Help with Purple Photos

[maineseagull]

Hello everyone,

I am new to Photoshop Elements and to this forum. I am hoping someone can tell me how to restore the color on photos like these. I have tried removing the color cast, but it doesn't help much. I would appreciate any help.

maineseagull

[frank abramonte]

maineseagull, here's a quick fix on your 2 photos. Couldn't do much more with them, perhaps someone will come along with some improvements.

You can remove the cast with a hue/saturation adjustment.
I went further and used highlights/shadows, exposure, gamma, brightness/contrast.
There is no reason why you can't combine the different corrective tools on a photo. If in doubt about a correction save it as #1, the as you make additional corrections save them as #2, #3 and so on. In the end choose the one you like best.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1vsZgATglNUs77VHyZYgISpcIz8a03_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1vsZgATglNUs77VHyZYgISpcIz8a03)


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1xqciNGb9UFuOaSAYlQNmSYyhNHVl81_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1xqciNGb9UFuOaSAYlQNmSYyhNHVl81)

[Tina_B]

Here is a very quick try at making it look better. I used a transparent layer above the background layer then changed to soft light and painted the colors in. If you take your time you can do a much better job than I qauickly did.
Tina B

[maineseagull]

This is all new to me. By transparent layer, do you mean a new layer and then add a soft light blending mode? How do I get a transparent layer? How did you get the green background?

Thanks for your time and assistance.

maineseagull

[Tina_B]

Open your photo that you want to wrok on .
Then open a new layer in the layers on the right. just click on the new layer Icon. the first icon on the layer menu. The blank layer looks like a checker board but is transparent. Just paint on that layer.
then I set the blend mode to soft light.
I chose a small brush from the bursh menu and then painted the color on the blank layer. choosing different colors for clothing and grass etc. If I made a mistake I could just use an eraser tool and erase from the layer the part I did not like.

[maineseagull]

Tina,

Thanks for explaining what you did. I will give it a try. This program is mind boggling. I feel like I have only scratched the surface! This is the first I have heard about painting on a layer.

maineseagull

[Tina_B]

Another thing you might try is to just turn them into black and white.
Tina B

[maineseagull]

Tina,

That is just what I was thinking, but I really like the colored photos. I have a lot of similar photos to restore.

maineseagull

[maineseagull]

Tina,

I cannot view Frank's photos in his post. I just get a white box with a red X. When I click on the box, I get the message that I can't connect to the web page. Any help?

maineseagull

[Tina_B]

It is pretty easy , just take your time and if you make a mistake you can either thow out the layer and start over or just erase. That is why you would want to use a blank layer above your photo to apply different effects so you can easily make changes. Also as you are working on the photo save as a psd file not jpg. psd will preserve the layers you are working on so you can open it again and work on the layers. Jpg is pretty final and you can not make changes on the layers once you save as jpg.
You can have several layers above your back ground layer. You could use a different layer for each color if you want.
Tina B

[Tina_B]

I am not sure about Franks photos, I can see them just fine.
Tina B

[angelschick6]

Tina - you did a good job on the edit!

You could also maybe try image>adjustments>match color> click neutralize and adjust slider to your liking

Not sure if it works on purple photos but it does on orange :-)

[Wendy]

Hi Amy ...

Match Colour is Photoshop only ... Elements doesn't have that feature

Wendy :)

[BobWarren]

To correct the color, try this:
Open a levels layer above the base
Click on the black eyedropper and then click on an area in the photo that should be black (I used the shadow area just below the cuff of the little boy's shorts).
Click on the white eyedropper and then click on an area in the photo that should be white (I used the little boy's left shoulder).
Click on the gray eyedropper and then click on an area in the photo that should be gray or neutral (I used a shadow area on the little boy's shirt).

You now have something approaching more normal color, with a light green stain in two areas. You can eliminate the stain using a hue/saturation adjustment layer:

Open the hue saturation adjustment layer and select Greens from the drop down menu.
Click on the eyedropper in the layer box and then click on an area of the green stain.
Go back and click on the + eyedropper and select a few more areas of the stain.
Move the saturation slider to the left until the green stain is muted. You may want to move the Lighten slider to the left as well.

There are plugins that are designed to correct color shifts like this -- Kodak's ROC, for example. I applied the above routine and then the ROC plugin to get this version:

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/15nhEMe33Zl6aVfWG12wBqy5gsFgC_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=15nhEMe33Zl6aVfWG12wBqy5gsFgC)

[maineseagull]

Thanks, Bob. I appreciate your help and your explanation. I will check out Kodak's ROC plug in. I am very new to Elements and have a lot to learn.

Unfortunately, I can't view your photos. All I get is a white box with a red X. It won't open when I click on it. Any suggestions?

maineseagull

[frank abramonte]

maineseagull, I notice that your unable to view photos posted on pixentral.
Can anyone give advice as to how Jeanine can configure to enable viewing pixentral?

[Juergen D]

Unfortunately, I can't view your photos. All I get is a white box with a red X. It won't open when I click on it.Do you see the thumbnails in the posts? If not, can you right click on the frame and select Show Picture? Or just left click on it and another window opens showing the picture on the Pixentral site?

Juergen

[BillandCat]

Here is my try--1st I corrected skin color--2nd, levels--3rd, a little sharp.URL=http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1hPstMp5V51QLmkIYebEA6hvDxvkqT0]http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1hPstMp5V51QLmkIYebEA6hvDxvkqT0_thumb.jpg[/URL] BillandCat

[ladybug]

Here is your picture Bill and Cat.
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1hPstMp5V51QLmkIYebEA6hvDxvkqT0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1hPstMp5V51QLmkIYebEA6hvDxvkqT0)

Diana answered your other post.
I do make sure before i post my cursor is below my message in the post the cursor tends to find its way back up the post.
If you have any more trouble holler.

[Simenon]

Kodak's ROC plugin works just fine, but it is a $100 piece of business so unless you are doing a lot of old photo restoration, it is not very economical for the typical hobbyist.

~ Simenon

[Newtome]

Played with the Quick Fix features.


http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/files/1/4/3/2/5/jeanine-old-photo.jpg

[ladybug]

that looks good!

[susancamilleri]

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1BlEAvfyimkCoWYBedFbVPGv6Oy5101_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1BlEAvfyimkCoWYBedFbVPGv6Oy5101)

Hi
I hope this makes it i am still learning too. Here is my go at fixing the photo. I did a levels adjustment then deselected the children and in colour variations increased the green then did shadows and highlights then selected the children and did shadows and highlights and burnt in some shadows in the greenery. Hope it helps you a bit. This is the reason I bought elements , to fix my own kids photos. But I didnt know at the time it would be so difficult or what a wonderful powerful program elements is. Good luck with it, its such a fantastic feeling when you get one right. Second best to winning tatslotto . I only did a quick job it needs more work.

[Newtome]

Susan, that looks great!

[maineseagull]

My thanks to all of you who took the time to help me and to post their edits of my photos. I am absolutely amazed with the results you all were able to get. Elements is much more difficult to learn than I thought it would be, but I am not going to give up. I have literally hundreds of family photos I have inherited and want to restore them for my family. I love working with Elements and know I will learn a lot in this forum. You all are great.

[susancamilleri]

thank you so much Newtome, its one gigantic learning curve. Photos are so precious. hope your day is great:)