While AI image generation keeps advancing, other projects explore possibilities such as creating videos using prompts, but what brings us together today is color. Emil Wallner, machine learning researcher and resident at the Google Arts & Culture Lab, is the developer of Palette, an online tool for coloring black and white photos using different patterns. Do you want to try it with a historical image or a family memory? All you need is a copy…
Time has taken away more than we think. Entire films that fell into oblivion, songs that will never be heard again, languages that will never be spoken again. Photography has become one of our main weapons to combat that loss, but color was the price to pay in its early years. Today, black and white photography is an artistic decision, a resource for each photographer to expand their creativity; however, there is also great interest in color restoration, and the Palette project is about to revolutionize that practice.
Palette: A DALL-E for color restoration?
Palette is a creation of Emil Wallner, researcher focused on machine learning and current resident at Google's Arts & Culture Lab. The site had an official presentation on Reddit last month, and since then it hasn't stopped transforming images. The best part is that its functioning is not limited to old photography: If you have any sample of concept art or a simple sketch, Palette will try to add color with its algorithm anyway.
Image loading is done with a click on the box or a classic drag & drop, but if you want to see a test of what Palette can do first, its official page offers a couple of photographs. In a few seconds, the original is processed and the tool applies a basic palette, which we can replace by clicking on one of the available presets. If that isn't enough, click again on the pencil icon to edit the conversion prompt, or choose "Surprise Me" if you prefer to experiment with its combinations.
Another notable aspect of Palette is that its influence is not limited to colors, but it can also optimize brightness and overall lighting. The rest is essentially a matter of taste. Wallner explains that original color information is always lost, and that professional color restoration work combines research with artistic choices. Palette doesn't seek to replace or eliminate those jobs, but we cannot deny that it does a good enough job for most users.
(Editor's note: If you worry about privacy, Palette's server deletes images when it finishes applying color, and copyright of results always belongs to the user.)
Official site: Click here
