color theory
Color Theory, Tone and Perspective
by John Ross The Art of Retouching Studio http://www.TheArtofRetouching.com
Introduction When looking at images, ask yourself “What does the image need? Adjustments on flyaway hair, bags under the eyes, clothing, wrinkles, blemishes, discoloration…what else? Beyond the evaluation of what is needed, often the more important question is how to actually do it. Since we know there are easily 5 ways to do anything in Photoshop, we need to evaluate which way would give us the best results for with the least amount of work. Sometimes you are correct, and the work looks great. If you are wrong, then it may look imperfect, or outright wrong. While it may be true that in the worst case, just do it over again, but who wants to do that? Your best bet for doing it right, is to become skilled at finding the problems, identifying the solutions, and the skillfully complete the task. Cloning works best when the need is to remove a physical object from the scene. Healing works best when you are simply looking to remove dust spots and smaller items. Sometimes, doing a cut/paste and Transform may help conceal something better. The possibilites are often endless, but just like color corrections, there is often a clear answer. You just need to have a working knowledge of what that answer actually is. Everyone out there teaches about Photoshop tools, and professes to be a guru. I hate that word. Moving sliders brighter and darker, redder and bluer, then sending you on your way is not really teaching anything. The biggest limitation I see with Photoshop usage is being sloppy. Jerky/jagged lines. Repeating patterns. A general inability to guide consistant and believable results. I see all these tools as nothing more than possible pathways to perfection. The skills come from your ability of knowing which tools work best, in which situations. Over time, you learn shortcuts that speed up the processes. These classes you take with me will eliminate years of trial and error. You may not even remember everything we talk about, but I hope you will remember that if I never talked about something, there is likely a good reason for it. Usually, it is because it is better suited for graphic design, as opposed to retouching photographs. Or a quick way for a beginner, but not a professional.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
1
Overall Changes vs. Detailed Changes You become good at Photoshop through an understanding of color. Being able to balance the tones. You need to introduce proper perspective, with a creative eye. Being aware of the details, but not letting yourself become bogged down in them. I had an art teacher once, who would reprimand the students for focusing on the details, before they created the framework of the illustration. This because we has students in the class that wanted to start by working on the eyes, nose and lips, before they ever gave a framework for the head and body. You may make a really nice eye.... two even. But at some point, when you sit up, and finally look at what you are doing as a whole, you may find that one is bigger than the other. This is why the teach would insist on creating the framework first. And I encourage you to do the same.
If you follow my advice, and work globally first in Camera Raw, then globally with Adjustment Layers, you will find that it’s easier to make the decisions about the details once you have worked out many of the color and tonal changes already. If you try and start fixing the eyes, before fixing everything else, you can easily find later that the initial changes you made should no longer be applied.
2
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Light Sculpting The basic goal of sculpting with light, is to manually bring the viewers eye where you want it to be. By understanding that the eye is drawn to light areas, instead of dark areas, You can manipulate where someone is drawn to, within your image. To be more specific, if you were to darken the lower part of a photograph, then you know the viewer will be draw to the top of the image. If you darken the right, they will look to the left. It’s simply how our eyes work. Knowing that, will help you create better imagery.
Often, this is not possible in the real world. Even with controlled conditions, there are difficulties. The easiest way to tackle this problem is to create a mask where you want to darken, and then use curven to bring down the tones. Whether it is with Camera Raw, or Photoshop, the goal is often to create a gradient mask, and then adjust either the darks of the curve, or the exposure. Either way, you can force the eye up,instead of letting it wander all over the place. When done softly, with a bit of intent, no one will even notice you did it at all.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
3
When using more complex masking techniques, you can bring the eye up from various diorections, and have it settle on the area of most interest. For portraits, that would be the face. But technically, it could be anything you want it to be. One of the key’s to my own success in my later years, was to better understand the lights and darks. While I did learn about it in art school a lifetime ago, it wasn’t until I started to apply it to my retouching, that I was able to force my way past all the other retouchers out there. Don’t be afraid to push the contrast, because it often helps create dramatic images.
Adjusting Basic Tones When evaluating your photo, you may notice that the colors may look okay, but something is still amiss. It may be that the general overall tones of the image are a bit off. Flashes create fake lighting, and are unrealistic with the background. Portraits are generally fine because the lighting is more balanced with the background, so the images don’t appear to be floating. When evaluating an entire scene, you need to take more into account. You can also see if the depth of the image is correct. Generally, objects should be darker when nearer to the foreground, and become lighter in the distance. You have the tools, now you need technique. An important thing to determine when you’re working is where to start and where to stop. Usually, working on an image for three hours renders a result that is 90% better than average. Five hours is enough. Harness a consistent workflow of results, and then go into detail. A standard portrait usually takes 20 to 40 minutes up to an hour and a half.
Alt/Opt Key on a Layer By Holding down the Alt/Opt (PC/Mac), you can easily show the before and after by clicking on the eye of a single layer. This saves the trouble of clicking on and off multiple layers. 4
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Photo Evaluation When you’re given a raw image to work with, your mind’s eye will automatically focus on what’s dominant about the photo. If there are any glaring mistakes, you will be able to pick them up quickly. But as a professional retoucher, you need to have a bit more of a keener eye than the average person.
Evaluate the image to decide which tool to use for the task at hand. Check to see what’s wrong with the picture. Does the lighting take focus away from the subject? Are your eyes immediately drawn to something else? Are there undesirable distractions in the background? A funny thing to notice is how during your initial evaluation pass, you identify problem areas, fix them, and then only to find more. As you continue to fix, you continue to find more imperfections. While it is great to find these issues and fix them, it’s also importnat to know when you are going too far, and overworking the image.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
5
Leaving Camera Raw On of the easiest ways to revaluate what you have recently started working on in Camera Raw, is to simply “Open Object”. I am often amazed at how many needed corrections I find, simply by changing the interface from Camera Raw, or Photoshop. I am pretty sure it have something to do with going from a full screen image surrounded by white, to a much smaller windowed image, surrounded by grey. In any case, this is the first way I try an evaluate my images. I come out of Camera Raw, into Photoshop, and I make note of the first thoughts that cross my mind. Too Saturated.... Too Cool... That patch is too bright... You get the idea. I usually go back into Camera Raw, make the change, and go back to Photoshop. once I am satisfied, I then focus on making my detailed changes in Photoshop.
Going Full Screen By pushing the “F” key, you can rotate the display from Window, Full Screen with Palettes, and Full Screen Black Background. I then zoom in as needed to allow the image fill my monitor. Once again, this changes my persective. Seeing things full screen helps me identify problem areas, with plenty of detail.
Going Tiny I will also make my image display really tiny. Website or even thumbnail size. This allows me to judge the image based on general shape, without the details bogging me down.
Going Mobile Another silly trick I do when I am working on complicated Compositing, is to copy a JPG of the image(s) to my Smart Phone. I will walk into another room, grab some water or something, then open the image on the phone. It seems kinda silly, but by changing yo ur mind-set, environment, and viewing device, it really helps to see things in a new way. I can now zoom in and out, and really look at what I am going, away from my desk. This is definately a hassle, so I only do it when it’s really important.
Flip It Upside Down Look at what you’re doing and evaluate why it doesn’t work. You can even rotate your image (under the Hand Tool - Rotate View Tool) to flip it around and see what works from a different perspective. Why doesn’t it work? You will no longer be looking at this image like it’s a portrait, but rather as shapes. Once again, it breaks up the monotony, and fools your mind’s eye.
6
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Black and White Convert Color images to Black and White for Tonal Evaluation. Simply put an Adjustment Layer on top of everything. This will help to conceal all the color, allowing you to focus exclusively on the tones. You can decide if the lighting is balanced, or lop-sided. Is there too much contrast, or too much detail? Here, your image will either stand on it’s own, or it will fall apart under a close eye of scrutany.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
7
Primary, Secondary, and Junk Adjustments Once you know what’s wrong with your photo, you can decide on the tools you want to use. We have several tools in the adjustment palette, but we can break them down into Primary, Secondary, and Junk folders depending on our usage for photo retouching.
Primary Tools include: • Hue/Saturation – brings up the warm colors, which we generally like to use in order to make images pop • Curves – allows us to adjust tonal shifts with precision and more professionally • Selective Color – allows us to manipulate color with more control Secondary Tools include: • • • •
Levels – lets us adjust tones more simply than using Curves Vibrance – brings up the cool colors in our photo Black and White – helps us adjust the black shades and white shades in our photo Photo Filter – this allows us to utilize various tools in filtering
Junk tools are Exposure and Brightness/Contrast, because they simply let you use sliders and do not give you full control over your adjustments. Color Balance, Color Lookup, Channel Mixer, Invert, Posterize, Threshold, and Gradient Map are also tools which we do not need to concern ourselves with during standard photo retouching. I want to see you practice with the Primary and Secondary Adjustments. I want you to practice to the point of Mastery. When you are finally ready to try the rest of the Adjustments, you will realize you have no reason to even use them. Personally, I think that is one of the limitations of Photoshop... giving too many options and possibilities. Don’t leave yourself overwhelmed. Expand your horizons, but if it works, don’t go fixing it.
8
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Basic Tonal Tools – Levels and Curves Levels are easiest method for adjusting tones. Curves, on the other hand, are more intermediate. It doesn’t need to be this way, but Levels just seem to be an easier way for beginners to get started. So, for now, we’ll discuss a bit about Levels. Opening up this tool shows you a histogram to see the tones in your image. In this example, we can see that the whites and blacks are very little. If you look closely, you can see that there is no absolute black, and the whites are pulled into the quarter tones. The result is a flat looking image. By pushing the little black and white arrows into the starting points of the histogram, it will adjust the contrast of the image, and will give it much more punch. Avoid the simplicity of contrast tools. Contrast usually adjusts both the Blacks and the Whites at the same time. It does add contrast to your photo, but we’d like to have a little bit more control over what we want to adjust, instead of having both extremes in the tonal range adjusted at the same time. So instead, drag the white slider and pull it back in to where the detail begins. Do the same with the blacks to add more contrast to the image.
Beauty of Masking If you want to adjust without affecting other parts of the image, apply a mask to the level. For example, when working on the hair, click the brush tool and adjust the hardness at the top menu down to 20% so that it’s softer. Because the layer is white, use the black of the brush to select areas that you don’t want to affect. Depending on the situation, you can do the mask first before making the effect on your layer, but in this case it’s the other way around because we want to make a global change to the image before we adjust the hair. Don’t forget that you can use the same 4 Adjustments over and over again, by applying different masks and various degrees of changes, to the same tools. In this example, I used Curves 5 times in a row. But when combined, the illusion of change is dramatic. The true secret is in the simple recipie. Often, I will use Curves for Tonal changes, and Selective Color for color changes. By creating various masks, I can use these two over and over. Every now and then I throw in Saturation and Levels for variety.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
9
Which Tool Is Best? This topic will come up again and again for you, during your first few years. You should develop the skill of knowing which tool to use in which situation. Know what works best in Camera Raw and what works in Photoshop. For example, the White Balance in Photoshop is terrible, which was done on the first picture. It may seem OK until you try it with Camera Raw. Then, you will see that it neutralizes the colors much better.
But honestly, that is the difference between the beginner, and the intermediate user. When the master evaluates the same image, he also knows that Camera Raw is really great at White Balance. However, he also knows that running the same layer through the Camera Raw Filter instead, quite possibly may yield better results. In fact, doing both Camera Raw, and Camera Raw Filter may even look the best. But, you would not think to even try that, until you have given yourself the time to play with various files, and experiment with the results.
10
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
The Auto Button If you are feeling lazy, you can use the Auto Button for Levels or Curves. But by default, the result is less than stellar. It will want to adjust the contrast, which is often not what I want. Instead, use the pull-out menu and select Auto Options. If you change it to “Find Dark and Light Color” and use the “Select Neutral Midtones” option. Your results will be quite different.
Remember earlier, when I mentioned three different ways to adjust White Balance? Well, here is a fourth, and generally hidden one. Most people don’t even know it’s buried in here. But now you do.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
11
What’s The Emotion? When you are working on an image, you need to decide early on in the process, how the colors of this particular image will be used to give the feeling of emotion. Often, it’s about the color, mood, and ambience. Should the image be warm, cool, or even neutral. By manipulating the colors, you can achieve very different results, from the exact same image.
Pushing and Pull Color and Tone This falls under common sense, but only when I point it out to you, and make it clear as day. Brights come forward, and Darks go backwards. Simply meaning, the brighter an area is, the more your eye is drawn to it. Look at the image above, and tell me where the first place you look is. Eyes, right? Where is the second place you look? Eyes, right? Thats because I’ve given you little else to look at. This, is by design. Another way to make your target stand out, is you have the subject using warm colors, and the background to have cool colors. With the example below, she jumps right off the image, because the back is cool and dark, while she is bright and warm. The image top right is similar to the lower one, but it definately does not jump out the same way. Can you tell the differences, and identify why one works better than the other?
12
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Histograms Histogram levels may or may not be visually accurate. Mathematically, it may be fine, but the look is too dark. Other times the Histogram would be out to lunch, but look just the way you want it. It all depends on artistic intent. Use them as a guide, nothing more.
When you are inside Camera Raw, you can find the histogram in the top right corner. If you have a spike on the left, you have details being clipped in the Blacks. If you have a spike on the right, then colors are being clipped in the Whites. The histogram, and the spikes, are shown in color, and mixtures of color. The channels are represented with Red, Green, and Blue. When channels overlap, they introduce Magenta, Cyan and Yellow. When all channels share data, it is shown in White. If you would like to see the areas being clipped, simply push the little trianlges at the top of the histogram. The clipped Blacks will show as Blue, and the clipped Whites will show as red. Once inside of Photoshop, you will no longer be able to see the clipping with the Histogram palette (kinda silly Adobe, really). In this example, the histogram looks very wrong (should be fairly even all the way across), but when you look at the image, you know it’s correct. v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
13
Selective Color It’s kinda funny that we went to the end of the this section, before I even mention one of the color tools. Simply, the tool is the easy part. Selective Color has the ability to edit the colors of Red, Green, and Blue; the complimentary colors of Cyan; Magenta and Yellow; and then the tones of White, Neutral, and Black. Once you select the color or tone you want to edit, then you move the sliders for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
At first, this may seem confusing, but I assure you, this tool is quite easy to use. For example, if you want to edit the fleshtones, quite often all you need to do is select Color: Reds, and then add or reduce the Cyan, Magenta, or Yellows within that color range. Often, these changes can even be done without a mask. Sometimes, it becomes complicated to grab the color you want, without grabbing areas around the whole image. In those cases, you would create a mask first, then often select Color: Neutrals, and finally adjust the sliders as needed. 14
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Hue/Saturation Tool The last of the color tools you really need to master is the Hue/Saturation Tool. At a basic level, it simply lets you add saturation to the entire image. With a little more effort, you can create a mask, and the add or remove saturation for a selected area. Nothing really complicated with that.
When you introduce the Hue slider (often easiest with Colorize box checked), you can make wild swings of color. For eample, turning Red to Blue, Green, or Yellow. While on the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much use for that functionality, but consider using it in smaller doeses. Like, to turn your Orange into a lighter Orange. I’m not saying I do this regularly, but it’s an important skill to learn. It’s also important to know this is the only place in Photoshop you have this type of true control. Other tools exist that give the illusion of doing something similar, but noe are as flexible and non-destructive as this tool.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
15
by John Ross The Art of Retouching Studio http://www.TheArtofRetouching.com
Introduction When looking at images, ask yourself “What does the image need? Adjustments on flyaway hair, bags under the eyes, clothing, wrinkles, blemishes, discoloration…what else? Beyond the evaluation of what is needed, often the more important question is how to actually do it. Since we know there are easily 5 ways to do anything in Photoshop, we need to evaluate which way would give us the best results for with the least amount of work. Sometimes you are correct, and the work looks great. If you are wrong, then it may look imperfect, or outright wrong. While it may be true that in the worst case, just do it over again, but who wants to do that? Your best bet for doing it right, is to become skilled at finding the problems, identifying the solutions, and the skillfully complete the task. Cloning works best when the need is to remove a physical object from the scene. Healing works best when you are simply looking to remove dust spots and smaller items. Sometimes, doing a cut/paste and Transform may help conceal something better. The possibilites are often endless, but just like color corrections, there is often a clear answer. You just need to have a working knowledge of what that answer actually is. Everyone out there teaches about Photoshop tools, and professes to be a guru. I hate that word. Moving sliders brighter and darker, redder and bluer, then sending you on your way is not really teaching anything. The biggest limitation I see with Photoshop usage is being sloppy. Jerky/jagged lines. Repeating patterns. A general inability to guide consistant and believable results. I see all these tools as nothing more than possible pathways to perfection. The skills come from your ability of knowing which tools work best, in which situations. Over time, you learn shortcuts that speed up the processes. These classes you take with me will eliminate years of trial and error. You may not even remember everything we talk about, but I hope you will remember that if I never talked about something, there is likely a good reason for it. Usually, it is because it is better suited for graphic design, as opposed to retouching photographs. Or a quick way for a beginner, but not a professional.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
1
Overall Changes vs. Detailed Changes You become good at Photoshop through an understanding of color. Being able to balance the tones. You need to introduce proper perspective, with a creative eye. Being aware of the details, but not letting yourself become bogged down in them. I had an art teacher once, who would reprimand the students for focusing on the details, before they created the framework of the illustration. This because we has students in the class that wanted to start by working on the eyes, nose and lips, before they ever gave a framework for the head and body. You may make a really nice eye.... two even. But at some point, when you sit up, and finally look at what you are doing as a whole, you may find that one is bigger than the other. This is why the teach would insist on creating the framework first. And I encourage you to do the same.
If you follow my advice, and work globally first in Camera Raw, then globally with Adjustment Layers, you will find that it’s easier to make the decisions about the details once you have worked out many of the color and tonal changes already. If you try and start fixing the eyes, before fixing everything else, you can easily find later that the initial changes you made should no longer be applied.
2
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Light Sculpting The basic goal of sculpting with light, is to manually bring the viewers eye where you want it to be. By understanding that the eye is drawn to light areas, instead of dark areas, You can manipulate where someone is drawn to, within your image. To be more specific, if you were to darken the lower part of a photograph, then you know the viewer will be draw to the top of the image. If you darken the right, they will look to the left. It’s simply how our eyes work. Knowing that, will help you create better imagery.
Often, this is not possible in the real world. Even with controlled conditions, there are difficulties. The easiest way to tackle this problem is to create a mask where you want to darken, and then use curven to bring down the tones. Whether it is with Camera Raw, or Photoshop, the goal is often to create a gradient mask, and then adjust either the darks of the curve, or the exposure. Either way, you can force the eye up,instead of letting it wander all over the place. When done softly, with a bit of intent, no one will even notice you did it at all.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
3
When using more complex masking techniques, you can bring the eye up from various diorections, and have it settle on the area of most interest. For portraits, that would be the face. But technically, it could be anything you want it to be. One of the key’s to my own success in my later years, was to better understand the lights and darks. While I did learn about it in art school a lifetime ago, it wasn’t until I started to apply it to my retouching, that I was able to force my way past all the other retouchers out there. Don’t be afraid to push the contrast, because it often helps create dramatic images.
Adjusting Basic Tones When evaluating your photo, you may notice that the colors may look okay, but something is still amiss. It may be that the general overall tones of the image are a bit off. Flashes create fake lighting, and are unrealistic with the background. Portraits are generally fine because the lighting is more balanced with the background, so the images don’t appear to be floating. When evaluating an entire scene, you need to take more into account. You can also see if the depth of the image is correct. Generally, objects should be darker when nearer to the foreground, and become lighter in the distance. You have the tools, now you need technique. An important thing to determine when you’re working is where to start and where to stop. Usually, working on an image for three hours renders a result that is 90% better than average. Five hours is enough. Harness a consistent workflow of results, and then go into detail. A standard portrait usually takes 20 to 40 minutes up to an hour and a half.
Alt/Opt Key on a Layer By Holding down the Alt/Opt (PC/Mac), you can easily show the before and after by clicking on the eye of a single layer. This saves the trouble of clicking on and off multiple layers. 4
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Photo Evaluation When you’re given a raw image to work with, your mind’s eye will automatically focus on what’s dominant about the photo. If there are any glaring mistakes, you will be able to pick them up quickly. But as a professional retoucher, you need to have a bit more of a keener eye than the average person.
Evaluate the image to decide which tool to use for the task at hand. Check to see what’s wrong with the picture. Does the lighting take focus away from the subject? Are your eyes immediately drawn to something else? Are there undesirable distractions in the background? A funny thing to notice is how during your initial evaluation pass, you identify problem areas, fix them, and then only to find more. As you continue to fix, you continue to find more imperfections. While it is great to find these issues and fix them, it’s also importnat to know when you are going too far, and overworking the image.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
5
Leaving Camera Raw On of the easiest ways to revaluate what you have recently started working on in Camera Raw, is to simply “Open Object”. I am often amazed at how many needed corrections I find, simply by changing the interface from Camera Raw, or Photoshop. I am pretty sure it have something to do with going from a full screen image surrounded by white, to a much smaller windowed image, surrounded by grey. In any case, this is the first way I try an evaluate my images. I come out of Camera Raw, into Photoshop, and I make note of the first thoughts that cross my mind. Too Saturated.... Too Cool... That patch is too bright... You get the idea. I usually go back into Camera Raw, make the change, and go back to Photoshop. once I am satisfied, I then focus on making my detailed changes in Photoshop.
Going Full Screen By pushing the “F” key, you can rotate the display from Window, Full Screen with Palettes, and Full Screen Black Background. I then zoom in as needed to allow the image fill my monitor. Once again, this changes my persective. Seeing things full screen helps me identify problem areas, with plenty of detail.
Going Tiny I will also make my image display really tiny. Website or even thumbnail size. This allows me to judge the image based on general shape, without the details bogging me down.
Going Mobile Another silly trick I do when I am working on complicated Compositing, is to copy a JPG of the image(s) to my Smart Phone. I will walk into another room, grab some water or something, then open the image on the phone. It seems kinda silly, but by changing yo ur mind-set, environment, and viewing device, it really helps to see things in a new way. I can now zoom in and out, and really look at what I am going, away from my desk. This is definately a hassle, so I only do it when it’s really important.
Flip It Upside Down Look at what you’re doing and evaluate why it doesn’t work. You can even rotate your image (under the Hand Tool - Rotate View Tool) to flip it around and see what works from a different perspective. Why doesn’t it work? You will no longer be looking at this image like it’s a portrait, but rather as shapes. Once again, it breaks up the monotony, and fools your mind’s eye.
6
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Black and White Convert Color images to Black and White for Tonal Evaluation. Simply put an Adjustment Layer on top of everything. This will help to conceal all the color, allowing you to focus exclusively on the tones. You can decide if the lighting is balanced, or lop-sided. Is there too much contrast, or too much detail? Here, your image will either stand on it’s own, or it will fall apart under a close eye of scrutany.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
7
Primary, Secondary, and Junk Adjustments Once you know what’s wrong with your photo, you can decide on the tools you want to use. We have several tools in the adjustment palette, but we can break them down into Primary, Secondary, and Junk folders depending on our usage for photo retouching.
Primary Tools include: • Hue/Saturation – brings up the warm colors, which we generally like to use in order to make images pop • Curves – allows us to adjust tonal shifts with precision and more professionally • Selective Color – allows us to manipulate color with more control Secondary Tools include: • • • •
Levels – lets us adjust tones more simply than using Curves Vibrance – brings up the cool colors in our photo Black and White – helps us adjust the black shades and white shades in our photo Photo Filter – this allows us to utilize various tools in filtering
Junk tools are Exposure and Brightness/Contrast, because they simply let you use sliders and do not give you full control over your adjustments. Color Balance, Color Lookup, Channel Mixer, Invert, Posterize, Threshold, and Gradient Map are also tools which we do not need to concern ourselves with during standard photo retouching. I want to see you practice with the Primary and Secondary Adjustments. I want you to practice to the point of Mastery. When you are finally ready to try the rest of the Adjustments, you will realize you have no reason to even use them. Personally, I think that is one of the limitations of Photoshop... giving too many options and possibilities. Don’t leave yourself overwhelmed. Expand your horizons, but if it works, don’t go fixing it.
8
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Basic Tonal Tools – Levels and Curves Levels are easiest method for adjusting tones. Curves, on the other hand, are more intermediate. It doesn’t need to be this way, but Levels just seem to be an easier way for beginners to get started. So, for now, we’ll discuss a bit about Levels. Opening up this tool shows you a histogram to see the tones in your image. In this example, we can see that the whites and blacks are very little. If you look closely, you can see that there is no absolute black, and the whites are pulled into the quarter tones. The result is a flat looking image. By pushing the little black and white arrows into the starting points of the histogram, it will adjust the contrast of the image, and will give it much more punch. Avoid the simplicity of contrast tools. Contrast usually adjusts both the Blacks and the Whites at the same time. It does add contrast to your photo, but we’d like to have a little bit more control over what we want to adjust, instead of having both extremes in the tonal range adjusted at the same time. So instead, drag the white slider and pull it back in to where the detail begins. Do the same with the blacks to add more contrast to the image.
Beauty of Masking If you want to adjust without affecting other parts of the image, apply a mask to the level. For example, when working on the hair, click the brush tool and adjust the hardness at the top menu down to 20% so that it’s softer. Because the layer is white, use the black of the brush to select areas that you don’t want to affect. Depending on the situation, you can do the mask first before making the effect on your layer, but in this case it’s the other way around because we want to make a global change to the image before we adjust the hair. Don’t forget that you can use the same 4 Adjustments over and over again, by applying different masks and various degrees of changes, to the same tools. In this example, I used Curves 5 times in a row. But when combined, the illusion of change is dramatic. The true secret is in the simple recipie. Often, I will use Curves for Tonal changes, and Selective Color for color changes. By creating various masks, I can use these two over and over. Every now and then I throw in Saturation and Levels for variety.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
9
Which Tool Is Best? This topic will come up again and again for you, during your first few years. You should develop the skill of knowing which tool to use in which situation. Know what works best in Camera Raw and what works in Photoshop. For example, the White Balance in Photoshop is terrible, which was done on the first picture. It may seem OK until you try it with Camera Raw. Then, you will see that it neutralizes the colors much better.
But honestly, that is the difference between the beginner, and the intermediate user. When the master evaluates the same image, he also knows that Camera Raw is really great at White Balance. However, he also knows that running the same layer through the Camera Raw Filter instead, quite possibly may yield better results. In fact, doing both Camera Raw, and Camera Raw Filter may even look the best. But, you would not think to even try that, until you have given yourself the time to play with various files, and experiment with the results.
10
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
The Auto Button If you are feeling lazy, you can use the Auto Button for Levels or Curves. But by default, the result is less than stellar. It will want to adjust the contrast, which is often not what I want. Instead, use the pull-out menu and select Auto Options. If you change it to “Find Dark and Light Color” and use the “Select Neutral Midtones” option. Your results will be quite different.
Remember earlier, when I mentioned three different ways to adjust White Balance? Well, here is a fourth, and generally hidden one. Most people don’t even know it’s buried in here. But now you do.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
11
What’s The Emotion? When you are working on an image, you need to decide early on in the process, how the colors of this particular image will be used to give the feeling of emotion. Often, it’s about the color, mood, and ambience. Should the image be warm, cool, or even neutral. By manipulating the colors, you can achieve very different results, from the exact same image.
Pushing and Pull Color and Tone This falls under common sense, but only when I point it out to you, and make it clear as day. Brights come forward, and Darks go backwards. Simply meaning, the brighter an area is, the more your eye is drawn to it. Look at the image above, and tell me where the first place you look is. Eyes, right? Where is the second place you look? Eyes, right? Thats because I’ve given you little else to look at. This, is by design. Another way to make your target stand out, is you have the subject using warm colors, and the background to have cool colors. With the example below, she jumps right off the image, because the back is cool and dark, while she is bright and warm. The image top right is similar to the lower one, but it definately does not jump out the same way. Can you tell the differences, and identify why one works better than the other?
12
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Histograms Histogram levels may or may not be visually accurate. Mathematically, it may be fine, but the look is too dark. Other times the Histogram would be out to lunch, but look just the way you want it. It all depends on artistic intent. Use them as a guide, nothing more.
When you are inside Camera Raw, you can find the histogram in the top right corner. If you have a spike on the left, you have details being clipped in the Blacks. If you have a spike on the right, then colors are being clipped in the Whites. The histogram, and the spikes, are shown in color, and mixtures of color. The channels are represented with Red, Green, and Blue. When channels overlap, they introduce Magenta, Cyan and Yellow. When all channels share data, it is shown in White. If you would like to see the areas being clipped, simply push the little trianlges at the top of the histogram. The clipped Blacks will show as Blue, and the clipped Whites will show as red. Once inside of Photoshop, you will no longer be able to see the clipping with the Histogram palette (kinda silly Adobe, really). In this example, the histogram looks very wrong (should be fairly even all the way across), but when you look at the image, you know it’s correct. v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
13
Selective Color It’s kinda funny that we went to the end of the this section, before I even mention one of the color tools. Simply, the tool is the easy part. Selective Color has the ability to edit the colors of Red, Green, and Blue; the complimentary colors of Cyan; Magenta and Yellow; and then the tones of White, Neutral, and Black. Once you select the color or tone you want to edit, then you move the sliders for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
At first, this may seem confusing, but I assure you, this tool is quite easy to use. For example, if you want to edit the fleshtones, quite often all you need to do is select Color: Reds, and then add or reduce the Cyan, Magenta, or Yellows within that color range. Often, these changes can even be done without a mask. Sometimes, it becomes complicated to grab the color you want, without grabbing areas around the whole image. In those cases, you would create a mask first, then often select Color: Neutrals, and finally adjust the sliders as needed. 14
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
v. 1
Hue/Saturation Tool The last of the color tools you really need to master is the Hue/Saturation Tool. At a basic level, it simply lets you add saturation to the entire image. With a little more effort, you can create a mask, and the add or remove saturation for a selected area. Nothing really complicated with that.
When you introduce the Hue slider (often easiest with Colorize box checked), you can make wild swings of color. For eample, turning Red to Blue, Green, or Yellow. While on the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much use for that functionality, but consider using it in smaller doeses. Like, to turn your Orange into a lighter Orange. I’m not saying I do this regularly, but it’s an important skill to learn. It’s also important to know this is the only place in Photoshop you have this type of true control. Other tools exist that give the illusion of doing something similar, but noe are as flexible and non-destructive as this tool.
v. 1
Photoshop Perfection: Basic 2 Course - Color Theory
15
