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Tip #39: Change Photo Color
By: Tedric GarrisonLet's say I'm working on a project and I've found this really cool dragon head,
but it just doesn't match color wise with everything else in the project. No problem, we can take care of that. It does take several steps, but they are fairly simple ones.
First, after you open the main image of course, go to the top and click on the heading
that says: "Image" (third item from the left.) This will bring up a drop down menu, go
to the item that says "Adjustments" (second item down) and click on that.
In the next click on the item that says "Hue/Saturation" (eighth item from the top.)
This will open a control box like the one pictured above. Move the saturation bar
all the way to the left to remove all color from the image. **please note: do NOT
use the grayscale function, or you will not be able to add the color later.
Still under the "adjustments" drop down menu, go up to "brightness/contrast"
(just one option up from where you just were). After you click on that it will
bring up a brightness/contrast control box like the one above. Adjust the
contrast bar only, to the plus side between +20 to +25. This is to create rich
shadow area. Play with it some, but don't go too far or you will also loose detail.
The next thing to do is go back to the headings on top and click on the one that says
"Layer". You want to create a new layer, so click on the "New" option, and then
click the "Layer" option. At this point it will give you a chance to name the layer,
I never do, but that's entirely up to you. Once you click the "OK" button, the
description for your original image should also say this (Layer1,RGB) at the end
of your title; or whatever you decided to name the layer, if you did.
Once you have made sure that you are on Layer 1, go to the tools on the left side
of the screen and find the two boxes about three quarters of the way down. The
default on these is black and white. If you click on whichever box is on top, this
will take you into a color menu and allow you to choose a new color. Pick a color,
then fill the top layer by using the "Paint Bucket" tool (sixth tool on the right side of
the tool bar). This will make the whole image look like that color, don't panic that
is normal. Next find your "Layers" Tab. If it is not already in the upper right corner,
go to the Windows heading and open the Layers Tab control box. Once you have
that control box open you will notice two drop down menus at the top (one says
"Normal" one says "Opacity" with a percent next to it.) Click on "Normal" then
scroll all the way down until you see the word "Color" (second from the bottom),
then click on "Color".
Once you have done the above, you start to feel the magic as you see the beginning
of your new image. Note that the colors are a little flat, don't worry we can take
care of that. At this point you may want to save the new image under a different
name so that you can open both images at the same time.
Make sure you are on the new image then open up your Hue/Saturations control
box. (Click on heading "Image", then click "adjustments", then click Hue/Saturation.) Adjust the saturation slider bar to between +30 to + 40 depending on personal taste.
This will greatly enhance the new image, but wait . . . you're not through yet.
Go back to your original image and look for things that have unique coloring. In my
example that would be the eye, the mouth, and the horns of my dragon. Enlarge the
original (eyeglass tool bottom right of tool box) so that you can see the details that
you want to copy. Next find the magnetic lasso tool (second tool down on the left
side of tool box.) There are three tools available here, make sure you have the
Magnetic one by seeing that the little rope triangle also has a magnet on it. Using that
tool go around the object in question until you get that little dancing ants line that goes
all the way around the object. Change your tool back to the pointer arrow (first one
on the right side), then drag and drop your item onto the new image. Repeat as needed.
Instead of copying all the individual horns, I simply sampled the color from the
original image and used it to color those of the new image. To do that, take the
eyedropper tool (right above the magnifying glass tool on the right side) and click
on the color you want from the first image. That will change the color on the top box of those two squares that are normally black and white. Use the Paint Bucket tool again (sixth tool down on the right hand side) and click inside each area that you want to change the color of. Don't forget to save the new image with all the
changes in place.
Important Point to remember: Think of the paint pouring out of the bucket as your pointer. If that part of the icon overhangs, you might accidentally color the wrong area.Photoshop Tip #39: Tedric Garrison tedric@betterphototips.com
