Topic: Da Boyz...

[Greg Groess]

This one should be a lot more simple....
Keep the skin in a good place and make the overall color pop....

Greg

[rsylvester]

Hi,

I set the shadow (black area at bottom) and highlight (white T shirt) points in RGB. I also tried it in LAB but I didn't like the result.

Richard

[Greg Groess]

Not too shabby...
It might be a bit cool but overall it looks pretty good.
The skin tones are in a good place and the whites are not blown out...

Solid correction...
Greg

[ThomasD]

Try by me. CM adjustment:)
ThomasD

[Greg Groess]

Hi Thomas!

Thanks for the posting...Can you tell us more about what you did??
Greg

[Greg Groess]

Here is my correction for this image..

I decided I wanted to open the darker parts of the image like Thomas did. 

1. Shot1.jpg

I Used LAB to set a neutral on the Gray undershirt of the taller boy.  I then set a highlight threshold by moving the light end of the L channel closer to the center of the Curve grid.  To open the shadows I dropped the curve line a bit in the upper right hand side.  this opens the shadows but leaves the highlights alone.  When I did this the mid-tones take a slight beating so I propped them up with the middle adjustment point.  I finished with a slight saturation slider adjustment to bring back the colors that are reduced by brightening the image in LAB.

2. Shot2

I Created a "Skin" mask in Curvemeister by using the "skin channel" that is a part of CM.  This is a created channel that the program makes based on the general range of the skin tones.  I adjusted the skin channel mask to make the skin as black as possible so that when I saturation boosted the image I would not make a mess out of the skin.  I copied the skin mask to a new layer in PS and then I painted out all of the black on the mask except the hands and faces.

3) Final Shot.

I opened the masked layer in CM and used the saturation slider to saturate the colors.  I held back the red and blue a bit to keep the image "real"  It is a bit overdone in the color but I wanted to illustrate the Skin Mask and show you a good use for it. I then sharpened using a new tool I am trying out called Infocus by Topaz Labs. 

Greg

[ganna]

The 3 screen shots shows my quick workflow

[ThomasD]

I will try to remember. My usual workflow which I believe is quite fast and works well for most pictures. I open the photo in Elements and then I go to CM. I use the LAB option which is the one I prefer for most pictures.

The main object then is to find a good grey point for the grey picker. I preferred the grey sweater. I also used some hue clocks for the skin  in order to check everything ok during process.

 I then set the white point. Black quite ok. Increased saturation in LAB mode with slider, quite easy and works well.

Final adjustment in Elements with Shadows/Highlights a combination with CM that works quite well for me.


Regards
Thomas
PS Sometimes I also adjust L curve in LAB mode as to my liking. DS

[David K]

Hello

The image posted was corrected with CM using the Color Wizard.  I played around with different black and white points.  I used RGB.  I plan on experimenting with LAB.  In general, is there a rule for when to use RGB vs LAB?

It seems some of the other people are using some of the more sophisticated features of CM such as CM masks and skin masks.  I assume the class will get into how to this starting next week.  Is this correct? 

Thank you
David Krassen

[Greg Groess]

Absolutely....
The Masking and LAB are covered quite well.  Just hang in there and look forward to learning them...

We will also talk more about Lab Vs RGB.  It is usually more about color control than anything else.  LAB is rather coarse in Color corrections.  RGB is much better at Color Corrections.  If the image is in no real color trouble than LAB is fast and furious for the corrections.  If you have color casts that change slightly with brightness then RGB is your best bet.

Greg

[sjordan93436]

Here is my attempt.  I fixed some color and used CM color boost.  One problem that bothered me was the exposure.  Back boy is darker and bottom right was darker.  I did some gradient stuff in LR and PS.  The picture is flatter.

[Greg Groess]

Steve,
We have got to get you using the skin tones mask...the faces are too harsh...
Let's put that down as one of the goals for you...

Greg

[sjordan93436]

Yeah.  And the colors too bright.  The red sweatshirt detracts.

A couple of photoshop questions.

I wanted to equalize the exposure here.  In LR and ACR that is trivial and intuitive.  In photoshop?? 

My thinking would be to make a duplicate layer.  Increase or decrease exposure in one layer.  Add a mask and add gradient to it.  White to black.  Can you point me to a place that walks me through that or is there a better way?

Instead of exposure, I could do CM and L channel.  Is exposure, levels, and curves approximately equal?

[Greg Groess]

I balanced my version using the L channel in LAB  You can create a mask in CM that is based on the K channel or the L channel that is tones rather than harsh black and white...Remember the red tassels exercise in the CM 101 class??  it is in leaving the mask a bit open that you can control the results you are looking for.  See shot1

Shot 1 is a K channel mask that limits the adjustment to the darkest areas.

Greg

[sjordan93436]

Thanks I will try both and then skin mask.

-------------------
Off topic..

Photoshop question:

In these exercises and often in real editing, I just merge and go on.  Any curving in CM, is saved for a while in the history.  Nothing else is fancy and easily reproducible. 

However, (you knew there was a however) I would like to copy a new layer saving the items.  (I could duplicate image.)  If I straight copy, I copy masks and blending modes which is not what I want.   I want a "normal" layer with no masks. 

I looked the the mighty zog's page and he had an action that looked like it might work.  But when I merge visible all layers go into one.