Image Help - - Perhaps someone can lend a hand

tb5821 · #1 05-09-2005, 06:22 PM

Hey guys, perhaps someone can lend a hand, I have an old photograph (as you can see) i'm assuming that the car was black, but everthing I try to change in photoshop changes it to a blueish color (curves) or some other undesiered result... how can I make the car black?

Flora · #2 05-09-2005, 07:04 PM

Hi tb5821,

Welcome to RP!

Even if it's very difficult to understand which could have been the original colour of the car since the image you posted doesn't contain any other detail for comparison, by the look of it, I wouldn't think it was black at all (it would have been much, much darker).... grey, maybe?

You could post a cropped part of the car and background only if you can't post the whole image ....

tb5821 · #3 05-09-2005, 07:37 PM

here is the whole image

deadants · #4 05-09-2005, 07:49 PM

I think Flora's right, it looks too light to be black. Was it a black and white photo that you scanned? Obviously not, now that I can see your second post.

I don't know if my attempt is black enough for you, but what I did was change it's mode from RGB to cmyk mode. Then created a Curves adjustment layer. I then max out the black channel curve. It's a bit crude, but it kind of looks black.

deadants · #5 05-09-2005, 07:54 PM

It might ave been black. The duco needed a good polish by the look of it.

Gary Richardson · #6 05-10-2005, 12:18 AM

Hi, converted your pic to RGB. Then added New Layer set to Overlay mode, painted car using black brush. (I've done a fairly crude job, take a bit of time and you'll get better results).

Finally, selected colour layer by Ctrl + Clicking on it, then made background active, then desaturated car area.

I agree with the others, I don't think the car was black, but if you want to make it so, then this is a possible way to do it.

Flora · #7 05-10-2005, 04:23 AM

Hi everybody,

I had a go at this picture...
Even after 'playing' with Curves and Levels to correct tone and contrast

, I still think that the car wasn't originally black ....

I also used a few Levels Adjustment Layers to selectively improve the colours and to darken the car until it looked black.

deadants, Gary,

great job!

Gary Richardson · #8 05-10-2005, 04:36 AM

I like yours too Flora, and unlike me you remembered the tyres.

tb5821 · #9 05-10-2005, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flora

Hi everybody,

I had a go at this picture...
Even after 'playing' with Curves and Levels to correct tone and contrast

, I still think that the car wasn't originally black ....

I also used a few Levels Adjustment Layers to selectively improve the colours and to darken the car until it looked black.

deadants, Gary,

great job!

Thanks guys, Flora I think yours looks the best, i'm just looking to bring back some of the color into the pic, could you explain just a bit more what you did to achieve that look on the car, evertime I tried an adjustment layer, the color wouldn't come out right...

I also would like to add some green into the grass, if it doesnt look out of place....its one of those things that you have to see to know if it will look good

tb5821 · #10 05-10-2005, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tb5821

Thanks guys, Flora I think yours looks the best, i'm just looking to bring back some of the color into the pic, could you explain just a bit more what you did to achieve that look on the car, evertime I tried an adjustment layer, the color wouldn't come out right...

I also would like to add some green into the grass, if it doesnt look out of place....its one of those things that you have to see to know if it will look good

Anyone have any tips reguarding the above

Flora · #11 05-11-2005, 02:10 AM

Thanks Gary!

tb5821,

The colours in this picture are faded and there is a 'greenish' colour cast. After having tried with the 'Set Grey/Black/White Point Curves and Levels and not getting anywhere, I did the following:

to remove cast and partially change colour

I'm not a 'correct by the number' person, so, whenever I try to correct colours, starting from the obvious choice, in this case 'green', I 'move' all the sliders until, in my eyes, 'it looks right' ... the changes made affect all of the image, so, I use the Layer Masks to show the changes only where I want them.

Created a couple of Hue&Saturation Adjustment Layers ... In the first AL I corrected cap and faded green jeans of the boy closest to his father. (Attachment 1)
In the second I removed the overall greenish cast, particularly visible on the left side of the picture, by decreasing the 'greens' saturation until I was satisfied.

Skin Tones, other colours and turning the car black.

Created a couple of Levels AL: (Attachment 2)

Skin/Hair etc.

Red
Input Levels: 20 ; 1.21 ; 255
Green
Input Levels: 12 ; 1.00 ; 255
Blue
Input Levels: 36 ; 1.05 ; 255

Car (Black)

RGB
Input Levels: 26 ; 0.41 ; 213

After the basic colour correction, to further correct, enhance, you can add blank Layers (Blending: Color, Overlay, Soft Light) and with a soft brush (colour, black, white ; Opacity as necessary ... I usually start very low ... 10%, and 'build' gradually) I paint over the parts that still need fixing.

Hope this helps.

Doug Nelson · #12 05-11-2005, 02:42 AM

Was the idea to restore some of the lost color, or to make a non-black car black? There are obvious color cues in the image (skin, brick, bluejeans, black shadows). Uploading the image as a GIF (which discards most color information) confuses things a bit. I blurred the image to smooth out the damage from GIF compression, used a Hue/Sat layer to restore the missing color balance and saturation, then sharpened a bit to restore the damage done by the blurring (skip steps 1 and 3 if you have the original non-GIF scan available).

And on further examination, was the original hand-colored?

Flora · #13 05-11-2005, 02:43 AM

Here is the picture with the grass .... I never thought of colouring it as I took it for gravel ...

Flora · #14 05-11-2005, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

Was the idea to restore some of the lost color, or to make a non-black car black? There are obvious color cues in the image (skin, brick, bluejeans, black shadows). Uploading the image as a GIF (which discards most color information) confuses things a bit. I blurred the image to smooth out the damage from GIF compression, used a Hue/Sat layer to restore the missing color balance and saturation, then sharpened a bit to restore the damage done by the blurring (skip steps 1 and 3 if you have the original non-GIF scan available).

And on further examination, was the original hand-colored?

Good points Doug,
I didn't know that GIF discards most colour information!

I thought the idea was "to restore some of the lost color" and worked in that direction ... As for the car, I went for....

Quote:

Originally Posted by tb5821

how can I make the car black?

At first, I also thought it could have been hand-coloured, but somehow I'm not really convinced....

Doug Nelson · #15 05-11-2005, 02:57 AM

Yeah, GIF is limited to 255 colors, tosses out the other 16+million.

And the original image is obviously not hand-colored, I think I may have stumbled across a faux-handcolored technique