From YourSITE.com
PROGRAM BASIC: Color Magic Tips
By Terry Maruca 2008
Oct 28, 2008, 22:13
I don’t remember the day looking so dreary; but my photos sure tell a different story. Has this happened to you? Below is a before and after photo of the impact of color on a photo.
This month’s tutorial will focus on quick techniques to add, remove and change colors in your photos. These will be “tips”, and not a complicated set of instructions for you to enjoy.
Add Green Grass

Technique for green grass:
Create new layer
Using your paintbrush, paint green on top of the grass. (you can do step 3 before you are done painting if you want)
Lower the opacity of the green painted layer so you can see detail through the green.
In the blending modes drop-down box on the layers pallet, try different blending modes to see if you get an even more exact look that you desire. The drop down box looks like this:

Colorize the Water
This water in the original photo looks void of any color. It kind of reminds me of the science fiction movies where the future was depicted with colorless and dreary scenery. The way I created this lovely blue color is:
Using my polygonal lasso tool, I selected the water area.
I feathered the edge to make it more natural by:
SELECT
FEATHER
“1” in the Feather Radius.
I changed the hue by:
ENHANCE
ADJUST COLOR
ADJUST HUE/SATURATION
Check the COLORIZE block
Change the hue and the saturation to the color blue I desired.

BRIGHTEN THE SKY AND THE TOP STONES:
Basically, I used my polygonal lasso tool to select the sky and the stone areas, and I played with hue/saturation again. After I made those changes, I adjust the entire picture with:
ENHANCE
ADJUST LIGHTING
BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST.
Now doesn’t this new photo look so inviting?
There are many actions available that will change your photos to be brighter, more colorful, less colorful, etc. But with this technique where you can select parts of the photos, you have much more control over what you would like to enhance.
If you have tried this technique and would like to share, upload your work to the SBB gallery. Drop me a note at terry.maruca@sbbemail.com
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