William Gladstone: Colourize a Photo in Paint Shop Pro
This colourization tutorial has been sent to us by David Kelly. David also presents the tutorial as a an executable eBook (available for download at the end of the page).
Until recently, if you wanted to digitally colourize black and white photos a good working knowledge of a quality image editing program such as Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, etc. was needed. Now however, with the introduction of the AKVIS Coloriage plug-in digital colourizing has just got a lot easier, less time consuming, and much more fun!
The AKVIS Coloriage plug-in is an affordable, easy to use piece of software that integrates into your existing image editing program adding new features and increasing its functionality.
Here you will see how the AKVIS Coloriage plug-in was used in conjunction with Paint Shop Pro 9 to create a coloured version of a previously edited original black and white photograph.
ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH
Below is the original sepia-toned photo before it was edited using Paint Shop Pro 9. Another AKVIS plug-in, Stamp, was also used during the editing work. This is a cloning tool similar to Photoshop's Healing Tool.
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Image 01 - William Gladstone
Copyright Roger Vaughan
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EDITED PHOTOGRAPH
Below is the same photograph as shown in Image 01 after it was edited using Paint Shop Pro 9 in conjunction with the AKVIS Stamp plug-in.
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| Image 02
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A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
This section contains a brief explanation of how the AKVIS Coloriage plug-in was used to create a coloured version of the black and white photograph, Image 02.
First the photo was opened in Corel's Paint Shop Pro 9.
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| Image 03 - Paint Shop Pro 9's workspace
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WORKSPACE "BEFORE" VIEW
The AKVIS Coloriage plug-in was then loaded via Paint Shop Pro 9's Effects menu - Plugins - AKVIS - Coloriage. The Coloriage workspace now looks similar to the one shown below.
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| Image 04 - AKVIS Coloriage's workspace "Before" view.
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WORKSPACE "STROKES" VIEW
The pencil tool was used to draw coloured outlines within all sections of the photo using colours selected from the Colour Library section. These are known as "Strokes".
The workspace with the photo and its added coloured strokes is shown below. A photo's "Strokes" can be saved as .strokes files. These can be reloaded and used with the same photo for subsequent editing.
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| Image 05 - AKVIS Coloriage's workspace "Strokes" view.
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WORKSPACE "AFTER" VIEW
After all strokes have been completed a colourized version of the original photograph can be previewed by clicking the Run button  . If OK, the strokes can now be saved. The colourization effect was then applied to the image by clicking the Apply button  located top right. The workspace showing the new coloured "After" version of the photograph can be seen below.
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| Image 06 - AKVIS Coloriage's workspace "After" view.
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THE COLOURIZED PHOTOGRAPH
Image 07 is the original restored black and white photograph and Image 08 shows the completed AKVIS Coloriage v2.0.0 colourized version.
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| Image 07
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Image 08
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IN CONCLUSION
For anyone with an interest in digital photo colourization who owns a compatible image editing program, the AKVIS Coloriage plug-in is one of those "must have" add-ons that you shouldn't be without, and you don't need to be an expert in digital imaging to use it successfully.
As with most black and white photographs that are digitally colourized the colours used are subjective. To make choosing the "correct" colour easier the AKVIS Coloriage v2.0.0 plug-in includes a Colour Library section with fourteen colour categories; People, Grass, Leaves, Wood, Stones, Bricks, Sky, Clouds, Water, Metals, Paper, Ground, Glass, and Fabric.
Colours can also be selected using the plug-in's "Colours" chart.
As this article only gives a very brief overview of the AKVIS Coloriage plug-in, to read more detailed user instructions please click here.
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You can read this article in e-book
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