Retouching old photo

[garfield]

HI! this is an old photo taken last 3 years and i need help on how or what steps i need to do to get off the red thing i dont know what its called is it color cast? i dont know really. also im sorry if the image is not very clear. Thanks!

[CJ Swartz]

Woof! Okay, I'll be the first guinea pig, and I expect someone to come along and show an "easy way" to make it look much better.

Using Color Range to select the color cast, I used a combination of Hue/Saturation and Selective Color to reduce the unwanted hues, then Levels to help the overall image, and a Layer Mask to bring back some of the color to the people. I've tried numerous strategies, so I'll be happy to see a better way as I continue to try to fix this.

[tyeise]

Hi Garfield,

I use Paint Shop Pro - but the same thing should be able to be done in most good graphics programs.

I started by separating the channels. The red channel was the most evenly colored as far as lights and darks, so I pasted that back into the original image as a new layer and set the blend mode for luminance.

Then I added another layer and set the blend mode for color, and just selected colors from the top half of the image, and colored them in on the lower half. I only spent about 20 minutes on it. You could get much more detailed on the colors by taking a bit more time.

Tyeise

[CJ Swartz]

Good job, Tyeise!!

I saw that the Red channel was the only clean one (looked at the CMYK and LAB channels), but didn't want to paint (since I'm not a painter). Your version works better than my strategy, and I could probably paint in the colors... given some time and a little patience.

[KenB]

Tyeise, I tried this one and I never come close to anything I'd care to let anyone see. You really did a great job on this one and I copied your instrucyions down for future use. Thanks for the info.


Ken

[garfield]

thanks for repairing some of the image hue in the image. Thanks a lot ill follow what you all said. thanks i learned something again!

[angue]

WOW!
Tyeise,
It translates very well in PS 7. Now I just need to save this tip where I can easily find it when I need it.

Tony

[tyeise]

Thanks everyone for all your wonderful comments. I'll admit it was fun trying to find a solution for this that everyone could do.

Tyeise

[jeaniesa]

Holy cow! Great solution Tyeise! This will definitely come in handy for me.

Thanks,
Jeanie

[roger_ele]

tyiese - great idea, red for luminosity

I did what you suggested, but first I duplicated the background layer, and set it to screen mode to lighten, then masked off the top section, flattened, then used the red layer for luminosity, then I color corrected the bottom and used selective color, working my way in to the bright red corner, then colored and adjusted brightness.

Roger

[CJ Swartz]

Roger, to my eye, you completely eliminated the demarcation line between the two areas in the waterfall -- Excellent work!

I'm attempting to duplicate your strategy, but I'm having trouble masking out parts of that line.

[Sanda]

Tyeise
Great technique. I just tried it out myself and it worked like a charm. I can't wait to try it out on some problem photos I have.

Roger you did a great job. As CJ said you combined the two areas perfectly. I've been playing with the photo as well but as yet don't have it as good as yours.

[tyeise]

Roger - you did a wonderful job! I wouldn't have known the image ever had a midline problem!

Tyeise

[roger_ele]

Thanks,

CJ - It was just general masking / corrections (I had a dark line running horizontally through all of the correcting), then cloned in color mode and normal mode once the color was balanced to remove the horizontal line, then vertical brush strokes on the watefall of white & black on an overlay layer until the water "popped".

Roger

[CJ Swartz]

Roger -- ahh! Cloning!

(...and I thought you'd figured a method that didn't need it. )
Thanks!

[Andrew B.]

I'm late to the show here, but I have to comment. That is one fantastic method! Much better than fooling around in the channels.

I actually tried it out, twice. The first time using Eyedropper and Paint Brush, the second time cloning from the top using an Aligned Clone Tool set to Color Mode. Each had its advantage.

Anyway, this method is an incredible time saver. It also makes perfect sense to do it this way.

BTW, how did you arrive at the color for the skin tone?

Originally posted by tyeise
I started by separating the channels...

[tyeise]

Originally posted by Andrew B.
BTW, how did you arrive at the color for the skin tone?

Thanks for your comments. If I remember right, I got the skintones from the skintone chart I picked up here on this forum.

Tyeise

[e.b.west]

OK, I give up....how do you make the red channel a layer?

[tyeise]

Originally posted by e.b.west
OK, I give up....how do you make the red channel a layer?

I use Paint Shop Pro, so I don't know if the steps are the same. When I split the image into channels, PSP creates 3 new images, one for each channel. I then click on the channel I want, copy the image, go to the image I am working on, and past as a new layer. An alternate possibility would be to create a new layer on the working image, and paste the copied red channel there.

Hope this helps. If not, let me know and I'll try to provide screenshots.

Tyeise

[jeaniesa]

e.b.,

In PS, make sure you are on a layer which contains the image, i.e. not an adjustment layer. Open the channels palette and click on the red layer to make it active. Ctl-/Cmd-A to select all. Ctl-/Cmd-C to copy. Click on the composite (RGB) channel to make it active again. Go back to the layers palette and Ctl-V to paste. It should paste the red channel into a new layer.

At least, that's how I do it. Somebody probably has an easier way!

Jeanie

[e.b.west]

Thanks Jeanie, that did it. I thought that was what I was doing but I must have been doing something wrong. It works now.

[tyeise]

Thanks for the translation to PS, Jeanie!

Tyeise

[mr.gregg]

Tyeise,

The attachment below is what I get after splitting all 3 channels (rgb) and copying the red channel as a new layer onto the original. I'm a little confused after that. Do you copy another red channel, paste and set blend mode to color or do you copy the original again. FYI: I use PaintShop Pro also.

Thanks,
Gregg

[tyeise]

Looks like you are halfway there. You've pasted the red channel, and luminance blend mode, I presume, which means you currently have 2 layers, your original, and your red channel.

Now, add a new raster layer, blank, and set the blend mode for color. Choose colors from the correct area, then paint them in in the appropriate areas. I worked with my layer set to color blend, then I could see what I was painting. If you change the layer to normal blend mode, you'd be surprised how ugly it looks. See the attached screenshot for the different steps.

Tyeise