Okay?

[Bambi]

Wow! Jonas, I just tried your neutral selection tip. What a difference! I've used the Cross method for years and often had to re-do the midtones. I've made a note of this and will use it from now on. Thanks for sharing your wizardry.

Bambi

[Jonas.Wendorf]

Since I got quite a few mails asking me, how exactly my technique works, I thought, I'd just provide a PSD file for you so you can see the whole thing in action :-).

I've used layer comps so you can see, how I find the near neutral point and later how I correct the final image.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7124285/Foren/Operation%20Photo%20Rescue/ColorCast.psd

The important thing for finding the neutral point is that you place the "Luminosity" layer underneath the "Difference" layer and inside the Threshold, you should move the threshold to the left and mark the black areas. Otherwise you'd find the most colorful areas, which might be the tie.
Also, move the threshold as far as you can to the left, to find the most neutral areas. Since the image is not very colorful to begin with, most values will be <128, so you'll have to move the slider far left to see the nearest neutral areas (make sure though, that you don't pick up any damage).


I've also uploaded the test stripe I talked about in my earlier post and set up layer comps there.
As you can see with the "Old method" configuration, the upper bar is black, so you would consider this one to be more neutral.
With the "New method" configuration, the lower bar will be black, so you would consider this one to be more neutral.
Now check the "Original" configuration and see, which one of the bars you would think was more neutral.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7124285/Foren/Operation%20Photo%20Rescue/Test%20Stripes.psd

I hope that explains my method a little better than my previous postings :-)!

[Mhayes]

Thanks Jonas for a great tutorial. Guess who is going to be testing it out this morning? I do have a couple of questions:

1. When I downloaded your version of the photo from this post; I noticed that the two color sampler points were on his cheek. Were these for the gray points, because when I try your version and have slider all the way to the left, it would be the background that would be where I would choose.

2.  I feel silly asking, but when I do the layers for the 50% Difference and Luminosity, they end up with a layer mask with them. I can trash the mask, although if it is not concealed it probably doesn't make any difference.

Margie

[Jonas.Wendorf]

Hi Margie,

I honestly don't know, where those two color samplers are coming from :-).
In my file there's only one color sampler on the photo of the young man and that is on the background.

The layer masks are added by Photoshop by default, however I found that behavior annoying, so I turned it of in my layer's palette options.
However whether you have no layer mask or a blank (white) one, doesn't make a difference :-).

Edit: Now I see what you mean with the color samplers :-).
No, they were just used to see if it was just my eyes misleading me into thinking that in your version the highlights became a little cooler.

[Mhayes]

Hi Jonas,

Thanks! I kept thinking I must be doing something wrong as my points would not be on his face if I followed your instructions. Normally I would not use the white sampler in Curves, because I feel it blows the highlights, but in this case I felt that his shirt was close to a true white and it would have been better on a separate layer and the opacity lowered.

This also brings up the question of when you mentioned that my highlights had a cold cast. I had thought the problem was more blowing the highlight on in his shirt. Do you still think the highlights in his face had a cold cast. The reason I ask is that sometime if you are unsure if your photo is too warm or too cold, you can go to the info pallet and check the numbers. I did that and my blues are greater than yours, but the red is still the larger number.

Mine:  RGB Red: 219; Green: 187; Blue: 181    CMYK  C:13%; M:27%: Y:23%
Yours: RGG Red: 215; Green: 182; Blue: 172    CMYK  C:15%; M:28%; Y:20%

I don't want to muddy the water here, but curiosity got the better of me. Sort of like the monkey with a razor blade.  ::)

Thanks,

Margie

[Jonas.Wendorf]

Hi Margie,

comparing the RGB values, you should note that while the R is 4 points lower, the Green is also 5 points lower and the blue is 9 points lower.
Lower R makes for a cooler color, but lower green and blue both warm a color up. Since the sum of their difference is greater than the difference of the R value, that makes an overall warmer color.

You could also use color samplers in LAB mode which is my preferred way, because that way you only have to add up the a* and b* values and compare them.
Some measurements gave me these results:

Forehead: 10a, 3b (yours); 10a, 8b (mine)
(Our) left cheek: 9a, 4b (yours); 10a, 9b (mine)
(Our) right cheek: 9a, 4b (yours); 8a, 8b (mine)

In both cases the areas are not cool colors, but compared to another color sampler on his forehead a little to the right of the highlight, which shows up as 17a, 11b in your and 18a, 14b in my version, your rendition seems to have too cold (or rather: not warm enough) highlights for my taste.

PS: I was comparing this version of yours here: http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,3323.msg30010.html#msg30010 with mine here: http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,3323.msg30019.html#msg30019

[Mhayes]

Hi Jonas,

Thanks for the detailed explanation and also the reasoning behind using the LAB values.

I got an email today about joining OPR from someone with great skills and here is what he said:

I think your organization is a great idea and I have always felt if I could give back some how I would. I saw a few pieces on your site that made me think "how did they do that?" and that doesn't happen with photoshop or illustrations too much with me so I can't think of a better place to donate some of my ability & time.

I think we should really be proud of what we show and discuss in the Forum


Thanks again,

Margie

[Jonas.Wendorf]

Hi Margie,

you're most welcome, I always enjoy a little discussion over the tools and methods used in Photoshop, it almost always seems to reveal new information for me :up:
E.g. I didn't know, that my color samplers get saved with JPEG images, that was totally new to me :-).


Yes, I think forums are great sources of information and since everybody can participate, there's always more to see and learn!
This thread and also this one: http://www.operationphotorescue.org/forum/index.php/topic,3320.0.html are great examples of this :)

I'm really proud to be a part of the group! Thank you for making this such a wonderful experience :loveit:!