And one more ...

Quote from: LASteve on December 04, 2025, 04:57:40 PMTook less than a minute to product the render. Pretty impressive, eh?

Yes, very impressive!  I am going to give it a try. 

Any other other ideas still welcome.

Ian

@icairns - I took a B&W photo of a warehouse, loaded it to (free) gemini.google and gave the prompt "colorize this picture". Orginal and resulting AI below:








Took less than a minute to product the render. Pretty impressive, eh?

Try right clicking one of them and you will get a menu, one of the options will be "OPEN WITH". Then you will get another menu listing all the programs that can open the file.Pick one that can open a jpeg.There should also be a button with "Always open with" this type of file. This should make all the photos open as JPEG's.Hope this helps

I keep track of my photos with Picasa,it can also do some editing, it's free.

https://picasa.en.download.it/download

In the November 2025 edition of Railway Modeller, Ian Blenkinsop describes how he took a black-and-white photo, colourised it using computer software, and then scaled it to OO gauge and printed it to use on a building for his layout Cambois Bay.

I am interested in trying to colourise some old B&W photos and wondered if NGF members had any recommendations for a suitable software. 

I would also be interested in software that can remove "cracks" and lines on old B&W photos.  My interest is primarily on colourising railway photos but also possibly some old family photos. 

There seems to be many software companies offering colourisation, such as HitPaw, NCH, liftapp, Canva and many, many more.

I would be interested to hear of any real-world experiences. Also, because I am somewhat thrifty, I would be looking to start with free software (not a free trial), if possible. 

Any advice will be much appreciated. 

Ian

I think I may have inadvertently changed a setting as all too often when I try to open a pic it says I need to alter it from an MS-Paint file. I then open it with 'Paint', save it as a jpeg and delete the MS-Paint version which is a PITA.
Can anyone suggest how I can change whatever I've done please?

Hi. I've only ever used Fox for renumbering using individual numbers. I've done a lot of PO coal wagons using Robbies Rolling Stock decals but only three modified Peco tank wagons. I use Humbrol Decalfix and find it helps mould the decal to rivet details etc very well.

Using Gemini.Google I took an image posted by @Bob G  and 'winterised' it.
Note the original has a stain top left and it's now gone

B&M in Eastbourne this morning: