Colour Up Your Life

This is when a black & white or monotone image is ‘painted’ with colour.

ARTISTIC LICENSE

Generally done in order to add realism to an image, or to give a modern impression to an old photograph.
Some photographs colour up easier than others, depending on the a number of factors such as ink density, shadow detail and tonal range.

ADDING HUMANITY

It is a great way of bringing a snapshot of history to life, and with some research colours can be matched to reality before being painted on to the image, to give an accurate representation of how the scene really was when the photo was taken.

Showcase

Here's a few examples of whats possible

BEFORE

This is my parent's wedding photograph from 1971, and it looks fine in B&W. 

AFTER

But it looks better in colour!

BEFORE

A beautifully taken portrait from the late 60s.

AFTER

Her son provided me with her hair and eye colour so I could make it accurate for her 90th birthday present.

BEFORE

Happy children in 1950s.

AFTER

Coloured up as a present for the three surviving sisters.

BEFORE

A gaelic football match from the 1940s.

AFTER

Coloured up as a present by the grandson of the man holding the ball, for his father.

BEFORE

One of a number of snaps in taken by a honeymooning couple in Portugal in the 1960s.

AFTER

Coloured up as a present by their daughter, for their 60th wedding anniversary.

BEFORE

An elegant, well-to-do lady's portrait from the 1930s.
 

AFTER

Some photos have reasonable level of tone which makes it easier to colour up realistically

BEFORE

A typical wedding portrait taken outside the church, probably in the 1940s.

AFTER

Possibly a touch over saturated with colour on screen, but it printed more muted for the customer.

BEFORE

Three generations of family at the beach

AFTER

A painterly scene brought to life

BEFORE

A publisher wanted to use this portrait on the cover of their upcoming book

AFTER

The colour version we created really lifts the person out of the time it was taken and makes it contemporary.

BEFORE

Newspaper editors don't like mixing colour and monotone images on the same page.

AFTER

So we were instructed to colour up the scene with the two ladies to harmonise the page.
Good Colour Ups take time...
The starting point is to provide us with a good high resolution scan of the photo, which you can do if you have access to a scanner at home or in work, ideally at 600 dpi and saved as a jpg. Or you can post to us for scanning at the address shown at the bottom of the page.

payment by card after you have approved the work
discounts are available for 3+ images
turnaround time is 3-4 days
€55

This is airbrushing.ie

We provide photo retouching, photo restoration and image editing services to businesses and individuals in Ireland & the UK.
CONTACT US
3rd Floor, The Mill, Greenmount Industrial Estate, Harolds Cross, D12K2RV, Ireland.
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