Colorize an Old Photo
The family archive is black-and-white, and everyone in it looks a little less real for it — colour is what makes a grandmother's wedding photo feel like it happened to people you'd recognize. Colorizing by hand is a specialist's days-long job, which is why most families never do it.
Hermosso's Restore tool colorizes as part of a three-stage pipeline: it repairs the damage first (scratches, fading, creases), restores the faces, then adds natural-looking colour — all in one run, in about a minute. The colours are plausible reconstructions rather than the scene's exact originals, which is what honest colorization means. Free with your 750 signup credits — you'll be asked to sign in when you run it.
How to colorize a photo
- Digitize the print — a flatbed scanner at around 600 dpi is ideal; with a phone, use bright indirect daylight, no flash, camera parallel to the print.
- Upload to Restore — the pipeline runs damage repair, face restoration and colorization in one go.
- Download the result — a repaired, colorized version lands in your gallery, ready to share or print.
What it costs
150 credits per photo for the full pipeline — new accounts get 750 free credits on signup, so your first five restorations are free, no card required. After that, plans start at $9/month for 5,000 credits.
The tools for it
- Restore — The tool this page is about — repair, face restoration and colorization in one run.
- 22K Upscaler — Take the restored photo up to print resolution.
- Photo to Video — Once it's restored and colorized, animate it into a short clip.
Colorize your first photo
Upload a black-and-white photo and get a repaired, colorized version in about a minute. Free with your 750 signup credits — sign-in is asked when you run it.
Open the Restore tool →Frequently asked questions
How accurate is AI photo colorization?
The colours are plausible, natural-looking reconstructions — skin, sky, foliage and common materials come out right — but the model can't know the exact shade of a dress from a black-and-white print. Treat it as a believable colour version, not a recovered original.
Does it also fix scratches and fading?
Yes — colorization is the third stage of the pipeline, after damage repair and face restoration, so a scratched, faded print comes back repaired and in colour from the same 150-credit run.
Is colorizing a photo free?
The tool is free to open and browse; running it asks you to sign in. New accounts get 750 free credits and a full restoration is 150, so your first five photos are free — no card required.
What's the best way to scan old prints?
A flatbed scanner at around 600 dpi gives the model the most to work with. With a phone: bright indirect daylight, no flash, camera parallel to the print to avoid glare and perspective skew.