Nano Banana Pro

Colourise a black and white photo prompt

This adds believable colour to a black-and-white photo without redrawing the people in it. Use it on a grandparent's wedding picture, a school group photo or an old street scene when you want to see it the way it probably looked, not as a bright modern image.

Gemini and Nano BananaOpen Gemini

Colourise my uploaded black-and-white photo with natural, realistic colours true to its era. Keep every face, feature, pose and detail exactly the same. Use believable skin tones, muted fabric colours and a soft daylight palette, and avoid oversaturated or modern tones. Clean up visible dust and scratches. Same framing and aspect ratio as the original.

Photo to upload: Scan or photograph the print flat, straight on and without glare from a lamp or window, then crop away the table around it so Gemini only sees the photo itself.

Gemini photo Photo editingSame frame as your photoExample made with Nano Banana Pro

More inspiration

Try this prompt

What each part of the prompt does

True to its era: "Natural, realistic colours true to its era" asks the model to think about the decade, which keeps it from painting a 1940s dress in neon pink.
Faces locked: "Keep every face, feature, pose and detail exactly the same" is the sentence that stops Gemini redrawing old faces into modern ones, the most common complaint about AI colourising.
Palette and guard rail: Believable skin tones, muted fabrics and soft daylight are the positive instructions, while "avoid oversaturated or modern tones" sets the limit. Both are needed, as image models lean toward bright colour.
Light clean-up: Removing dust and scratches in the same pass saves a second round, and "same framing and aspect ratio" stops the model cropping or extending the print.

Variations to try

Same idea, one thing changed. These have no example image yet.

Late afternoon palette
Colourise my uploaded black-and-white photo with natural, realistic colours true to its era. Keep every face, feature, pose and detail exactly the same. Use believable skin tones, muted fabric colours and the warm, low light of a late afternoon, and avoid oversaturated or modern tones. Clean up visible dust and scratches. Same framing and aspect ratio as the original.
Colour only, keep the wear
Colourise my uploaded black-and-white photo with natural, realistic colours true to its era. Keep every face, feature, pose and detail exactly the same. Use believable skin tones, muted fabric colours and a soft daylight palette, and avoid oversaturated or modern tones. Leave the scratches, creases and paper texture as they are so it still looks like an old print. Same framing and aspect ratio as the original.
Colourise and repair damage
Colourise my uploaded black-and-white photo with natural, realistic colours true to its era. Keep every face, feature, pose and detail exactly the same. Use believable skin tones, muted fabric colours and a soft daylight palette, and avoid oversaturated or modern tones. Also repair creases, torn corners and faded patches, rebuilding only plain background where something is missing. Same framing and aspect ratio as the original.

If the result isn't right

If Gemini lightens darker skin, say "keep each person's skin tone as dark or light as the original suggests, do not lighten anyone".
Uniforms, flags and school colours are often guessed wrong; tell it the real colour, for example "the uniform jacket is navy blue and the sash is red".
When faces look smoothed or younger, reply "keep the original wrinkles, pores and grain on every face".
If the result is a different shape from the print, repeat "exact same aspect ratio as the uploaded photo, no cropping".