Modifying Color with
Intelligent Auto-Selection
I've never been a big fan of using the Magic Wand to select areas in a
photo that I want to manipulate. It seems to never get all the area I'm
after, even with the Tolerance set more specifically and multiple shift-clicks on slightly diversified areas, or it gets too much, going
beyond the area I'm trying to select. I'd much rather use the Lasso or
Pen tools to select an area because I know what I'm getting. Granted, I
use the Magic Wand for areas that have super-continuity and a very
distinct circumference, like black type on a white background, but there
are higher forms of auto-selection in Photoshop that allow one to modify
specific colors in an image without needing to select those areas.
Replace Color and Selective Color (under the
Image-Adjust menu) can be very useful in color balancing and
enhancement and they make the job of selecting the areas to do to in a
virtual no-brainer.
In the original photo of Shay with orange scarves at the very top of
the page the scarves have been changed to a fushia color using the
Replace Color window. This is a specific modification that is in a
global environment - i.e., there has been no selection made of the orange
scarves with the Lasso tool or any other selection tool. Instead one
creates a Mask in the Replace Color window by using the eyedrop
tools to refine the area to be modified. To protect the color of the lips
from changing, a slightly feathered loose selection was made around them
with the Lasso tool and then the selection was inverted so that everything
except the lips has been selected.
The "Fuzziness" slider - which is akin to the Tolerance level of the
Magic Wand tool - is set to a fairly specific realm at 40. The first, or
Main, eyedrop color picker is selected and clicked on the most average
color in the image that you want to modify - with the orange scarves it is
the most average area of orange color in the scarves. To capture the areas
of variation in the color, select the second eyedrop color picker with the
+ (plus) sign and click on the shadowed and other varied areas of the
color you want to be modified. You can add to your Mask as much as you
want, constantly altering the Fuzziness factor until you have created a
perfect mask visible in the Preview. You can make your selected area
smaller by using the third eyedrop color picker with the - (minus) sign -
this also comes in handy if you click on the wrong area by accident with
the + sign color picker.
Once the mask has been finalized in the Replace Color window we
can now Transform the color range selected. In the case of the orange
scarves, the Hue was set to -37 and the Saturation was set to +5, creating
a fushia color. In other words, the Replace Color window features a
"create your own mask" ability based on color pickers in combination with
the Hue and Saturation window for altering the selected color family (or
families).
In the next image (of Raquel), the grayish
cyan background color of the original photograph on the left has been
changed to a more appealing rich blue with the ability of the Selective
Color window to modify particular color families without effecting
others. Once again, this is a specific modification that is in a global
environment - i.e., there has been no selection made of the background
with the Lasso or any other selection tool. First, Selective Color
is chosen under the Image-Adjust menu. "Cyans" is selected from the Colors
choices. To modify the background color, the Cyan and Magenta sliders are
set to +100% and the Yellow slider is set to -100% ("Relative" Method is
chosen). Next, "Blues" is selected form the Colors choices and the Magenta
slider is set to +100% and Yellow is set to -100% again. Therefore, the
only color families that will be effected are the Cyans and the Blues,
Yellow is taken out, Cyan and Magenta added and the resulting color is
shown in the background to the right. What's nice about this result is the
other colors in the image - Raquel's hair, skin and clothing - are
completely unaffected. In essence, we have selected the background only,
by choosing the colors in the background only to modify. No time is taken
to create a selected area - a perfect selection is made of the background
only via the Selective Color window's "intelligent auto-selection"
ability. In this case, with the background visible through the model's
hair, not having to select the area for modification is of paramount
interest.
The next photograph of Shay with the orange dress on incorporates both
Replace Color and Selective Color to achieve the desired
result on the right. First, Selective Color changes were made to
the Cyans color family by taking the Cyan and Magenta sliders to +100% and
the Yellow to -100%. After making this change, the Selective Color
window was brought up again, and the Cyans color family was further
modified, taking the Cyan slider to +100%, the Magenta slider to +10% and
the Yellow slider to -100%. Then the Blues color family was enhanced by
taking the Cyan slider to +100%, the Magenta slider to +12% and the Yellow
slider to -100%. This resulted in the new background color in the photo on
the right - a major difference from where we started with all the other
colors in the image unaffected.
The next color problem in the photo on the left is the orange of the
dress on the left side of the model's arm isn't nearly as rich and
saturated as the color of the orange in the dress on the right side of her
arm. In order to work on this part of the dress only, a very loose Lasso
selection was made around it. Since we know that we will be attacking the
orange color only, this Lasso selection simply has to separate the part of
the dress we are modifying from the part of the dress we are not. Just a
quick and loose Lasso will do - careful outlining is not necessary. The
Replace Color window is brought up and the main color picker is
clicked on the most average orange color in the part of the dress we are
modifying. Then the additive (+ sign) color picker is clicked on any
variances in this color in the same area of the dress with the Fuzziness
factor set to 50. Once the masking is complete, the Hue slider is set to
-7 to get a redder color orange and the Saturation slider is set to +30 to
enhance the saturation. In the photo on the right the entire dress is of
like color and saturation.
Selective Color can also help achieve color balance in images,
like the bottom photo of Raquel shown in the right column. In the original
shot on the left, the hair is too yellow but the skin tones are quite
balanced already. With the Yellows color family chosen in the Selective
Color window, the Magenta slider is set to +18% and the Yellow slider
is set to -33%. Raquel's hair color has shifted to a more natural looking
light auburn color in the resulting image on the right. Even some of the
more dense areas of her skin color have a little less yellow in them,
again creating a more balanced, natural color skin tone while the color of
her lips and swimsuit remain unchanged. All this and no area was even
selected thanks to this "intelligent auto-selection" feature of Photoshop.
Shay
The orange scarves in the original photograph of Shay above left have
been changed to a fushia color (via Hue and Saturation modifications) but
it's the ability of the Replace Color window to auto-select the orange
colored items only that made this a quicker and more seamless alteration.
Raquel
The grayish cyan background color of the original photograph of Raquel
above left has been changed to a more appealing rich blue with the ability
of the Selective Color window to modify particular color families without
effecting others - no selection is needed.
Shay
The original photograph of Shay above left has not only had the
background color greatly enhanced using Selective Color techniques, but
the part of her dress on the left side of her arm has been modified using
Replace Color techniques to more equally match the color of the rest of
her dress.
Raquel
The color of Raquel's hair in the original photograph above left is too
yellow but her skin tones are quite balanced already. On the right the
yellow has been removed by using the Selective Color window's abilities,
not altering the rest of the image and no selection is needed.
IN MEMORY OF CARL VOLK
=============================================================
>>>>Carl N. Volk<<<< April 8, 1953 - September 5,
2000
Carl's art, talents and teachings will live on for all
of us to enjoy.
Visit: http://www.carlvolk.com
To view all archived articles by
subject, click here.
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