Adding colour to a black and white image

DxO PhotoLab
1

Hi everybody,

New to photo editing and just getting back into photography. I have the trial version of this software and was wondering how I can add the original colour to an item in a black and white image that I have converted to black and white with the software? I find navigating through these editing software programs difficult as all the tutorials i see talk like you have a basic knowledge where I have totally none?

2

Hi and welcome to the userforum.

Can you share the file in question? As a new forum user, you initially have limited access. Therefore, please use a service provider to upload the image plus sidecar file.

3

Hi there.

It depends a bit on what you applied before you got a B&W image.

A Preset, B&W mode or something else
If you look at this section and scroll down a bit you will find some guidance that might help you

4

Try experimenting with the HSL wheel, e.g.:

  1. open your full colour image in PL9
    1_fullCol
    1_fullCol1357×659 252 KB
  2. select the HSL wheel, highlighted in the above screenshot
  3. reduce the global saturation to get a B&W image
    2_desat
    2_desat1432×694 198 KB
  4. select the colour range you wish to restore and increase the saturation of that colour. NB you can tweak the colour range using the four handles, in this case I’ve adjusted two of them, marked in the screenshot
    3_redRestore
    3_redRestore1360×743 247 KB
1 Like
5

Masks can also be used, in the example below I used AI Mask to create a Mask for the Flower, I then Duplicated that Mask and Inverted it to create a Background Mask.

With the Background Mask selected I dragged the Saturation sliders to the left.

Screenshot 2026-02-28 at 1.02.21 PM
Screenshot 2026-02-28 at 1.02.21 PM1920×1121 118 KB

You could also use the Hue Mask with the eyedropper to select a particular Hue to adjust which may give you more control.