Gradient maps different uses and techniques?

[mayday]

Its more for changing the colours of a product or a clothing garment than skin. If you need the colour to be precise as in a pantone you need to start with with a fairly dense tone before you use the gradient. Then you just assign the colours to the the gradient that you need.

[AFrazier]

Let me ask a question about the gradient maps and skin tones ...

I usually color skin with curves nowadays. I find it more precise and managable. However, when I used to use gradient maps for skin toning, the one thing I always ran into was a saving issue.
The first few times I created complex, fifty-color skin tone gradients for mapping, I saved them ... but when I went to use them the next time on a black and white image, pulling up the loaded gradients gave me nothing but the presets.
Since I didn't have the patience to try doing all that work again, I just made an action out of it. Nevertheless, I would be interested in knowing if there is a way to save the created gradients for use with future gradient maps. A way that they can actually be used. Obviously you can save them. I did that. The problem is accessing them and making them function.

[mayday]

Gradients are not something I personaly find very good for skin tones

[Michel B]

I was worried with this problem too... the trick is not to use 'save', but 'new' to add your gradient to the existing ones.
I formerly used a workaround, saving my gradients in a PSD file, from which I could drag the adjustment layers into my working file. With a small file size, the PSD is not huge, and you can use your layers in any version of Photoshop or Elements.

[AFrazier]

Okay, good ... so it wasn't just ME! Saving is, in fact, an issue.

[AFrazier]

Originally Posted by mayday

Gradients are not something I personaly find very good for skin tones

I have to agree with you. That's why I stopped using them. They were too much work.

To really make the gradient map good for skin tones, you have to separate the skin from the rest of the photo onto its own layer. The problem with the gradient map is that it shades the whole image, dark to light (or reverse), from the darkest pixel to the lightest. Since your blacks and whites aren't always in the skin tone, the colors you use don't always end up being the colors you get. Point of fact, your "skin tone" ends up being whatever you put in the middle of the gradient scale, making every colorization you do "peach."
You can get closer results if the gradient map is working purely on skin pixels, and not on the skin, the tree, the woman's black dress, etc., which throws everything off.

So again, I have to agree with you. With curves, all you need is three pixels and three color samples. Make a new layer, adjust the curves with the droppers, fine tune the levels or opacity, and mask.

[CaptainHook]

Originally Posted by AFrazier

Okay, good ... so it wasn't just ME! Saving is, in fact, an issue.

No, saving isn't an issue.
Saving a gradient will create a *.grd file with all presets currently in the
preset window so you can load your gradients on another computer with PS,
or if you have to re-install, etc.

Creating a 'new' gradient will put it into the current presets.
So you would want to press new to put it into current presets,
then save if you wanted a backup etc.

Hope this helps.

[byRo]

Originally Posted by AFrazier

.........
You can get closer results if the gradient map is working purely on skin pixels, and not on the skin, the tree, the woman's black dress, etc., which throws everything off.

So again, I have to agree with you. With curves, all you need is three pixels and three color samples. Make a new layer, adjust the curves with the droppers, fine tune the levels or opacity, and mask.

Now that's strange. On my machine the Gradient Map layer can be masked too.
Lucky me!

Rô

[cricket1961]

Yes Rô, the gradient map can be masked an used just like any other adjustment layer.

As it should on any other machine, it is standard on all versions of Photoshop. Ever since the good old days when you held down a special key and saved a gradient map to a location and loaded that map into curves. Then the next version they created it as a correction tool anyone can fine.

Adjustment layer can be used on flesh tones to great extent. It is all in how you apply them.

Just stuff to look forward for the future online posts here, my blog, and at PMA.

Chris

[AFrazier]

Originally Posted by CaptainHook

No, saving isn't an issue.
Saving a gradient will create a *.grd file with all presets currently in the
preset window so you can load your gradients on another computer with Photoshop,
or if you have to re-install, etc.

Creating a 'new' gradient will put it into the current presets.
So you would want to press new to put it into current presets,
then save if you wanted a backup etc.

Hope this helps.

I've tried it both ways. I tried making new ones, and I tried saving modified ones. I know what you mean about .grd files. I've accessed them, loaded them, etc. But what I save and what I pull back up for reuse on new projects is never the same. It will load the file, but produce black and white gradients. It's quite maddening.
I'll have to experiment when I have some time to play with them. Like I said before, I just didn't have the patience to do all that work just to have it get lost a second time (or rather, have it get found, but be worthless).

[AFrazier]

Originally Posted by byRo

Now that's strange. On my machine the Gradient Map layer can be masked too.
Lucky me!

Rô

I wasn't saying that you couldn't mask a gradient map layer. The problem is that the adjustment is wholesale on the gradient map.
The curves adjustment with the eyedroppers is more specific to the pixels you select. So you can mask either, but you can make a better adjustment with the curves. With the gradient, you won't get as nice (or as true) of a color adjustment unless you separate (not merely mask) the pixels you want to change from the rest of the image so that they represent the full range of darks and lights the image offers the gradient. In curves, you pick the dark, mid, and light point yourself, so there is no need to do any such thing ... only to mask out what you don't want showing (since the curves adjustment will also effect the whole image, just in a different way).

[cricket1961]

AFrazier

You can do this with the transparency sliders in the gradient map editor.

Chris

[CaptainHook]

I use gradient maps on skin quite often.

Chris ~ PMA = ?

[cricket1961]

CaptainHook

Here is a link as to where the articles will appear. First one actually turns out to be for July.

http://www.pmai.org/index.cfm/ci_id/32910/la_id/1.htm

Chris

[cricket1961]

To expand a little on my comment about the transparent sliders in the gradient Maps editor.

You really can't apply a gradient map to adjust skin tones at 100%. It is usually quite a bit less, say @40% or so. When used with the transparency sliders set to where you want only a minimum of the GM to hit and using Hue as your blend mode you can get some great results. I will post something tonight if I can showing this.

Chris