Colorize an Old Photo

What this edit solves

Black-and-white portraits are often colorized for family albums, but the colors are always an informed guess. The honest version of the job uses a reference that shows plausible colors and applies them to the portrait you actually want to keep.

Who needs it

• Families making a memory book who want a color copy of a favorite portrait
• Anyone with one black-and-white photo they prefer and a different color photo of the same person or outfit
• People who want the original kept untouched next to the colored version

How the edit works and where it stops

A human editor colorizes your chosen black-and-white portrait. The color reference supplies direction only: the general hue of a coat, of skin and of hair. Pose, face, hands, folds and film grain come from the main photo, and nothing is copied from the reference, even when its pose is different. Areas the reference does not cover, such as the background, get a muted neutral estimate. The black-and-white original stays as it is, so you have both.

The reference shows that these colors are plausible, not that they are historically true. It cannot prove the real color of an old coat, the year of the photo, or that two pictures show the same garment. Lighting and age affect how any color looked on the day.

What to send

The black-and-white photo you want colorized and, if you have one, a color photo of the same person or clothing. Without a reference, the colors are our estimate. Tell us anything you know for certain, such as eye color or a favorite scarf.

Private: recreated on our own images, not customer photos

The before/after shown here is recreated on images created or licensed for this site — never a real customer's photo. Your upload is seen only by the editor working on it, and the edit comes with free revisions within 14 days of delivery if anything needs adjusting.