Easy One: Vivid Colors

[photo2216]

I know this may seem easy for some, but I was wondering how do you get these vivid colors?
http://www.fashionising.com/pictures...73-164654.html

I've been adding a hue and saturation layer set to softlight. Then I add another hue & saturation layer and individually select colors. Do a little masking. Then I boost the saturation for each colored clothing. I know I'm the crappiest re-toucher but can somebody send me a few suggestions? Thanks!

[redcrown]

Two things I'd recommend. First, look at the alternatives to Hue/Sat for increasing saturation. Second, look at using saturation masks to control the effect of each method.

Here is a video I made recently comparing different methods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh7Ta-Dz6_c

[photo2216]

Thanks for the video! It was very informing.

It think we are talking about the same thing when you say use saturation masks to control each method. That's what I've been trying to do, but it doesn't get close to the effect. Especially with the contrasty look of the skin. Do you see what I'm talking about? Thanks!

[redcrown]

Don't confuse saturation with tone. The "contrasty" look of the skin in the sample you gave is the result of the lighting on the subject. It was shot in bright, direct sunlight, so high contrast is the natural result. If it had been shot in soft, diffused light (cloudy, overcast) and processed with the same saturation, the result would be quite different.

You can "tonemap" a flat image to increase contrast. Lot's of ways to do that. Levels and Curves are most common, and can be enhanced with luminosity masks. Applying a USM filter with high radius and low amount (called Hiraloam) is another way. Using plugins like Topaz Adjust or some HDR processors is yet another way.

Saturation and tone are closely linked, and many tone adjustments will also impact saturation, unless you take steps to avoid that. For example, a Levels or Curves adjustment will increase saturation in "normal" blend mode, but will not in "luminosity" blend mode.

And saturation adjustments can affect tone. As the video shows, each saturation method boosts both saturation and brightness, and the methods differ in how the do that.

[unimatrix001]

You can try converting the image to lab color mode. add a levels adjustment layer to the image. Do not make any adjustments to the lightness channel. Choose the a channel, in the first box that has a 0 (zero) raise that for starters to 40, tab to the last box with 255 and reduce that by 40 to 215. Choose the b channel and repeat the process using the same numbers raise to 40 reduce to 215. If there is to much saturation in one of the colors double click on a blank area of the levels layer to bring up the blending options dialog box. go to blend if and choose the a or b channel which ever has the color that is to saturated and use the blend if sliders to reduce the saturation. Find the low area you need to keep the color you want and hold the alt key on windows machine command on mac. and separate the slider for a smoother transition.
If you need more info then i will try and get some snap shots of what needs to be done.

[photo2216]

Actually, I got pretty close with Red Crown's method. I never heard of the HSV & HSL unitil now. Thanks again!

[photo2216]

Originally Posted by redcrown

Two things I'd recommend. First, look at the alternatives to Hue/Sat for increasing saturation. Second, look at using saturation masks to control the effect of each method.

Here is a video I made recently comparing different methods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh7Ta-Dz6_c

Originally Posted by photo2216

Thanks for the video! It was very informing.

It think we are talking about the same thing when you say use saturation masks to control each method. That's what I've been trying to do, but it doesn't get close to the effect. Especially with the contrasty look of the skin. Do you see what I'm talking about? Thanks!

Originally Posted by redcrown

Don't confuse saturation with tone. The "contrasty" look of the skin in the sample you gave is the result of the lighting on the subject. It was shot in bright, direct sunlight, so high contrast is the natural result. If it had been shot in soft, diffused light (cloudy, overcast) and processed with the same saturation, the result would be quite different.

You can "tonemap" a flat image to increase contrast. Lot's of ways to do that. Levels and Curves are most common, and can be enhanced with luminosity masks. Applying a USM filter with high radius and low amount (called Hiraloam) is another way. Using plugins like Topaz Adjust or some HDR processors is yet another way.

Saturation and tone are closely linked, and many tone adjustments will also impact saturation, unless you take steps to avoid that. For example, a Levels or Curves adjustment will increase saturation in "normal" blend mode, but will not in "luminosity" blend mode.

And saturation adjustments can affect tone. As the video shows, each saturation method boosts both saturation and brightness, and the methods differ in how the do that.

Thanks! I see what your saying now. Ill try that USM filter method in a few.

[photo2216]

Originally Posted by unimatrix001

You can try converting the image to lab color mode. add a levels adjustment layer to the image. Do not make any adjustments to the lightness channel. Choose the a channel, in the first box that has a 0 (zero) raise that for starters to 40, tab to the last box with 255 and reduce that by 40 to 215. Choose the b channel and repeat the process using the same numbers raise to 40 reduce to 215. If there is to much saturation in one of the colors double click on a blank area of the levels layer to bring up the blending options dialog box. go to blend if and choose the a or b channel which ever has the color that is to saturated and use the blend if sliders to reduce the saturation. Find the low area you need to keep the color you want and hold the alt key on windows machine command on mac. and separate the slider for a smoother transition.
If you need more info then i will try and get some snap shots of what needs to be done.

Thanks! Sounds a little risky because you can unintentionally leave a color oversaturated. I probably don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but I'll try your method. I will let you know if I need screen shots. Thanks!

[unimatrix001]

This photo was fixed using the method i explained above. the top picture is the original and my fix is farther down the comments.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompso...-40429475@N00/

Hope this helps seeing the process.

[photo2216]

Originally Posted by unimatrix001

This photo was fixed using the method i explained above. the top picture is the original and my fix is farther down the comments.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thompso...-40429475@N00/

Hope this helps seeing the process.

Thanks! Even though the original image you used had diffused lighting, you still got nice vivid colors.

One thing I'm stuck on is when you said "Find the low area you need to keep the color you want and hold the alt key on windows machine command on mac. and separate the slider for a smoother transition."

Can you show screen shots of this part? Thank you!

[unimatrix001]

If the color is say in the magenta or yellow range move slider on the THIS LAYER bar to the left until the color fades to almost nothing then separate the slider and move back to the right to select the amount of color you want. if the color is in the cyan or blue do the opposite moving from left to right on the THIS LAYER bar.

[photo2216]

Originally Posted by unimatrix001

If the color is say in the magenta or yellow range move slider on the THIS LAYER bar to the left until the color fades to almost nothing then separate the slider and move back to the right to select the amount of color you want. if the color is in the cyan or blue do the opposite moving from left to right on the THIS LAYER bar.

Gotcha! Thanks!