Colorizing black and white photos critique please

[sergio2263]

Hello All,

Could I please ask for your critique for this colourized photo whether good or bad, it would be nice to know have far i've got or need to go


Many thanks in advance




helen

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/...aaa0720b_o.jpg

[girlsfather]

Hallo Helen,
I like your work! Nice skintones.
I like the colours of the background and her dress.

In my eyes the hand in front is a bit too saturated.
The wall is a tiny bit green. (Watch the numbers)
The chair is blue-magenta - more realistic would be a warmer tone.
This and the chosen colours of the pillow let the chair stand out.
If this is what you want - fine.
The light on the dress coming from the right side could make a softer gradient on the lower right side.

I have never tried colorisation. This is just my thoughts about your picture.

[Juneberry]

absolutely beautiful. the only thing I don't like is all the elements look mismatched, all the furniture/decoration in the room is a different color, Might be good to stick with a few colors, and match the carpet to the walls (not same color but a color that meshes well).

[sergio2263]

Originally Posted by girlsfather

Hallo Helen,
I like your work! Nice skintones.
I like the colours of the background and her dress.

In my eyes the hand in front is a bit too saturated.
The wall is a tiny bit green. (Watch the numbers)
The chair is blue-magenta - more realistic would be a warmer tone.
This and the chosen colours of the pillow let the chair stand out.
If this is what you want - fine.
The light on the dress coming from the right side could make a softer gradient on the lower right side.

I have never tried colorisation. This is just my thoughts about your picture.

Hi Girlsfather

Thanks ever so much for your critiques, it is much appreciated, I am only practicing with colourizing skin tones at the moment, but I do see where there are a few alterations to make with regards to the dress, chair etc. Once. I am satisfied with my skin tones I will take the next step and learn colour combinations.

Thanks


helen

[sergio2263]

Originally Posted by Juneberry

absolutely beautiful. the only thing I don't like is all the elements look mismatched, all the furniture/decoration in the room is a different color, Might be good to stick with a few colors, and match the carpet to the walls (not same color but a color that meshes well).

HI Juneberry,

Thanks very much for your critiques, it is much appreciated. I am only practicing with colourizing skin tones at the moment and ended going mad with everything else, once I've achieved perfection with the skin tones I need to seriously take some art class about colour combinations, but for now it's the skin tones I am crazy about.

Thanks


helen

[skydog]

Sergio...pls share your technique. Are you using a layer for each color? Are you blending the layers or the brush? What blend are you using? What opacity are you using? Are you using other websites or tutorials for guidance. thanks

[sergio2263]

Originally Posted by skydog

Sergio...pls share your technique. Are you using a layer for each color? Are you blending the layers or the brush? What blend are you using? What opacity are you using? Are you using other websites or tutorials for guidance. thanks

Hi Skydog,

I only use three or four layers the most to colourize black and white photo. I use the tutorial below, it's the best to follow if you are interested in colourizing.

http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161015

My examples vintage and modern colourizing

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/...aaa0720b_o.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/mstmart/image/94282423

I hope this help.

helen

[skydog]

thank you..I will post when finished to get some feed back from you. I like what you have been creating!

[sergio2263]

Originally Posted by skydog

thank you..I will post when finished to get some feed back from you. I like what you have been creating!

You are welcome, I look forward to see your work and happy to give you feedback.



helen

[sergio2263]

The most strange, why were there a big advertisement near my original thread and then one of my thread had been edited with my examples photos taken off?

what's going on.



helen

[biskit27]

A few things I noticed:

The biggest thing I noticed was that you didn't color the carpet or curtains under the chair. That was the first thing that my eye went to.

Also as someone said earlier, the colors are very mismatched and distracting.

Along some borders especially the right shoe, leg, and where the dress meets skin seem to not be colored enough, the hue seems wierd to me.

The left arm seems to have too much yellow/red, even though the shadows are there and it should be darker than the right arm, i don't feel the hue is appropriate entirely.

Since the chair in the picture is most apparently not new(at time of shoot) I'm not sure having it such a clean white color is natural.

The overall tone of her skin seems in some way weird to me. Perhaps not enough saturation or not the right color. I might try removing a tad of cyan from her hair and maybe bumping up red a tiny tiny bit, and the hat or ribbon on her head, the left side seems a bit light, maybe the color is overriding the shadow a bit it seems.

Overall I might try turning down the saturation on the background entirely, it makes the woman seem very washed out. Especially the carpet. I also get the feeling her shoes might have been of a more similar hue to the carpet, but that's just my eye and I might be wrong.

Anyways, just glanced it over and caught a few things I might have done differently. Hope some of that helps.

[sergio2263]

Originally Posted by biskit27

A few things I noticed:

The biggest thing I noticed was that you didn't color the carpet or curtains under the chair. That was the first thing that my eye went to.

Also as someone said earlier, the colors are very mismatched and distracting.

Along some borders especially the right shoe, leg, and where the dress meets skin seem to not be colored enough, the hue seems wierd to me.

The left arm seems to have too much yellow/red, even though the shadows are there and it should be darker than the right arm, i don't feel the hue is appropriate entirely.

Since the chair in the picture is most apparently not new(at time of shoot) I'm not sure having it such a clean white color is natural.

The overall tone of her skin seems in some way weird to me. Perhaps not enough saturation or not the right color. I might try removing a tad of cyan from her hair and maybe bumping up red a tiny tiny bit, and the hat or ribbon on her head, the left side seems a bit light, maybe the color is overriding the shadow a bit it seems.

Overall I might try turning down the saturation on the background entirely, it makes the woman seem very washed out. Especially the carpet. I also get the feeling her shoes might have been of a more similar hue to the carpet, but that's just my eye and I might be wrong.

Anyways, just glanced it over and caught a few things I might have done differently. Hope some of that helps.

Hi Biskit,

Many thanks for your critique, I appreciate any critique whether good or bad.


The biggest thing I noticed was that you didn't color the carpet or curtains under the chair. That was the first thing that my eye went to.

Both the carpets and the curtains has been colourized.

Along some borders especially the right shoe, leg, and where the dress meets skin seem to not be colored enough, the hue seems wierd to me.

Looking from my monitor the colours look enough to me.

Since the chair in the picture is most apparently not new(at time of shoot) I'm not sure having it such a clean white color is natural.

The chair is colourized a lightish blue and not pure white.

The skin look ok from my monitor, i am still concentrating on learning colourizing black and white photo and my main priority is learning to colourize realistic skin, the others stuff such as dress, walls, furnitures i shall learn later on.

It looks like one of us need to calibrate our computer, I am sorry all what you critique I cannot see from my monitor, but i do appreciate any critique.

many thanks


helen

[biskit27]

Originally Posted by sergio2263

Hi Biskit,

Many thanks for your critique, I appreciate any critique whether good or bad.


The biggest thing I noticed was that you didn't color the carpet or curtains under the chair. That was the first thing that my eye went to.

Both the carpets and the curtains has been colourized.

Along some borders especially the right shoe, leg, and where the dress meets skin seem to not be colored enough, the hue seems wierd to me.

Looking from my monitor the colours look enough to me.

Since the chair in the picture is most apparently not new(at time of shoot) I'm not sure having it such a clean white color is natural.

The chair is colourized a lightish blue and not pure white.

The skin look ok from my monitor, i am still concentrating on learning colourizing black and white photo and my main priority is learning to colourize realistic skin, the others stuff such as dress, walls, furnitures i shall learn later on.

It looks like one of us need to calibrate our computer, I am sorry all what you critique I cannot see from my monitor, but i do appreciate any critique.

many thanks


helen

I took the time to leave a comment with my opinion because I appreciated the people years ago who took the time to teach me. You're snide reply doesn't make it apparent that you're wanting true critiques and comments, as is made more evident by your top and bottom padding with how much you 'enjoy any critique.' My critique wasn't "good or bad" it was simply a collection of opinions on how you might consider trying things.

I probably would leave you to your own demise if it wasn't for the fact that your reply annoyed me.


"Both the carpets and the curtains has been colourized."

No, in fact, both the carpet AND curtains are still black and white in large spots. Under/behind the chair. I've circled in red the areas of which I am speaking. In fact even in an area that you have colored, there is a spot that you haven't colored in completely.

The chair is colourized a lightish blue and not pure white.

I don't see the need to nitpick at word selection, and I don't think that's the point of posting your work. The chair is too clean looking in the context of the picture. THAT'S THAT. A chair in the obvious state that it's in(with ragged spots) logically would be at least slightly grimy and at least an off-white. Also just because you used a slightly blue/cyan color in photoshop to paint the chair doesn't mean that the color will not be interpreted by those who view the picture as a bright white, ESPECIALLY in the context of the entire picture.


To try and say 'you're learning to color 'realistic skin' and you'll worry about other things later' is ludicrous. Whatever it is you are coloring from black and white, the skill set is one package. Understanding and being able to recreate the tone of skin is the same skill set as understanding and recreating the tones of foliage or the carpets or curtains, each has it's own characteristics, but the key is learning to remember, visualize, and recreate the colors of life.

Lightening Round: I have circled in red:

You were messy on her forehead where you painted her face with the pink of her bow/hat.

Where her dress meets the chair, right under her hand, you didn't color the wall. You left it black and white.

There was some slight damage on the original and I see you tried your best to fix it, alas the tassel behind her back was improperly retouched and its misshapen and blurry. The crease in the curtain has disappeared into a blob.

I'm on my way out so that's al I'll get into. Not sure I'll be replying again seeing as you don't appear to want any true critique. Perhaps before you try and recreate skintone you should learn how to resize a brush and color within the lines.

[biskit27]

I was in a hurry a forgot to attatch my reference pic.