Colouring

[Bayla]

I know how to take out colour from an image and just leave certain bits with colour (thanks to Scott Kelby!) but how do I add bits of the original colour to a picture where I've changed it to a pale monotone but not actually grayscale?

Bayla

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

How did you change the image to the pale colour and what layers do you now have on the image ?


Wendy

[Bayla]

Hi Wendy,

I binned it as I wasn't happy, and thought I'd start again when I had more time :lol: I duplicated the layer, applied a hue/saturation adjustment layer and adjusted the colour that way. But if that was the wrong way to do it then tell me as I need to do it all again - I was working on three different portraits at the same time, experimenting with different effects.....

Bayla

[Wendy]

hi there ...

Right so in the layers palette you have your Hue & Saturation adjustment layer on the top ....

Set your foreground colour to black and you background colour to white.
Now open the layers palette and click on the white square of the adjustment layer (thats the mask)
Go back to your image, pick up the painbrush and paint where you want the colour to come back.
If you do paint in a little too much then change your foreground colour to white and paint the colour out again.

... and there you go :)


Wendy

[Bayla]

Thanks Wendy,

I see now where I was going wrong. I was trying to fill the layer and then paint over it , sort of mixing up two different techniques.

Now I've realised that the bits I'm trying to paint back in (eyes, lips & other small details) are too vivid to go with the rest of the face which is much paler so I've got to work that bit out as well. And I'm still having problems making selections, but that's another story......

Bayla

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

Well if they are too vivid ... try reducing the opacity of your paintbrush, that way you will only let a little of the colour show through.

Let us know if that works OK :)

Wendy

[GaryK]

Bayla

Filling the layer mask isn't always bad. The way I look at it is, if you would be painting it mostly black anyway then fill it with black and paint in the white, if it would be mostly white then don't fill and paint in the black.