Little Boy Mad (Work Flow)

[ggroess]

I will be adding to this posting as we build the work flow for this image.
As we go forward with this image...I will be adding proposed solutions to the trouble we are finding in the image.

Suggestions to the work flow can be posted here...

So Far...The following items have been identified....

1) Image is contrasty

2) Color Cast on the image

3) Lips too red

4) Background Lighting mis-match

any more to add??

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Head framed by incandescent light?GregM

[ggroess]

Head framed by incandescent light?GregM

Added to the list...

Greg

[ggroess]

So Far...The following items have been identified....

1) Image is contrasty
There are many different ways we can tackle this part of the image.  I chose to copy the background layer, set the mode of the layer to "screen", and apply a mask to the layer, I then painted out the face on the mask so that the face is the original and the rest of the image was lightened by the screen.

If you have never really used a mask this is a good point to try one.  They are very powerful tools in PS and PSE that can really help you get more out of the image.

THINGS TO NOTICE: The shoulders look better, you can see the color of the sweater,  you can see the back of the chair clearly, there is more detail visible in the background, overall the image has more exposure balance.

Any other suggestions??
Please post them...
Greg

2) Color Cast on the image

3) Lips too red

4) Background Lighting mis-match

[ggroess]

2) Color Cast on the image
We are going to use the same mask that protected the face from the screen to protect it from the color cast reduction.
To do that you can follow the steps below.
1) With the background copy layer selected, press Ctrl-A on the keyboard to select the entire image on the layer. 

2) Right Click on the mask part of the layer and select "Subtract Mask from Selection", this subtracts the mask layer from your selection and provides you with an outline of the area that will be changed.

3) Add or subtract from the select using the "lasso tool" to make the selection fit the entire face and any other areas you want to protect.

4) Press Ctrl-Shift-I to invert the selection.  This will create a "working" mask in CM when you start the program.

5) Open CM and switch to LAB mode.

6) Apply curves as shown in shot1.

7) De-Select image by pressing Ctrl-D.

THINGS TO NOTICE:  The mask is not very tight.  You can select it tighter, I choose to feather the effect.  I might revise that later.  I did not completely remove the tungsten color from the image.  I felt that it added "color depth" to the image and provided some visual separation and contrast for the background.  It is also what my mind expected from this type of indoor shot.

3) Lips too red

4) Background Lighting mis-match

any more to add??

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Greg,

I like the idea of duplicating the background layer and setting its blend mode to Screen. This technique does seem to bring out some shadow detail. I have a question, though: would you do this after you had applied curves to the background layer, or would you apply curves to the overall image resulting from the two layers?

-Jay

[ggroess]

I did not flatten at this point since I went to the trouble of painting out the face on the mask and I knew I would be making a color adjustment on the area that was not masked off.  If I flatten at the point you describe I have to re-create the layer and re-mask the face. 

I did save at that point so I could get back to the basic image if the color correction for the background went badly. The image at this point was "stable" and I would want to be able to get back to this point.

Just for clarity..you can flatten if you choose to..I wanted to save work...
Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

That makes sense, since no one would want to have to go through that process twice.  Speaking of saving work, how do you use Curvemeister in a "non-destructive" manner?  The only way I have been able to come up with is this:

-when done in Curvemeister, save the ACV file.
-cancel out of Curvemeister (i.e. do not apply the changes).
-back in Photoshop, add a curves layer and load the ACV file that I just saved from Curvemeister.

Is there a better way to do this?

[ggroess]

Well you can create the layer copy and name it "CM" apply the curve to that layer and only flatten when you want to apply to the image.  Also we use CM as a smart filter later in  the course.  if you use a layer the curves effect only the layer they are applied to.

Greg

[ggroess]

2) Color Cast on the image

After the last step I am going to flatten the image.  This will allow me to correct color shifts in the image and we will be tackling the skin tones.

1) Flatten the image layers.

2) Create a new background copy layer label it "CM" and open CM with this layer selected.  Switch to LAB mode in CM, Set a neutral near the inside corner of the right eye.  This gets the image closer to "normal" for skin and over all color cast.  Set multiple hue clocks in CM by alt-clicking on points on the face to check skin tones and look for trouble.  Shot 1.

3) Apply the neutral change and exit CM.  This changes the image a bit but we are still working on a layer so we can proceed.

4) I am going to use a "By The Numbers" correction in RGB to get rid of the red color cast in the top of the chair and to reduce the cyan in the eyes. We will be covering BTN correction in the class so don't worry too much if you are confused.  It really means we rely on the hue clocks and numbers display to correct the image rather than our eyes which can be fooled.  Make sure the copy layer is selected and open CM, switch to RGB and set hue clocks as shown in shot 2. 

5) This is where the rubber meets the road as far as the correction goes.  A perfect By The Numbers Correction does not do this image justice on my monitor.  So as you look at shot 3 note that the eyes are left a bit blue as the highlight setting for the image. Eyes are really not pure white. The collar is not 100 % perfect but again the image takes on some odd color when my selections are set to perfect so I "COMPROMISED" and allowed them to be as they are.  The black setting is neutral and not Zero.

3) Lips too red

4) Background Lighting mis-match

any more to add??

Greg