How to Restore the Color in GIMP

Selectively restore color to black and white images in GIMP.

GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is an open-source graphics editor available for Mac, Windows and Linux systems. It is modeled after popular commercial graphics editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop, and comes with similar features. One trick with GIMP is known as restoring color. With tools in GIMP, you may render your image black and white and then restore the color of the image selectively, so that only a part of the image is in color while the rest stays grayscale.

Instructions

1. Open GIMP. Load your image by selecting "File" from the top menu and then "Open." In the Layers box in the bottom right of the screen, right-click on your image and select "Duplicate." Your image will say "Background" next to it in the Layers panel.

2. Convert your duplicated image to grayscale by selecting "Image," then "Mode," then "Grayscale." You will now see only the black-and-white image, but the color image is underneath it.

3. Right-click on the black-and-white image layer in the Layers panel at the bottom right of your screen, and select "Add Layer Mask." Click the "White (Full Opacity)" button, and then click "OK."

4. Select black as your foreground color by clicking on the color button at the bottom of the Tools palette on the left side of the screen and highlighting black as your intended color. Select the "Paintbrush" tool from the Tools palette. This icon looks like a small brush.

5. Use the brush tool to paint the parts of the image to which you wish to restore color. This will remove the opacity mask you set in Step 3 and reveal the color image beneath it. Paint over any part of the image to which you wish to restore color.

Tips & Warnings

• Try using a drawing tablet to make your brush strokes more smooth.

• If you would like to make any changes to the color image, do so before the image is duplicated.

References

• GIMP: Selective Colorization

Resources

• GIMP