sketch

While I was restoring a photo at Image Arts I ran into a problem with some color fadding at the bottom of the image.  The solution…

Clone Tool

• mode: color
• opacity: ~30%

While working at Image Arts Etc. I had the opportunity to create and experiment with digital mattes. Some simple and others becoming more complex and creative. One of the most important things you will need is your creativity; second, some good high res texture files. Different cloth and destroyed images produce some great mattes, although solid color mattes will work as well (no texture files needed).

One way of creating an interesting texture is to take an image, turn it black and white, then go extreme with Levels and Curves. Copy and paste the image, play with opacity and blending modes. These are some ideas which will hopefully help you get the creativity flowing and create some good texture files.

[Look for the doc I wrote while at Image Arts. Have a simple version and an extended version]

ctrl + ‘m’ is the shortcut. Click and hold the eye dropper on the image to see where the range of colors resides. Ctrl + Click and release to have the dot show up in the dialogue box so you can adjust more precisely.

Go to the channels pallet and create a new channel. Click on the RGB eye. On the new ‘alpha’ chanel use the gradient tool set to default.

Click on the middle of the object you want in focus and drag up to the top of the object (not the screen).

Then change the ‘mode’ on the gradient tool to ’screen’. Click on the middle of the object you want in focus and drag down to the bottom of the object.

Go to the RGB chanel and select the object. Go back to the ‘alpha’ chanel and fill the selection with black. From the ‘Chanels’ pallet, go back to the ‘Layers’ pallet.

On the image layer, choose Filter > Blurr > Lens Blurr… On ‘Depth Map’ change ‘none’ to the ‘alpha’ chanel just created. Also for better quality click on the ‘More accurate’ radio button.

Select just the teeth with the ‘quick mask’ (located under the color swatch in the tool bar).

Go back to standard mode and inverse the selection. Choose the ‘Hue/Saturation’ adjustment layer.

Edit > Yellows from the dropdown box. Then desaturate to -100 or desired.

Edit > Master and add some brightness to remove the grey from the teeth. “Ok” out of the dialogue box.

Change the layers ‘opacity’ if it’s too white. Then you can paint black, white or grey over the darker teeth to change those as well on the layer mask.

Extractor tool in Photoshop. Use a smaller brush around the more defined edges and a bigger brush around the larger undefined areas like hair. When finished use the ‘history brush’ to paint back in areas that you still desire.
LayersMagazine.com

To get a dark feathered edge or vignette effect; duplicate the layer. Mode to ‘multiply’. Make a selection about an inch or so from the edges, feather extreme and delete.

The trick to using the gradient map is in the blending mode, ‘color’ is a good option but the others can produce good results as well. Another tip is to click on the gradient and then the circle with the arrow to load new presets.