Stuck on my second photo! :(

[DavieBoyDave]

Seeing a pattern yet?

So far so good I think - apart from the green... any ideas?

Any comments generally?

Dave

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Hi Dave. It seems green is the colour there. Maybe you could try lightening the walls just a fraction as there does seem to be a creamy colour there too. I don't think the polaroid photos were ever great to start with.

[DavieBoyDave]

OK, lightened the green a little - had to remove the corner shelf.

It looks like one of the easier images, but trust me - this was not easy. Doesn't look like I have done much but brightened it up, but that green, and the small size of the actual image made it quite a task.

Anyway - open for comment again...

(I hope it's ok asking for feedback and comments this regular - i'm new at this stuff and like to know how my work comes across ???)

Dave

[glennab]

Hi Dave

I'm not sure how much this'll help, but I used a method I learned at a Photoshop seminar (and also posted a tutorial if I can figure out a way to mark it for you).  I think you really are dealing with a lot of green, because this is what I get when I correct the color:



The tutorial is under our Photoshop Discussion, the thread is called "Finally, the color correction tutorial."  It's the best way I've ever found to get a great start on color correction.  Not always perfect, but I use it constantly at work, and if nothing else it gets me on the right track.

The color in the woman's face looks pretty natural to me, so I start with that.  I suspect the wall is a medium green and the drapes are a rich green.

Don't ever worry about posting too many questions about a dilemma.  If you look back through some of our threads, they're very lengthy and involved.  At first I used a lot of forum space to try to manage restorations that were WAY beyond my skills. I got wonderful help from our "gurus" and they walked me through some doozies.  Keep in mind that if you don't get a huge response to a question, it may be that we have to play with the image to be able to give you valid suggestions.  I hesitated with this one, because I have a terrible time with uneven color casts.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I hope this helps.

GK

[Mhayes]

Dave, this one wants to stay pea green no matter what you do. I agree with Tess that with this being a Polaroid the quality might not have been too good to start with. I played with this doing all sorts of things to replace the green color. Even if I could tone the color down, it still didn't look so hot. Finally I got sick of the green and converted to a black and white by doing Calculations.

• 1. Bring up your original
  2. Go to Image>Duplicate
  3. On your Duplicate, go up to Image>Calculation> On both Channels pick Green and for blending pick Screen and type in the Opacity at 55% (play around with this)
  4. On this duplicate hit Ctrl A (Cmd A-Mac), then Ctrl C to copy
  5. On your original, hit Ctrl V to paste in your black and white
  6. Flatten Image

This maybe an overkill, but the pea green color is a royal pain.

Margie

PS I used your color corrected example on the first post to work on.

[DavieBoyDave]

Marcat - Wow - that does work well... Great tip! But what - leave it as a black and white image and forget the color completely?

But... (brain is ticking now) using that same technique, and the result as a basis, Could that black and white image not be used in to replace (or assist) one of the channels - there must be one in either RGB, LAB or CYMK... (That actually almost sounds like I know what i'm talking about????) I'm still trying to understand channels....



Glennab - I'll have a look at the tut tomorrow - 3.30am here... but thanks. Man this site/stuff is addictive!!!

Dave.

[cmpentecost]

Hi Dave,

This is a tut in another thread here, but it's by Tim Grey (www.timgrey.com).

When I was at Photoshop World in Orlando I saw you present a cool technique for fixing really bad color casts in an image, but I missed part of it. Can you remind me of the steps involved?

==========

Absolutely. This techniques comes across as being pure magic (which is why I like to present it!), and it can be incredibly helpful when you have an extreme color cast. This can happen with digital captures when the color temperature is set to a wrong value, but usually this degree of color cast comes from things such as old color photos that have become faded or otherwise shifted in color with time.

The first step is to create a copy of the Background image layer by dragging that layer to the Create a New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette. Then you need to determine the color of the color cast so you can compensate for it. To do so, select Filter > Blur > Average from the menu. This will convert this layer to a single color that represents the average color of all pixels in the image. Of course, this is the problem color, so you need to determine the opposite of it so you can apply it as a compensation for the color cast. To determine that opposite color, select Image > Adjustments > Invert from the menu. This will convert the layer to the opposite of the average layer, which means it is the opposite of the color cast.

To apply this color to the underlying image, set the blend mode to Color using the dropdown at the top-left of the Layers palette. This blend mode will cause the layer to alter only the color of the underlying image, completely offsetting the strong color cast. The problem is, this will result in too strong an effect, with a color cast that is the opposite of the original, but much stronger. To tone things down and produce an image without a color cast, simply reduce the Opacity using the slider at the top-right of the Layers palette. Adjust the value until you have a perfectly neutral color in the image.

The final result will represent relatively accurate color, but it will probably appear a bit flat and possibly lacking saturation. To compensate for this you'll need to boost saturation (using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer) and contrast (using Levels or Curves).


After I did the above method, I did a levels adjustment, moving the right slider to the left, until it reached the "histogram", which was at about "110".  This keeps the photo in color, and you still have work to do, but it gets rid of the green color cast and with some cloning, etc., and probably a curves adjustment, you can probably bring it back. 

BTW, great job on your first photo!

Chris

[glennab]

Dave, I warned you about the tendency to addiction!  It starts already.

GK

[Mhayes]

Dave, there are others here on the forum that can give you a better answer on CMYK and channels. I did try converting to LAB and working on the green channel, but not with much luck. Even though the example I did is black and white, it is still saved as a rgb. You could take the black and white and then drag and drop the pea green one on top and do a total mask (covert the white mask to black) and then with a soft white brush on the mask paint back in some color.

I really wouldn't feel bad about leaving it as black and white, because the only thing that might look good in color would be the lady. After working with this, pick the one you think looks the best.

Margie

[Hannie]

Hi Dave,

Great job you've done! The green color is there but it is also very ugly!  ;D

Another thing you could do to tone the green down a little:

- sponge tool (desaturate) at 50% on the walls, leave out shelf and plant
- same thing at 30% on the really green top part of wall
- dodge midtones at 4% only on the dark top part
- color balance adjustment layer:  magenta/green -6
                                                      yellow/blue +7

You could even increase the above numbers if you want less green.
(I used your first version of your restoration to work on)

Hannie

[DavieBoyDave]

Thanks Hannie - I'll give it another go when I get home later.
Dave.

[DavieBoyDave]

Chris - this was the way I did it in the first place but just couldn't eradicate the green completely.  :'(

Hannie - love your coloring - will try that out. :wnw:

Dave.