Have you ever come across a photo album that is all in black and white and wondered how to colorize old photos digitally? Then this guide is for you to clear up all your doubts!
Just to illustrate, have you ever had the impression that those old black and white photos seem full of stories, but, inexplicably, they seem to already be part of a world that is no longer here?
Well, thinking about this, one day I decided to add a little bit of rainbow to these memories. It was then that I realized how much easier and more interesting it was to colorize old photographs!
What is behind this curiosity?
First of all, was it like that for you too? When I was a child, my aunts would take out their old photo albums and surprisingly, everything was still black and white!
The nostalgic value of each of these small photos is more than evident. Scrolling through these images, I felt a brief sense of what life must have been like around us.
Indeed, my heart aches with memories of times gone by! After all, with so many old historical photographs surfacing, how could we simply let them wear away until there was nothing left but traces and smudges?
That's how we started coloring photos here at home, in an attempt to keep life alive in these immortalized moments.
What's so great about coloring old photos?
Of course, coloring old photos is not just a way to give them new life…
But when you see family members or familiar scenes in color, the intense feeling of immersion is undeniably real!
That I remember. That's why I colored the first old portrait of my family.
My experience has shown that for those who want to keep family memories alive, always moving, this is essential.
So, I wanted to share the apps I used to colorize those memories right on your phone, right now, quickly and easily.
The best apps to colorize old photos
First of all, know that I tested several applications and I'm going to tell you a little about each one so that you know exactly what to expect, okay?
Colorize
When I started looking for an app to colorize old photos, Colorize It was the first one I found, and it's so easy!
I just had to upload the photo, and within seconds the magic happened: the bright colors in the image started to appear.
- How it is? I was surprised by how fast and easy it was to use. Colorize uses artificial intelligence to analyze the photo and colorize it in a very natural way, as if the photos themselves were edited. For old family photos that are good quality, this app has been fantastic!
- Advantages: It's super intuitive, perfect for those who have no editing experience.
- Tip: If you have old photos that are too sharp, Colorize will surprise you! Use the app's editing options for more colors or adjustments.
IMG2GO
Similarly, I was also very impressed with the practicality of this application: IMG2GO.
By the way, you don't need to install anything on your phone: this is an online tool that also works great on your desktop.
- My experience: It delivers on its promises! It offers many types of film and photography, so after improving my photo even more with the above methods, I now went to colorize it. The whole process was simple and the result very satisfactory.
- Pros: It offers not only coloring, but also tools to improve the resolution of photos.
- My tip: If you have low-resolution photos, then IMG2GO is the perfect tool to enhance a photo before colorizing it. The difference it makes to the final result is huge.
YouCam Enhance
In a nutshell, the YouCam Enhance It caught my attention because, in addition to coloring old photos, it has a retouching and restoration function.
Since I wanted to not only colorize old black and white photographs but also make them high quality, this helped me a lot.
- My experience with the app: It can not only colorize but also enhance images. The most intriguing thing is that the colors are quite real. After using it on a photo of my grandfather, I couldn't help but feel emotional.
- Main advantages: In addition to coloring, it provides other photo repair functions that are quite powerful.
- Extra Tip: Make some topical changes to make the photo look good; after coloring with YouCam Enhance, you can adjust the brightness and contrast level of the image, and getting good results is no guarantee that they will look as effective on your computer as they do in real life.
Fotor
Certainly, for both tasks of colorizing old photos and improving the quality of images, I chose Fotor, as this tool is simply brilliant!
Additionally, while Fotor is pretty straightforward in its design, it is still able to offer a number of different options.
- And does it work? Fotor's control over the image and the overall effect is a great tool. I used the colorization tool and also played around with filters and sharpening too many to list in detail here, but the final effect was very interesting; the combination of features is really cool!
- Exclusives: Allows you not only to colorize, but also to improve the details of the image.
- Golden Tip: Fotor is perfect for giving that perfect final touch of color to your photos. It's great for those who like to focus on the smallest details.
MyHeritage InColor
I already had a certain predilection for colorizing old photos. But after finding MyHeritage InColor, I really felt that it was the right app for family photos!
Being very famous for restoring and coloring old photos, it really showed very impressive results!
- What was it like to use? Using MyHeritage to colorize an old photo of my great aunt, the process was simply magical. I found that it transformed the image into something alive, as if the photo had been taken yesterday!
- What I liked most: For family photos, the app is specialized and the colors come out especially natural, the feeling of closeness is immediate.
- Tip: I highly recommend the paid version. It's worth every penny because you can color as many times as you want and there's no limit to the total number of photos you can color.
Step by step to ccolorize old photos digitally
Now that you know the best apps, here is a simple step-by-step guide. I used it to colorize old photos:
- Select the image to be colored.
- Download or open the app of your choice.
- Upload the photo to the app.
- Adjust the colors to your liking (if the app allows), or let the app adjust them for you.
- Save the image to your phone or share it with your family.
Relive your memories in color!
Trying to recapture the colors of those old photographs is always an exciting thing. With these amazing new apps, it’s absolutely possible to see history in a much more personal and detailed way than ever before.
All these applications are available on Google Play and in App Store. Typing the name of the application in the search bar will immediately display download options.
So give the apps I mentioned above a try, you might find that expert coloring really does make all the difference in a person's photograph.