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AI technology has led to a number of changes in our lives. One of the biggest changes is that it has helped with image editing (otherwise known as editorial photography).

A growing number of people are using AI technology to generate unique photos. AI tools like Midjourney have been used to create over 15 billion images the first year they were released.

However, using AI to do image editing can be even more useful. One of the most interesting ways people are using AI to edit images is to colorize older black and white photos.

This can be an interesting way to bring old historical photos to life. People can see what photos may have looked like if they were taken with modern cameras.

How does AI photo colorization work?

AI can colorize photos by using technology known as a convolutional neural network (CNN). This is an artificial neural network that is specifically developed to help with photo editing. A CNN is able to identify patterns in images and make educated guesses about the types of modifications that it should make to make a photo look the way that a user intends.

In the case of colorizing photos, the convolutional neural network looks at large data sets of color photos. It can see which types of colors are usually associated with various landscapes, patterns, and other types of photos. For example, it can tell that grass is usually green and water is usually blue. If it is looking at a black and white photo of a landscape with grass in the middle of the day, it will change the colors accordingly.

This is obviously a simplistic example. These neural networks are capable of looking for a variety of other contextual cues to make even more nuanced decisions, such as deciding what shade of green it should be or whether the grass should actually be brown (such as if the landscape looks otherwise barren). It can also make assumptions about the period when the photo was taken and change the colors to be more historically accurate.

Every single pixel is colorized. Therefore, the process can take a while, but it tends to be very detailed and accurate.

Examples of photos that have been colorized with AI

There are a number of AI tools that you can use to colorize photos. Photoshop has a Neural Filter called Colorize, which is one of the best.

Here are some examples of images that were colorized with it.

This is a picture of Windsor in New South Wales that was taken sometime in the late 1800s.

This is picture from Lockport that was taken in the 1880s.

This is a picture from the West Side of Main Street in Keene, New Hampshire sometime in the 1800s.

You can see that the neural language learning model did a great job making assumptions about the types of colors that should be used. It used different colors for the buildings and different shades of colors for the plants. It even knew which sections of the sky were supposed to be clouds.

It only took about a minute to adjust each one. I just opened the document and selected the Colorize feature from the Neural Filters menu in Photoshop. It is probably possible to get even better results by playing with the contrast.

Colorizing photos with AI can be a great way to see how they would have looked with newer cameras

AI is getting better and better at determining how photos should be edited. It can do a great job at colorizing older photos, which can be a great way to bring a fresh, more engaging perspective to old photos. This can be especially interesting for people who want to see what famous people like Abraham Lincoln may have looked like if they were photographed with modern cameras.

Keep in mind that the AI still relies on educated guesses

There are a lot of powerful features that you can take advantage of when you are trying to use AI for image editing. However, there are always going to be some limitations with any of these features and colorizing features are no exception.

The AI is going to need to make its best guesses about how images would look. It may have a hard time knowing exactly if there aren’t adequate data sets to learn from. In the case of older photos, it might need to rely on colored illustrations to guess what color clothes people were wearing back in the old days. It may have a hard time making accurate judgments about clothing from people in cultures without a lot of colored illustrations to go off of.

However, colorizing is a great way to get a better idea of how older photos would look in color. This is a great way to bring a fresh perspective to historic photos!

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