Which software do I need to colorize pictures?

Question

I would love to colorize some of my photographs (meaning turning them from a colored picture into a black and white but some items (say a shirt) are colored)
How can I do this and what software works best? Right now I have Jasc Paint Shop Pro. But I'm not sure if it's possible to do with that program....

Answer 1

The advise above is great. There is no doubt the person knows what they are doing, however it doesnt' really apply to you as I doubt you have the $600 to drop on Photoshop CS2.

You do have JASC Paintshop Pro which I have used in the long past and I do know it's capable of creating the effects you are looking for.JASC does support layers and therfore will allow colorization of the bottom layer, B&W top layer and then an erased selection to show the bottom layer in color.

The way to do this is to duplicate your bottom layer. Convert the top layer to B&W. Then, using an eraser tool (preferrably with a soft brush), erase the area of the top layer that you want to show in color.

Search the help files for Black & White Conversion and read up on Layers. That will give you a great start

Answer 2

Photoshop CS2 would be the best choice.

Under your layers pallette there is a little circle- half is white half is black. Click on this then click on Channel Mixer. Click on Monochrome at the bottom of the Channel Mixer box. Then enter 30,60,10 in the boxes. Click OK.
This will make your whole image black and white. Then you can use a technique called Masking to bring back the color of the original image wherever you want.
Choose a brush, preferably something with a soft edge. Make sure your foreground and background colors are black and white. You can brush back in color when your foreground color is set on black. Change foreground color to white and brush out color to turn black and white again. To look at your mask click on \ to see where you have painted in or out color.
This is a great technique because you can always go back and change what you have done. Methods using the eraser tool are not good because once something is erased, its not coming back. This might sound a little copmplicated, as it is an advanced technique. Once you get the hang of it, its very simple.
There are several ways of doing this. This is just my preference.

Answer 3

It's actually possible. ;)
Here's my way of doing it:

Open the picture you want in PSP.
Choose the color(s) that you want.
Click on the arrow button on top of the eraser tool.
Click 'Change To Target'.
Then click on your picture and colorize.

Another way is:

Open the picture you want in PSP.
Go to Adjust>>Hue And Saturation>>Colorize. [or SHIFT+L]
Then change the hue and saturation numbers.

Answer 4

Hi there, just use Photoshop. Simple and easy to use.