Technology for colouring black-and-white images
Thursday 9 November 2017, 14:41 by Michelle Peeters | 5,991 views | 8 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
At the Adobe MAX 2017 conference, Adobe showed technology that could make the tedious, but increasingly popular, work of colouring black-and-white photos redundant.
It uses a neural network to guess which colours are most likely.
The neural network has been trained to recognise faces and common objects and assign the most logical colours to them. It can also estimate textures and shadows in the image and adjust the colours accordingly, writes 9to5 Mac.
Colouring a black-and-white image with the feature, called Scribbler, therefore takes just a few seconds. Colouring such images manually takes you much longer.
The question is how the result of the colouring will be judged and whether the software may make many mistakes.
For now, Scribbler is a standalone demo without integration into an Adobe programme. It uses Adobe's Sensei platform for neural networks. It is not yet known whether and when the feature will be offered in a programme.
About the author
Michelle Peeters is fotografe en oprichter van DeuxBleus Fotografie. Michelle herkent het bijzondere in het gewone en het gewone in het bijzondere. Ze heeft zich nooit willen specialiseren en is daardoor van alle markten thuis.
You might also like
-
Adobe Sneaks showcases future technologyby Michelle Peeters
-
The new updates for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshopby Nando Harmsen
-
Adobe warning: not compatible. What now?by Nando Harmsen
-
Adobe's AI credit systemby Nando Harmsen
-
Adobe claims Lightroom Classic performance updateby Michelle Peeters
8 comments
-
patrick180 wrote on Friday 10 November 2017 at 07:54
| reply
very nice, but why would you want to colorize a black and white image.
Translated from Dutch.
I don't see any real added value in it. what is black and white should remain that way. people didn't make it black and white for nothing.
And images from the era when only black and white was possible should also remain that way.
Nice piece of software but such inventions or toys aren't for me. -
MF wrote on Friday 10 November 2017 at 10:30 | replyI don't find it annoying at all, a bit artsy-fartsy
Translated from Dutch. -
Michelle Peeters wrote on Friday 10 November 2017 at 10:37
| reply
@MF: but if you have to do 5000 of them, is it still fun?...
Translated from Dutch. -
CC wrote on Friday 10 November 2017 at 11:49 | reply
If this is supposed to be an example of the quality of this technology then it's not going to be anything. One shoulder is dull blue, the other skin-colored. And the photo has already lost all its details after Adobe's neural network was able to have its way. Look at the hair, the eyes, under the mouth too.
Translated from Dutch.
Dramatic result. -
Michelle Peeters wrote on Friday 10 November 2017 at 11:52
| reply
@CC: yes, I do have to agree with you there! But this is a (bad) example, I would really have to test the software sometime to be able to pass judgment on it...
Translated from Dutch. -
Elja Trum
wrote on Friday 10 November 2017 at 12:05
| reply
I think it's pretty impressive what is being done automatically here. I added a little video to the article in which the whole thing is demonstrated. That gives a better impression.
Translated from Dutch.
And even if you're not enthusiastic yet; this is a system that can of course also be further developed. -
MF wrote on Friday 10 November 2017 at 13:52 | reply
Seems like an ideal little tool for comic artists
Translated from Dutch. -
jan wrote on Wednesday 15 November 2017 at 09:39 | replyPeople are never satisfied either: it is a hype to convert color photos to black and white at every opportunity and inappropriately, often with the only motive being; because it can. So now we are going to now convert original black-and-white images to color; because it can.
Translated from Dutch.
When it adds something in terms of atmosphere or when colors are perceived as distracting, I also work in or towards black and white: nothing wrong with that. But there is something wrong with converting original b&w images to color, although I also did that twenty years ago as an experiment, but it detracts from the original.
Have your say
Please note: Articles older than a week can only be commented on by signed-in visitors.Would you still like to comment? sign in or create a free account.
Become a better photographer every week
A practical photography tip in your inbox every week.
38,836 photography enthusiasts already receive the tips! More about the weekly mail. Or keep up to date via 
Facebook.
Elja Trum
Photofacts; everything to do with photography!
Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about PhotofactsPhotofacts is made possible in part by
