Tutorials2D GraphicsGIMPGIMP Tutorial: Colorizing A Black And White Photo Using Layer Masking

GIMP Tutorial: Colorizing A Black And White Photo Using Layer Masking

Written by Marc Roberge | 04 April 2011

Here is a simple technique that allows you to colorize black and white images with excellent results. For the purpose of this tutorial, I will be using a photo of James Dean from the 1956 movie “Giant”. While colorizing the entire photo would merely require we add 2 or 3 additional color layers, we will limit ourselves to colorizing James Dean only, leaving the automobile, sky and background in black and white.

Before we can proceed, we need to assess how many individual color layers will be required. Upon examination, we have 6 distinct color layers to create: 1 for the skin, 1 for the shirt, 1 for the hair, 1 for the lips, 1 for the fingernails and 1 for the hat.

The original image looks like this. As you will see, it helps when the original BW photo has great tone.

From the Toolbar, click the “Foreground” color selector. This opens the color palette. Type in the color value “A58869” in the HTML notation field and click OK. This will be our skin tone value.

For skin tone color code values, scroll down to the bottom of this tutorial and download the “Skin Tone Color Chart” from Bruce’s Paint Shop Pro Tips. It provides a good base reference.

Press Shift+Ctrl+N on your keyboard to create a new layer. In the “New Layer” dialog, name this layer “Skin”, select “Foreground” from the Layer Fill Type options and click “OK”.

Move over to the Layers Panel and right-click on the “Skin” layer. Select “Add Layer Mask…” from the contextual menu.

Select “Black (full transparency) from the “Add Layer Mask” dialog and click “Add”.

Again from the Layers Panel, select “Overlay” from the Mode dropdown menu.

Make sure the mask is selected on your “Skin” layer by clicking on the black rectangle. When working with masks, your layer will have two rectangles showing in the layers panel. The first is the fill or image while the second (the one on the right) is your mask. You will know it is selected if it has a white border around it.

Zoom in nice and close by selecting 200-400% from the zoom selector on the bottom left of your image panel. This will allow you to be fairly precise.

Select the “Eraser” from the Toolbox panel and start brushing over the sections of the image where you want to apply the skin tone. You’ll want to avoid the lips and cigarette on Dean’s face and the fingernails on his hand.

You can always change the eraser brush style and scale from the properties section of your Toolbox to allow you to get around tighter areas. Be careful not to overlap onto other areas of the image. If you make a mistake, simply paint over the offending area with a black paintbrush to repair the mask.

Once you are done the face and hands, it should look something like this:

If you are happy with that result and are confident no touch ups are required, from the Layers panel, right-click on the “Skin” layer and select “Apply Layer Mask”.

Now, simply repeat the same steps for each new element you wish to colorize. Once you are done, right-click on any layer in the Layers panel and select “Flatten Image” to collapse the layers.