If you're not yet a MyHeritage user and want to upload a new photo to be colorized, follow the steps below:
1. To begin, visit myheritage.com/incolor.
2. Click “Upload photo” to choose a file from your computer. Or, drag and drop a photo of your choice into the photo frame.
3. Once you upload your photo, you’ll be asked to sign up to MyHeritage to colorize your photos. Signing up is free. If you already have a MyHeritage account, and you haven’t logged in earlier, simply select the “Log in” option at the bottom of the popup.
Colorizing a photo typically takes just a few seconds, depending on its size and level of detail.
During the colorization process, a spinning preloader will animate in the middle of the photo.
4. Once the colorized photo is ready, it will be displayed. The original black and white photo remains intact, and you get a new, colorized photo that is stored separately, in the same resolution as your original photo.
You will be able to drag the slider across the image to see the before and after effect of colorizing your photo, or use the icons on the top right to toggle quickly between the black and white and colorized versions.
You are encouraged to share the colorized photo on social media with your friends and family. The reactions of your family and friends will be priceless, and they can then take the opportunity to colorize their own black-and-white photos.
Colorizing photos already on MyHeritage
If you are already a MyHeritage user, you can colorize any photo that you already have on your family site, thanks to a built-in colorization feature that we’ve just added. To do so:
1. Select "My Photos" from the Family Tree tab to access your photos.
2. Select any album from the list on the left, or stay with the default album “All Media Items”. Then click on any black-and-white photo on the screen.
3. Once you’re on the photo page, click the new “Colorize” button.
As soon as your colorized photo is ready, you’ll see the photo with the slider bar down the center, which you can drag to view the full image in color or in black and white.
Here too you can toggle between the black and white and colorized versions, and share your colorized photo on social channels.
You can download the colorized photo by clicking the “Download” button and then choose whether to download the colorized photo or the original.
Any photo you upload and its colorized version will be stored for you on MyHeritage, and you can delete them at any time by clicking the “X” button and selecting the version you wish to delete. When you delete a colorized photo, the original black-and-white photo will still remain in your family site. However, if you delete the original photo, the colorized version (if exists) will be deleted as well.
Colorization symbol:
As part of our commitment to preserving the authenticity of historical documents, we take the added step of differentiating colorized photos from those photographed originally in color using a special embossed palette symbol in the bottom left corner of colorized photos. We hope that this responsible practice will be adopted by others who use photo colorization technology, to ensure that fact can be distinguished from fiction.
While highly realistic, photos that are colorized using MyHeritage In Color™ have colors that are simulated by automatic algorithms, and these colors may not be identical to the real-life colors when the original photo was taken.
To learn more about this topic, read this article on the MyHeritage Knowledge Base:
How to Colorize Your Black & White Photos with MyHeritage In Color™
On the MyHeritage Knowledge Base, you'll find additional articles, webinars, and how-to videos that can help you master your genealogy skills.