Colorize old photo: bring a black and white picture to life
A black and white photo of your grandparents feels far away, and you wonder what colour her dress or his uniform really was. This prompt has your todo.is agent add natural colour to the scan, use any details you remember, and keep skin tones believable rather than painted.
The prompt
- Colorize the attached black and white photo from about [YEAR AND PLACE]. Use natural, period-appropriate colours, not oversaturated ones. What I know about the colours: [KNOWN COLOURS]. Keep faces, expressions and every detail exactly as in the original; only add colour. Keep the full resolution and save as a high-quality JPG named "_color". Also make one version with more muted, vintage colours, and list the colours you had to guess.
What to change
- [YEAR AND PLACE]: E.g. "1952, a village near Naples", "1960s, Chicago". This helps choose clothes, cars and building colours.
- [KNOWN COLOURS]: Anything family remembers, e.g. "her dress was navy, his eyes were green, the house was white". Or "nothing known, choose what fits".
Example result
- Colorized: wedding photo, 1952, near Naples
- Source: wedding_1952_scan.jpg (600 dpi scan, 4200 x 5400) · known: bride's bouquet was white roses, groom's suit dark brown
- Files delivered
- • wedding_1952_color.jpg: natural colour, full resolution
- • wedding_1952_color_muted.jpg: softer, slightly faded colours that feel like a 1950s print
- Colours used
- • Skin: warm Mediterranean tones, slightly different for each person so they do not look identical
- • Bride's dress: ivory rather than bright white, as silk and satin of the time photographed warm
- • Groom's suit: dark brown, as you remembered
- • Bouquet: white roses with deep green leaves
- • Church door: weathered wood brown; the stone around it in warm limestone
- Guessed, change them if you know better
- • The bridesmaid's dress: light blue (could be any pastel)
- • The little boy's tie: dark red
- • The car in the background: black, the most common colour for cars of that time
- Detail check
- • Faces and expressions: unchanged, only colour added
- • A crease across the bottom left was left as is; ask for restoration if you want it repaired
- Scanning old photos for the best result
- • Scan at 600 dpi or more, or photograph the print flat in daylight with no glare
- • Scan in greyscale or colour, but do not apply filters or "enhance" first
- • Remove the photo from frames and glass if you can, to avoid reflections
- Remember
- Colorization is an informed guess, not a record of the real colours. Label shared copies as colorized so family history stays clear.
How to do it with todo.is
- Scan or photograph the old print and attach it in todo.is.
- Copy the prompt and add the year, the place and any colours your family remembers.
- Send it and download the natural and muted colour versions.
- Correct any guess by replying, e.g. "the dress was pale yellow", and get an updated version.
Tips for a better result
- Ask older relatives about colours first. One known detail (a red car, blue eyes) makes the whole photo feel right.
- Damaged photo? Ask to restore it first and colorize second, in the same to-do.
- Keep the original scan safe. Colour is an interpretation, the scan is the record.
- Send a whole album in one to-do and ask for consistent colours for the same people across photos.
colorize old photo: FAQ
- How accurate are colorized photos? The colours are a careful guess based on the era and what is in the image. Known details you give make it more accurate, but it is never a true record.
- Can AI colorize a photo without changing faces? The prompt tells it to add colour only, and faces usually stay the same. AI edits can still alter small details, so compare with the original.
- What resolution should my scan be? Scan at 600 dpi or higher for small prints. A clear phone photo in daylight also works if the print is flat and there is no glare.
- Can it colorize a sepia photo? Yes. Sepia photos are colorized the same way; the brown tint is removed first.
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