Matching Colors


You can match colors within an image by using the Hue/Saturation command; you can also accurately match colors automatically by using Photoshop s new Match Color command.

Matching Colors by Using Hue Saturation

You can use the Hue/Saturation command to sample a color from one area of an image and apply it to another area, thereby perfectly matching the colors. Here s how:

  1. Open the file dice.psd from your CD, in the ch17 folder.

  2. To make it easier to target specific areas of the image, I have separated it into two layers and a Background. Target the Background.

  3. Choose the Eyedropper tool . In the Options bar, set the Sample Size to 3 By 3 Average.

  4. Choose Window Info. In the Info palette menu, choose Palette Options. For First Color Readout, select HSB Color in the Mode submenu. Click OK.

  5. Place the cursor on a midtone region of the red die (I chose the area along the lower right of center of the die). Click your mouse to sample the color as a foreground color. Note the Hue and Saturation reading in the Info palette; in this case, it s 0 degrees for the Hue and 100 percent for the Saturation (see Figure 17.4).

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    Figure 17.4: Sampling the color from the red die

  6. Target the yellow die layer. Choose Image Adjustments Hue/Saturation. Be sure the Preview box is checked; check the Colorize box (see Figure 17.5).

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    Figure 17.5: The Hue/Saturation dialog box

  7. If you sampled hue 100 as specified in step 5, then it is now the current foreground color. The Hue slider will read 0 when you click the Colorize box. If you did not sample the color, enter 0 in the Hue box and 100 in the Saturation box. (If necessary, you can also adjust the Lightness slider up or down a bit to best match the red die. I moved it to the left to “21 to darken the die.) Click OK, and the color of the two dice are perfectly matched.

The before and after images appear in the color section, as Figure C20.

Matching Colors by Using the Match Color Command

New  

Photoshop s new Match Color feature makes matching colors between documents, selections, or layers easy. When you choose Image Adjustments Match Color, a dialog box is displayed (see Figure 17.6).

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Figure 17.6: The Match Color dialog box

The image that is active on the desktop is the Target image (the image that will be affected). If there is an active selection on the image, you can disregard it and match colors across the entire image by checking the Ignore Selection When Applying Adjustment box. The Image Options control the extent to which the color match will be applied. The Luminance slider affects the brightness of the image. The Color Intensity slider affects the saturation. You can control the strength of the color match by moving the Fade slider. Check the Neutralize box to eliminate color casts that might result from the color match.

The Image Statistics field is where you designate the source image from all images open on the desktop. They will appear in the source list. Choose the image whose colors you wish to match. A thumbnail of the image will appear in the box to the right of the menu. If a selection is active on the Target or the Source image, two check boxes will be active that enable you to designate the colors within the selection as the source colors.

Note  

The check box Use Selection In Target To Calculate Adjustment enables you to apply color from a selection on a single image to an active layer on the same image.

After you ve completed the match, you can save the statistics from the operation: click the Save Statistics button and then choose a location. You can load these statistics and apply them to another image.

To use the Match Color feature, follow these steps:

  1. Open the images colored_building.psd and drab_building.psd from the ch17 folder on the companion CD.

  2. The colored building image has been divided into a layer and a Background. The drab building is flat. Activate colored_building.psd by clicking it. Be sure Layer 1 is targeted .

  3. Press M on the keyboard to choose the Rectangular Marquee tool. Drag the tool in a small area of blue in the sky, as in Figure 17.7.

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    Figure 17.7: You ll match the sky of the target image (right) to contents of the selection on the source image (left).

  4. Activate drab_building.psd . Press the W key to choose the Magic Wand tool. Set the Tolerance to 32. Click on the sky above the building to select it.

  5. Choose Image Adjustments Match Color. In the Source list, choose colored_building.psd as the source image. Check the Use Selection In Source To Calculate Colors box. In the Layer list, choose Background. The sky on the drab building will match the color of the sky selected from the colored building s Background. Click OK.

  6. Activate the drab building and choose the Magic Wand tool; set the Tolerance to 80. Click on an area of brick to select it. (You might have to add small areas to the selection.)

  7. Choose Image Adjustments Match Color. For the source image, choose colored_ building.psd . For the layer, choose Layer 1. Uncheck the Use Selection In Source To Calculate Colors and the Use Selection In Target To Calculate Adjustment boxes.

    Note  

    You might wish to experiment with the Use Selection in Target to Calculate Adjustment feature, which, in some instances, retains more detail.

  8. Move the Luminance slider to the right until it reads 112, and the Color intensity slider to the right until it reads 109. Click OK. Figure C22 in the color section shows the results.

    Note  

    By default Match Color uses the original target input image as the color source (source: none). You can now edit the luminance and saturation sometimes with better results than with the color correction commands.




Photoshop CS Savvy
Photoshop CS Savvy
ISBN: 078214280X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 355

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