Colour out of whack!

[Liz]

Hi all,
I've worked on this photo, but I can't get the colours right. I've checked the skin colours and they seem about right but it all looks too icky green. Any suggestions?

[Doug Nelson]

Re: Colour out of whack!

I'm sure someone more versed in color adjustments than myself will come along, but in the meantime perhaps you can try one of my goto fixes:

Start with a flattened version
Duplicate the layer
Run Average Blur
Invert (ctrl-i)
Set blend mode to overlay
Lower opacity to taste.

A bit of a blunt instrument, but might get you over the hump.

Depending on the image, sometimes other blend modes work better. Try them all!

Once you've found a look you're happy with, you can (if you like) step back and think about what was actually being done to the image and that can inform your decisions to use finer-grained tools such as hue/sat, curves, etc.

[klev]

Re: Colour out of whack!

Have you added significant contrast to this? I'm just on my laptop at the moment, and it doesn't always give such a precise idea of color. It has some crossover from what I can tell. You have skintone casts going in different directions, so when you try to adjust part, another part goes in a different direction. I might suggest toning down the kid's shirt while you're at it. It distracts from their faces. You do have a slightly greenish background cast. Out of curiosity is this a restoration piece?

[Gary]

Re: Colour out of whack!

Hi all,
I've worked on this photo, but I can't get the colours right. I've checked the skin colours and they seem about right but it all looks too icky green. Any suggestions?

I agree and I also feel that the lighting is not very complimentary. I altered that as well as corrected the colour cast, decreased the contrast and upped the colour saturation.

Cheers.

[Shoku]

Re: Colour out of whack!

Hi all,
I've worked on this photo, but I can't get the colours right. I've checked the skin colours and they seem about right but it all looks too icky green. Any suggestions?

I just focused on the color - left the contrast as-is.
Convert to CMYK, pulled down the Cyan curve slighty. Saved as Adobe RGB
Quick and simple - no more green cast.

[John Wheeler]

Re: Colour out of whack!

Hi Liz
There is only so much that can be done with a small image that is highly compressed JPEG.

In the following picture I made the original a Smart Object and then applied a Camera Raw filter with the following settings

- In HSL panel shifted green and yellow hue more to yellow and red respectively. Also increased yellow saturation a bit.
- In the basic panel I increased Vibrance and Clarity as well as Shadows

It all depends on the look you want. That was just a quick shot without any other touchup.

[Liz]

Re: Colour out of whack!

Thanks for your replies. This is a photo of my son and father-in-law taken in 1975 or thereabouts. I've searched for and uploaded the original file although I couldn't find the unflattenen version and can't remember what I did to turn it into such as ghastly mess.
I appreciate your replies. I'm going to have another go at this from scratch and see if I get a better result.

[philbach]

Re: Colour out of whack!

Well the file size of the original is a lot larger. There is still a lot of artifacting and the colors seem to be all over the place. I started out working with a luminosity layer and then I corrected the global color as well as I could. I also used a color layer to color in various strange discolored blotches. I blurred the background and colorized that as well

[Liz]

Re: Colour out of whack!

Thanks for your time philbach. The discolourisation of this photo certainly had me stumped and still does. I redid the restoration and came out with the same result as my first. I remember my son's shirt as being quite bright - royal blue, red and white. And the old man's shirt was sort of a yellowy beige. Perhaps that memory stands in my way a bit. I like the recoloured background you've done and perhaps it is the background colour in the original that gives it an overall icky look.

[kmccormi]

Re: Colour out of whack!

It's a tricky one due to the colour noise (and the fact that I couldn't seem to find the right white balance!) However, I tried various Hue/Sat layers in Photoshop, combined with selectively replacing colour with an empty layer set to color blend mode and brushing away some of the colour splotches. Tried working on the skin tones, but still a lot of work to be done.

Cheers,

Kevin

[Liz]

Re: Colour out of whack!

While I don't like to alter original photos I think in this case that changing the background colour as has been done by some of you is the solution. It seems to be the bulk of the problem. And as you've all suggested, to go for selective recolouring here and there is the way to get a better outcome.

I've not had a photo like this where the colours slip and slide all over the place.

Glad I posted it for your opinions and I appreciate them.

Thanks

[philbach]

Re: Colour out of whack!

Well Liz weird stuff does happen. And the objective is to restore the photo to the original
Sometimes though you just have to wing it and do the best job you can. Thanks for posting it.

[Cupcake]

Re: Colour out of whack!

Here is the one I did.

[Redraw]

Re: Colour out of whack!

I gave it a go. Started by adjusting the color channels and further adjusted the Contrast and Brightness. Then adjusted the saturation.