RETOUCHING AND MAKING COLOR ADJUSTMENTS

*Files necessary: crew.psd, boxbody.psd, retouch.psd.

ADJUSTING OVERALL TONE AND COLOR OF IMAGES:

Use crew.psd to show how to use the dodging and burn tools as well as how to create an Overlay Gray layer for altering light and darks in a photo. Begin by creating a copy layer of the original photo. Work from copies.

Dodging is decreasing exposure to very dark areas, therefore lightening them. Burning would be increasing exposure to very light areas in an effort to darken them. Both tools are used in an attempt to bring more definition to the images. It is harder to get detail out of an underexposed area than an overexposed area, because the detail never got enough exposure to have detail. Whereas with shadows, often if the shadow is not too dark, there is detail there to bring out. Meaning it registered on the film but was overexposed.

Choose one of the four boys faces to work with. The red head’s face is the easiest. Demonstrate with the dodge tool to show how to lighten the shadows over this child’s face. Use a tool the appropriate size and with soft edges. Point out the options on the Options bar. Amount of exposure, highlights, shadows, or midtones, etc. When using highlights, adding more exposure to a highlight area with the dodge tool, just makes it brighter. That is not good. So just concentrate on shadows and stay away from highlight areas. But if a highlight needs to be toned down, demonstrate using the burn tool. Set to very low pressure, lower than with dodge tool.

Return to the original photo for the next demo.

Try using another method: Gray Overlay Layer.

Create a new fill layer by Alt/Option clicking on the new layer icon. Set blending mode of this layer to Overlay and check the box for 50% Gray fill.

Paint with the black or white brush to lighten or darken an area. Play with the opacity settings for the brush. This layer set on Overlay and filled with gray will be transparent. Black will darken an area and white will lighten an area. It is like applying a black or white wash over the layer below.

This method is superior and faster. It gives more control. Compare results using the two different methods.

COLOR CORRECTIONS AND ADJUSTMENT LAYERS:

Bring up the boxbody.psd image. It is a Polaroid. Poor quality and badly in need of color correction. Copy the original in another layer.

Compare the advantages of using adjustment layers over working directly on the image, using Image>Adjust options from the menubar.

Go through the various options to see how they make a difference to this image.

Understand Levels, the histogram and what it stands for. Try a different adjustment layer for each Adjust option. Try auto adjust to see what it will do. Use curves, a small adjustment. Use color balanace, to get some of the yellow out of the picture and to balance the presence of magenta or red.

Next, isolate a part of the image and adjust it. The adjustment will apply just to the selected area.

COLORING AND RETOUCHING AN OLD PHOTO:

Bring up retouch.psd. Copy original in another layer. Use cloning tool to take care of stains and scratches on this photo. For the cloning tool, set options to “use all layers” and use a soft edge brush. Change size of brush as needed. The aligned option may or may not be helpful. But Alt/Option click from an area with similar coloration. Cloning into a separate layer is a good practice.

Take care of large torn areas by cutting and pasting a section over it that is similar in coloration. This is a quicker fix than cloning for large areas.

To color a photo, try Image>Variations from the menubar.

Select areas to color with any of the selection tools, pen tool or lasso most likely.

Turn paths into selections and save as alpha channel. Or make selection and refine with Quick Mask, then make active and save as alpha channel. Load selection into layer over

Area you want to colorize. Create an adjustment layer, Hue/Saturation, and

notice the layer mask associated with it. Use sliders on Hue/Saturation to get the color you want. Play with options.