Correcting Color...

[fat0n3s]

I have read many tutorials, and I am still confused on how to correct an image to restore the colors to what they are in real life.

Some images are easy, in the sence I can find a true grey color, then go off the numbers till it is correct. At least close to it.

I am a numbers guy, and would like to go by the numbers for the most part.

Ok, here are my questions.

1. How do you restore colors in an image without "true grey" anywhere to be found?

2. Is there a way to find true grey in a picture without relying on just your eyes?

3. Is finding the correct color a guessing game, or is there a meathod to use numbers in hitting the right color?

4. How does Flora make images look so real and life like without using numbers?

5. I am getting the hang of the curves tool, but how do I know when I hit the right color?

6. Am I asking to many questions?

7. Do we need a poll for #6?

Sorry, enough fooling. If anyone could answer, or direct to a link that could answer these questions, it would really help me over this dang color hill.

TIA.

[Hephaestos]

I seldom have trouble finding a gray point in an image on which to do an adjustment (anything "black" or "white" in the image can serve as gray as well: deep, underexposed shadows, whites of eyes, clouds, snow, etc.).

One trick is to use Threshold and slide back and forth to find the darkest and lightest points in the image, these are generally pretty close to "black" and "white".

[Swampy]

I go by the info palette and look at the "K" value. I can always finde something that is really really close.

[realaqu]

Hi
this link might do some help.
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~larryk...ct_visual.html

Realaqu

[Flora]

Hi fat0n3s,

Welcome to RP!

I couldn't agree more with what Hephaestos said .... it is a rare occasion when I can't find acceptable black/white or grey points (or the closest thing) in a picture .... As suggested, finding the lightest and/or the darkest points in a picture might be a big help and this can be achieved via Threshold as Hephaestos wrote, or by keeping the 'Alt' key pressed while moving highlights and shadows sliders in an open Levels dialog box ... (won't work with mid-tones, though...)

Correcting, applying or changing skin colour is the most delicate task in colour correction and, when nothing else works, here are Katrin Eismann guidelines:
Mode CMYK

• in light skinned babies, yellow and magenta are equal,
  
  
• In adults, yellow is up to 35% greater than magenta,
  
  
• Cyan makes people look tanner and darker,
  
  
• Only people with very dark skin should have noticeable amount of black ink in their skin tones.

As for me .... I've always had ... and still have... a love-hate relationship with numbers ..... ... I recognize their vital importance, but try to avoid them whenever possible!!! When working with images I just change and re-do until it 'looks' right....

You might have been 'there' already, if not, a number guy like you, might find this Thread quite interesting ....

[fat0n3s]

Wow.

Thanks alot for all the great help. This forum is really impressive.

After reading your replies, and doing some testing, I am begining to get much better results than before.

Thanks agains.

[llinares]

One way I have found in Photoshop that works sometimes to find neutral grey is to add 50% grey layer with a blending mode of 'Difference'. Generally, the darkest area will be closest to neutral grey. I like 'using the numbers' also, so I just cursor over the darker areas until i find the spot closest to black and mark it with a color sampler. Then I trash the layer and add a Threshold layer to find the white and black points. I can't remember where I read about the tip to find neutral grey. I think it was Dave Cross in Photoshop User magazine. Hope this helps.

[Flora]

Hi llinares,

Welcome to RP!

....and thanks for the great Tip!!!

[fat0n3s]

Originally Posted by llinares

One way I have found in Photoshop that works sometimes to find neutral grey is to add 50% grey layer with a blending mode of 'Difference'. Generally, the darkest area will be closest to neutral grey. I like 'using the numbers' also, so I just cursor over the darker areas until i find the spot closest to black and mark it with a color sampler. Then I trash the layer and add a Threshold layer to find the white and black points. I can't remember where I read about the tip to find neutral grey. I think it was Dave Cross in Photoshop User magazine. Hope this helps.

Great tip!

It makes it much easier to locate the greys.

Thanks alot.

[Racc Iria]

When adjusting an image by eye, get the skin tones to look good and the rest will generally fall into place. But always, start with the skin tones.

The skin tones are what gives the visual cues about color (assuming there are people in the image). If the skin tones look right, the brain will "assume" the other colors are right, as well. If the skin tones are off, then the brain knows the color of everything in the image is bad and so it looks wrong.

I usually tend to adjust an image by eye first before resorting to the more mathematical means. Often I'll combine both methods on different layers... skin tones by eye on one layer, the rest of the image more mathematical on another, then blend them using a layer mask.

I'm like Flora in that I like to make adjustments based on how it looks. I tend to use the more mathematical means as a kind of backup when I can't get it to look right by eye.