Can I copy color from one photo to fix another?

[LarryHav]

I am new to Photoshop elements 4.0 and trying to fix some Polar Bear photos I took in Churchill Canada. Some were rather late in the evening and had to shoot in low light. When I use PhotoShop to auto correct the brightness, the bears look more brown than white. However, I do have some good shots of the bears in their natural color. What I was hoping I could do is take a sample color from the Correct color Bear and overlay it on the Bear in low light that looks brown. I searched through the manual but could not find this. Anyone have any idea how to do this?

[karen donnybrook]

Hello Larry,

Welcome to the forum. I am sorry I can not answer your question but I am sure someone will be along shortly and give you a way to do what you want.

Karen

[Wendy]

Hi Larry ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

I can't think of an easy way of doing this ... have you tried selecting the bear, adding a feather to the selection and then adjusting the colour using Hue & Saturation ?

Wendy

[TonyW]

You might want to post a couple of examples. I found a brown looking polar bear image and one that looked more normal - sampled the colour from the normal one with the eyedropper and used that colour to fill a layer above the brown image, set the blend mode to screen and reduced the opacity to make it look right. Is this the kind of result you're looking for?

328

Tony

[LarryHav]

Tony, thank you. That is exactly what I want to do. The color of my Bear looks just like the one you posted. I will try to follow your directions and see how that works for me. thanks to everyone else for your warm welcomes.

[TonyW]

Larry: Glad to hear that was the effect you're looking for. Note that this "quick and dirty" method will change the background as well. If that doesn't look right there are ways to get round that. Let us know how it works out for you. Churchill is on my list of places I want to visit :)

Tony

[Daviskw]

Good work Tony... just thought I'd give him a second way to try.

I just opened a color layer... sampled some good color fur then painted the brown areas out.

Then applied an overall levels adjustment to brighten... If you want to keep the background just use a black brush and click on the mask and paint the darkness back in.. Better the paint the background that way the difference in light will blend in the fur edges better.

If you get a color shift while lightening with levels then set the levels mode to luminosity

Butch


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1jwl9JQLIo3mx6B0g4fUGZgE9Rwdq_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1jwl9JQLIo3mx6B0g4fUGZgE9Rwdq)

[LarryHav]

Thanks Butch. I think the colors on Tony's bear are a little more realistic. My problem is that I am still learning Photoshop Elements 4 and you guys are talking a little bit over my head. I purchased a book titled "The Photoshop elements 4 book" by Scott Kelby to try and get a little more knowledgeable but I am still struggling a bit with the commands. Is there any way I can contact one of you to just step me through what you did? It sounds easy and I think it would only take a couple of minutes. Tony, I found the eydropper and can click on the good color bear to get the color I want. The problem is after I open the bad color bear, I don't know how to apply the sample I just took. My internet ID is larryhav@us.ibm.com. I can call you if that is easier and quicker. Just send me your phone number and a good time to reach you. I could also send you the jpegs for the good and bad bears if that helps. I really appreciate your help Tony and Butch. This is really a good forum and I hope I can get to your level soon so I can also contribute and help others with similar problems.

Tony, BTW, Churchill is awesome if you like nature and Polar Bears. It's like watching squirrels run around your backyard. There are that many of them. At least there were when we were there the first week of November.

We are hopefully off to East Africa mid-September to see the "Big 5" (I hope - depending on security... I am not sure how I am getting my camera equipment out there if they continue to not allow carryons for international flights).

[karen donnybrook]

Larry,

We went to Kenya (East Africa) a couple of years ago (BD - before digital) and it was wonderful. We saw all "Big 5" during our safari. We stayed at the Masai Marra (top of the Seringetta plains), Treetops and Samburu (in the north). Michael was (British) born in Kenya and it was great seeing the country where he spent the first 17 years of his life. Lets hope the restrictions on hand luggage are lifted enough so you can carry your camera equipment on as hand luggage.

Karen

"From a land down under"