Hand Colouring Photos

Original image, Kasuga Shrine, Nara, Japan

Some years back I spent a lot of time hand-colouring black-and-white prints and (trying to) sell them as framed prints.

It's a wonderful process that can be done using almost any type of water-based inks, dyes and crayons - although transparent oil paint is probably the most traditional of all colouring medium.

Of course the introduction of colour photography was a big nail in the coffin for all those black-and-white colourists. And then along came digital which more or less finished it off - although there are still a few diehard enthusiasts pursuing the technique.

This is a heavily desaturated file, printed onto Arches textured watercolour inkjet paper. To reduce the amount of ink going onto the paper, I processed the file using JixiPix's excellent Moku Hanga (woodblock) software, before it was desaturated using Photoshop Elements.

I quickly realised that the inkjet printer ink, although not exactly waterproof, acted as a reasonably effective barrier to my watercolour paint - you can see the uneven flow of colour most noticeably in the trees. Because this is a coated watercolour paper it needs a bit of wetting before any colour goes onto the paper - this dramatically helps you achieve a more even and smooth ink application.

As you can see below.

Here's another attempt (done on a slightly lighter and more contrasty print original). The tones were easier to reproduce because there was less ink on the paper - it's worked far better than the initial attempt.

Above: another version - and below: the original painting...