Colorization

[CJ Swartz]

Nansaidh, the way I handle the skin and hair color samples is to save them in a working folder where I can "remember" where they are , and then just open them in PShop when I'm working on a photo that I plan to colorize. Just use the eyedropper on the sample I want and then go into the photo I'm working on. As far as I know, there's no way to "plug them into" PShop.

[Doug Nelson]

Once you've selected your color with the eyedropper, you can also save it as a custom swatch using the little arrow in the upper right corner of the swatches pallette.

The pallette files on our skintone page are made for Paintshop Pro. There's a post here somewhere where a user translated them into an importable Photoshop pallette (but honestly, the custom swatch option will probably take less time than searching for it).

[Andrew B.]

Other ideas

1. Layer masks. I don't know why it took me so long to start using these. Now I just fill an entire layers with the color, set the mask to hide it all, then erase the mask where I want it to show. What I like most about this is I can erase and put back the edge of the mask.

2. Spot and blur. This is a technique I learned from a tutorial I posted the link to some place here. I don't remember where. But let's say you want to add some blush to the cheeks. Using the brush on an empty layer, put about three spots of red close together on each cheek where you want the blush. Apply Gaussian Blur. This spreads, lightens, and blends in the red.

3. Burn and dodge. Sometimes I add sight variations to a color layer with burn. I mention dodge too because it will probably work. Optionally blur. The jury is still out on this method. I've only tried it a few times, though, and maybe someone else will perfect this method.

[Doug Nelson]

There are lots of ways to colorize an image, but this is one of the ways I do it [details]