are named for the kind of document they are intended for, like text, OCR, photos, line art, or whatever.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everything you said is OK. But, explain to me how the scanner found those RGB values in grayscale image?

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.