help with color

[teachfla]

Hi,

I want to change the background color of my son's picture. I tried the lasso tool, but it seems too difficult because of the way his hair is blowing. Is there another way to change the background without affecting the image?

[Juergen D]

Place a Hue/Sat Adjustment layer above the Background layer (in my case Layer 1 copy) and select Yellow. With the Eyedropper Tool click on the yellow wall and then play with the sliders until you get a desired background color. The settings of my sliders wound up as Hue -32, Saturation -57, Lightness -24.

This will change the entire image, so you need to go back and mask the boy, which you do by painting with a soft black brush after clicking on the mask thumbnail. If you need to correct anything, you can go back with a white brush.

Additionally, I a added some contrast and sharpened very lightly.

Juergen

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/17niC96iC8ai200gqsVV6wZTZflvAu0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=17niC96iC8ai200gqsVV6wZTZflvAu0)

[nu2scene]

Here's my go at it.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1wqPD3z68bC4ZnSdxKeOxd43LqjoO0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1wqPD3z68bC4ZnSdxKeOxd43LqjoO0)

[Juergen D]

Rob, the background color does not look too different. The enhancements otherwise look good.

Juergen

[nu2scene]

Hehe....you're right Juergen. I started off working on the background at first, but didn't like what I was getting. So I decided to work on the subject, and then come back to the background later. I guess I forgot to come back to it.

I played with it some more. Is this any good?

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1dMKcOVdgr7YITMMCa5kfWzDS3baEE

[Diana]

I took Rob's version and added a new background. What an adorable boy. He's going to be beating the girls off with a stick before too long.

The hair strands are almost impossible to select. But you can drag out some new ones with the Smudge Tool (on a blank layer) and then apply a slight Gaussian Blur.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1DAQ4Fw5YYVoyZPoJbX0QyGGw157j_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1DAQ4Fw5YYVoyZPoJbX0QyGGw157j)

Diana

[frank abramonte]

Juergen, tried to follow you instructions, but couldn't get past the hue/sat layer.
My layers palette didn't look like yours, can you give me some simple step by step lessons?

[Juergen D]

...but couldn't get past the hue/sat layer.
Frank,
I added the Contrast adjustment layer last. You don't need it for this purpose.

The masked Hue/Sat layer changes the background color. I don't quite understand what you mean by not getting past it.

Juergen

[frank abramonte]

Juergen, thanks for the reply, but I'm still not there. I think my problem may be that I'm not familiar with masks. i hunted around but could not find where to apply the mask. What I'm trying to do is paint away without losing the wispy hair.
I'm working in PS CS2.


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1pvqfAd9eyVBAO2BIgRBpj5j3wBZG1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1pvqfAd9eyVBAO2BIgRBpj5j3wBZG1)

[teachfla]

Thank you all so much! I am still having a bit of a problem, but it's just me. I am trying to get some decent photos of him without having to hire someone. Obviously, I don't have a trained "eye" yet, so I don't think enough about the impact of the background and clothing colors before hand. Someday I will get there!

[Juergen D]

I think my problem may be that I'm not familiar with masks.
Hi Frank,
Somehow I missed your post entirely. I'll try to get back to it tomorrow... Sorry. :o

Juergen

[miphotoguy]

I went at it a bit differently.

1. Duplicate layer
2. Select boy using magic wand
3. Make new layer of boy using New Layer via Cut
4. Using clone tool, expand layer containing background over transparent area of background. This will ensure a smooth blend
5. Paint over the background. I used a brown at 75% transparency.
6. Use burn tool to clean up some highlights on boy
7. Select eyes and lighten
8. I messed around with cloning the hair strands that are difficult to select, but I'm not sure I like my results from that

[Juergen D]

Frank,
The objective here is to change the color of the background. Of course, this can be done by selecting and replacing it. However, we would run into some trouble keeping the fine hair strands. That is why I tried the Hue/Sat adjustment layer approach.

Once that adjustment layer is active (above the Background layer) the colors of the image can be changed. For practice, just change the Hue slider around and you see what I mean. Doing this, the entire image will change.

This is where the masking comes in. The adjustment layer has two thumbnails, the right one is the mask thumbnail. It defaults to white, which will leave the adjustment affecting the whole image. Since we only want to change the color of the wall and not the boy, we will mask the boy. That will negate the effect in that area and will show only the original colors from the underlying layer.

The masking is done by first clicking on the on mask thumbnail in the layers palette, selecting the default black/white foreground/background colors, and then painting black with a soft brush on the boy, leaving the hair strands uncovered in front of the changed background color. If any mistakes are made, they can be fixed by changing the foreground color to white (press X) and painting with it.

Here is a link to a tutorial about adjustment layers in general:
http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/adjlay/adjlay.htm

HTH,
Juergen