Help needed please.

[Emjai]

Hi all. I'm not what I would call a skilled PS user, 90% of my work is with paths and rubber stamp. Although I've played around with colour manipulation fairly succesfully, I'm completely stuck with changing colours to white. I recently gave up trying to change a red ship to white, and now I've been asked to change a glass of orange juice to milk. I'm not asking for a detailed tutorial, but any guidance as to the right direction to take would be appreciated.


Many thanks


Malcolm J Reid

ps Top quality not required, final repro size of glass element of picture approx 1" sq.

[Doug Nelson]

Check the color channels. See if one looks more milk-ish than the others. Then copy it to a new layer, add a layer mask (hide all), and paint back in the "milk".

[Jakaleena]

I didn't have much time this morning, but here's what I did very quickly...

1. Selected the OJ

2. Desaturated

3. Made a new layer and filled the OJ selection with white. Set layer to Soft Light, adjusted layer opacity and flattened.

4. Repeated step 3 with a very pale blue color instead of white

[Emjai]

Thanks for your prompt reply.

Jak Why doesn't mine look like yours?

I keep ending up with the proverbial dishwater. I did everything exactly as you said. The soft light effect seems dramatically reduce the effect. Both layers left at 100%.

Doug I'm sorry but layer masks and copying channels id beyond me at the present.

I've got 3 expensive books on PS. One of these days....!


Malcolm

[CJ Swartz]

Malcolm,

You can do it like Jak's method with just a little difference to give you some more control over the level of whiteness --

1. Select the OJ

2. Desaturate -- USING a Hue/Saturation Layer Adjustment -- (click on Layer - New Adjustment layer, or whatever your version uses) pull the arrow for Saturation to the left to reduce it, and use the Lightness arrow below it to lighten it and make it more white -- pull it to the right. You can also play with the Hue arrow on top to change the color from a yellow-white to a blue-white or whatever you prefer.

You may not have used Layer Adjustment layers yet either, but it's not hard to do -- once you've tried it a couple of times.

[Jakaleena]

Malcolm,

I just took a look at your sample. The OJ in your image is quite a bit grayer looking when desaturated than the one I was using. Try adjusting the levels on your desaturated OJ to lighten it up some...

[Emjai]

I really appreciate all yor help. I can see that these forums are well worth hanging around in. Attached is what I think I'm going with, and before anyone asks, I haven't a clue as to how I got here! A little bit of everybody's advice, finishing up with a horizontal grad and a little bit of noise. To my mind it still doesn't look right, but I don't know why. I'll see what my client thinks.

BTW they came to me because their agency quoted £600.00 to do the job.

Feel free to comment on my efforts!


Malcolm

[CJ Swartz]

Malcolm, you're getting closer!

I think you need to work on the stream of milk coming out of the carton next. Not quite sure how to handle the liquid stream where it passes her thumb - that little area should be a different color/saturation than the area where only the light is coming thru from the refrigerator. Also the bottom of the glass should be (in my opinion) lighter - show some reflection/refraction from the light.

NOTE: I am suggesting only -- (have no real experience in preparing this type of image) - milk usually bubbles up when poured into a tall glass, so I tried selecting the area where it hits the top of the liquid and adding some noise and then using filters to make it look bubbly (how will this image be used - on the web or in print?) I tried sharpen, and one of the Pixilate filters (crystalize, I think).

[Emjai]

I've really got to leave this alone!

This is what I've emailed to my client, I've added a modified copy of the glass base to one of the outer layers, and some work on the righthand side of the glass. I also reduced the whole of the retouched area in size to make it 'fit' better in the glass. Comments anyone?

CJ

There wasn't any pouring action in the original, the photographer obviously was playing safe! Adding it is definetly beyond me until I've studied these forums for another 5 or 10 minutes or so!

Thanks again for your help


Malcolm

[Ed_L]

Malcolm,

You're getting pretty good with the work you've done. But the last image you attached wouldn't open for me. Maybe you should check it out to see if there's something wrong.

Ed

[Emjai]

Sorry, it was CMYK. RGB attached

Malcolm

[dcarr]

This is much better than before Malcolm. Good work.
Debbie

[Emjai]

Well, thanks to the forum the client liked it and its going to print!
(UK trade press advertisment)

Many thanks again



Malcolm