The yellow car in the previous post really bothered me. I just didn't believe the color and did not know what to do about it. So I grabbed a few other old images and experimented. There are so many things to learn in Photoshop that I figure out as I need them. Colorization is the latest.
Here are before and after versions of two images shot near Belle Vernon, PA, in 1974 while I was avoiding my soon-to-be ex-wife and her family. (I met my forever wife about two years later and we're still together!)
The colorization on the first image is what Photoshop did automatically, with the exception of the KKK sign. Photoshop's version had that color bright yellow, and that didn't work for me at all. Luckily, I figured out how to change that and make it more accurately white. DeCenzo's face would have been in B&W on his sign in 1974, but I thought that was a plausible change. My understanding is the KKK is still very active around there.
Photoshop missed almost all the colors on the second image. Practically everything needed adjustment. This needs more work. FYI, The Belle Tavern was a very popular club featuring the occasional national act into the late fifties, when television and the general economic decline of the Monesson River valley area took their toll. That whole block burned down about 1980.
Thanks for [posting the results of your experimentation Andrew. Photoshop indeed accomplished a very believable result on the first image.
For the second, it would be nice to see the initial PS result. I can see that there may have been little frame of reference to enable accurate colorization of the variety of architectural elements.
I'm enjoying your posts and seeing your experiments. I've always been curious about the colorization in PS. One of these days I'd like to experiment with it, but for now it's interesting to read how it's going for you.