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Help with color

Started by Lynnya, July 11, 2020, 06:49:17 PM

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Lynnya

Hi gang.. I've been working on this and it was covered in yellow splotches (couldn't see in the gallery) so now the color is all off.. need help to rectify.. I've done the usual color corrections and I think I've made things a bit worse.. HELP...





never giving up......learning from others as I go...

G3User

Hi Lynnya

Nice restore. I wonder if it would help to back off the saturation of the jump suit just a tad. It is sort of overwhelming the image and makes the child's skin tones difficult to judge.

If not I will go back to sleep ;)

Lynnya

Hi Athol, thanks for input.. I know! way too bright.. what was I thinking? I was going to do that before I loaded up but brain is diminished some I think..how is this.. skin tones are needing adjustment I know..



never giving up......learning from others as I go...

philbach

I feel that there is too much red/magenta at the base of his nose and around his eyes.  Selectively lowering those levels in that area may help.
phil

Mhayes

#4
Lynnya,

The first thing that jumps out at me is his skin tone which looks orange. Also, the sole of the shoe would be gray and not orange. I took the original and duplicated, did an Auto Curves, then a Merge Visible and then another Curves, but this time I took the middle eye dropper that is for gray and click on the sole of his shoe. I did a Merge Visible again and added a new layer from the menu above and picked soft light as the mode and checked the box for 50% gray. I used a soft brush at 25% opacity (varied as I went along) and with the foreground white, I brushed his shirt, jumper, and his legs and arms. You did a good job on the clean up, just the skin a problem.

Don't you wonder about a professional photographer cutting off part of the his leg??


"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

Lynnya

Thanks Phil and Margie.. I know the color is a real mess.. it's going to be one of "those" isn't it .. I'll try what you did Margie .. the skin tones were bad to start with  and then all the yellow splotches.. almost needs a colorization job.. I'll keep at it.
never giving up......learning from others as I go...

Lynnya

O.k.... so don't ask me what I did just tweaking and coloring and more curves and more curves and stealing color from the original and tweaking.. is it any better??



never giving up......learning from others as I go...

Mhayes

Much improved. Sometimes it is hard to correct what you have done with more Curves, because then your correction is not on the original but on the work you have already done. But this looks a lot better.
"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

Candice

Might I suggest this?  Put a new layer over that and hand paint the areas you need to.  I was playing with it and it let me close in on those much needed areas. 
Candice

Lynnya

Thanks Candy I did that several times over to get it where it is.. if you can improve on it I'd be grateful.. there is just not color there to curve now.. I agree it need coloring but I usually overdo it.. all help appreciated.
never giving up......learning from others as I go...

Mhayes

#10
Candy, could you post your work so we can see the difference.

Lynnya, the boy's hair is a problem as it looks like it was very thin, light, or parts have been washed away. So you will probably have to borrow from other areas. I don't want to sound critical and everyone has their own way of working, so I don't want to change that. However, what I was trying to get at was when you did your first color correction and started working on the restoring using that as your base; you are trying tweak from that. 

The orange in the photo is there even in mine but not as pronounced. Click to get the larger view on both yours and mine and look at the child's ear on your left. Mine has no orange, but yours has a really deep orange. Here is where I may be nit picking--like yeah--is the eyes--as I think they are blue and that is where my Curves took them. Also, look between the two version and compare the wicker seat which I think is yellow and the child's socks which should be white.  And yes, I know that this version is not your final.

I know how hard you are working on this and no one likes someone pointing out things they think should be done when they aren't the one doing the photo. But you are working so hard to correct what went wrong with your first color correction that I really think it would be easier to take a break, come back and use what you have done beautifully (it will be used later) and start a new version with a brand new color correction--with the idea of only using that one for the areas that you can't correct on the other. With the new version saved, take the 1st version and add it as a layer on top and do a layer mask. On the layer mask change your brush to black to conceal all and  you can now paint back in the good parts of your 2nd version. Nice part about layer masks are that you can correct if you went to far.

As a side note, I have only used hand coloring when the photo is so totally hopeless and I have to turn it into a black/white (still in rgb) and do it for individual areas of color. I think you were doing it for selective areas.

Please feel free to PM with a message that you will have a contract out on my life if further comments appear on this post.   ;)
"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

Lynnya

#11
Margie, you are absolutely right.. it's so strange.. I just can't get a handle on this one.. I look at it and look at it and only when you point out the problems do I see them.. I'm lousy at coloring and that's the problem I think.. I'd be very happy for some kind soul to take this image over and make him perfect.. he's such a cutie and I'm really not doing him justice. It's one of those pictures that I think I'm just going to make worse.  Candy? what do you have? I'd love to see.

And Margie, no contract... not this time.... :P

Maybe we could make this a group effort.. I don't usually have this concentration problem.. I'm blaming the pandemic.. ::)
never giving up......learning from others as I go...

Mhayes

Lynnya, don't knock yourself up after I just did. We can use part of yours and there is a lot of good work that will save some time Yes, I'm all for others to jump in and try their hand at it. I believe that the original and your latest are all full resolution, and if not we can have you upload.

Okay everyone, post your work.

I think the pandemic is a great one to blame.
"carpe diem"

Margie Hayes
OPR President
[email protected]

Candice

Mind you this was a down and dirty.  I'm always trying to improve in the color department!  You've done a great job!


Candice

Lynnya

Candy! so much better thank you thank you.. I just could not get to where I needed to go.. how can we get this to Bambi if Margie approves? :hug:
never giving up......learning from others as I go...