convert b&w image to color

[bartonlew]

I downloaded an image that is a b&w pdf and converted it to a jpg.  I want to add color to the image in Photoshop.  I can't find a single tutorial on how to do this, nor at Adobe.  Plenty on how to go from color to b&w, but not vice versa.  Is it really impossible?  

[D Fosse]

The reason there aren't any tutorials is that there's no recipe. This is all manual work. There's no trick.

Technically it's simple enough: add a new empty layer and set it to Color blend mode. Then start painting.

To get a realistic result you will probably need to adjust the lightness in some areas as well. Again, there is no recipe. You decide. If it looks right, it is right.

[Chuck Uebele · Accepted solution]

There are tons of tutorials on this:

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk03cXoV7g03CJESKdgITN8F1Kr57Fw%3A1587769116422&ei=HG-jXquvGZ...

[bartonlew]

great, thanks, Chuckl!

[Nancy OShea]

There's no magic bullet for this.  In the absence of any RGB color information, you must create those channels manually.

Try this tutorial:

[bartonlew]

very helpful, thank you.