Colorize black&white photos with MacFamilyTree: Frequently asked questions

What types of photos work best?

When no more then ten people are present in a photo and when plants or skylines are also visible, then MacFamilyTree will deliver you some of the most spectacular colorings. With larger group photos on the other hand, it’s possible that a few faces or arms will remain grey.

Are colors simply “guessed“?

No, the algorithm was trained with more than 100,000 photos, so that it can “understand“ as much image content as possible. This means; grass is green and the sky is blue (just like in real life), and faces and body parts are presented with the appropriate skin color — these standard are met with a great level of confidence. However, telling if Grandma Bobby’s dress was dark red or purple is another question entirely. It is unfortunately not possible for any software to derive such information from a black and white photograph.

But my grandmother’s dress was dark red, not purple!

Our algorithm is indeed capable of understanding a great deal, but not everything. Our algorithm’s functions are not familiar with the wardrobe of your ancestors, although it is familiar with typical clothing colors. For example: flared pants or jeans will be appropriately colored.

Should I contact support when a color is not correct?

Unfortunately this would be of no use, as our algorithm has already been “trained“. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning think completely differently than a human like you and me. Such algorithms are neither capable of rectifying errors, nor of learning from them — instead an algorithm would have to be completely retrained, resulting in new side effects. This is why we refer to our algorithm as “trained“ rather than “taught“, and you can rest assured that our algorithm was “trained“ to the highest of standards, with the lowest likelihood of error. As a result of this, we would not be able to do anything if you were to send us a flawed colorization.

Why do Black and White Photographs need to be sent to a Synium Server?

An entirely simple answer: no Apple Product with sufficient graphics memory exists, that is also capable of executing such extremely complex operations. However, the greatest of care has been taken in the handling of your privacy: we do not save your data and have no access to the identities of users.