How to Colourise Photos ~ LA PENSINE MUTINE (EN)

The following tutorial is based on Paint Shop Pro but may easily be adapted to any image editing software such as Photoshop, GIMP, PhotoFiltre, etc.

Materials

a preferably well-contrasted black and white picture (you may also convert a colour picture to greyscale)
a colour picture in hues suitable to the type of image you wish to colourise (size and subject do not matter since only the colours will be used)

Instructions

1. Open a copy of the black and white picture you wish to colourise. Increase colours to 16 million in order to be able to add colours.

2. Duplicate the existing layer and set blend mode to Overlay.

3. Add a new layer under previously duplicated layer and select all.

4. Paste your colour image in the selection then apply Gaussian Blur (40%).

5. Set layer blend mode to Colour (Legacy).

NOTE: For the purple variation, I turned Gaussian Blur to 35% and set blend mode to Colour.

The Western feel of the above variation is based on a colour photograph (of Mount Snowdon, North Wales, taken in January 1994) which I converted to greyscale. I didn't duplicate the original layer. I just added a new layer for the picture I used as a palette, applied a 40% blur and set blend mode to Colour. Then I flipped the layer vertically because it looked much better this way.

Don't be afraid to experiment beyond the guidelines I gave you and take heart: it's very unlikely you'll find the perfect combination on your first try.