This is another photograph I found online and colorized as an exercise. The first thumbnail shows the black and white original image. The second image shows the first stage, where I have a color fill for each area of the photograph. The third thumbnail shows the stage after I began to layer colors, making a richer skin tone, the color and texture of the bugle, and deepening certain values.

Another study using a rather famous black and white photograph. The challenge is always in finding the right amount of saturation. One of the things that I always consider when doing this type of work is the ‘depth map’ – that is: which areas of the image are closer in space, and which areas are farther.

I was looking for interesting black and white photographs to colorize when I happened upon this. I did this as an exercise, but it will give you an idea of how I can adjust a black and white image to give it a natural sense of color.