As I already said, you don’t need to know how these tools work, but you need to know something else - in what cases to get best results preference should be given to one or another instrument.
To make it a little easier for us to understand this issue, let's slightly repeat the theory. As you know, the entire variety of colors displayed on a computer monitor is generated by shifting the three primary colors - red, green and blue.
White color is obtained by mixing red, green and blue in equal proportions and full intensity. Black is the complete absence of all three primary colors. Yellow, for example, is made by mixing red and green. Mix red and blue to make magenta, while green and blue together make turquoise. Apply shifts of red, green and blue in varying proportions and their shades in all possible shades, and you will end up with millions and even billions of colors.
Photoshop mixes these three primary colors using color channels. One channel is for red, another is for green, and the third is for blue. We can find these color channels in the Channels panel, which, by default, is nested in the same stack as the Layers panel. Click on its tab at the top of the panel group to open it:
Open the channel panel by clicking on the corresponding tab.
In the panel we see red, green and blue channels, plus a fourth RGB channel located at the top of the panel. Don't let the RGB channel fool you, it's not really a channel at all. RGB stands for "red, green and blue" and is simply a combination of the red, green and blue channels working together to give us a complete color image.
If you look at the red, green and blue channel preview thumbnails, you'll notice something that might seem a little surprising - these color channels aren't actually in color at all! Instead, each one is a halftone image. In fact, if we look at them more closely, we can see that the black and white image of each channel is different from the other. To preview how each channel looks in the document, simply click on it. For example, I'll click on the Red channel to select it:
Selecting the red channel.
With the red channel selected, the full color version of my image in the document is temporarily replaced with a grayscale version. So what does a black and white image mean when the red channel is active? This is how Photoshop shows the intensity of red in a picture - the brighter the area, the more red is added to the full color version, while darker areas have less saturated red. Areas of pure white in a black and white image have red at its full intensity, while areas of black have no red at all:
Preview of the red channel. Bright areas contain more red than dark areas.
To see what the green channel looks like in the document, I'll click on it in the Channels panel.
This action will temporarily turn off the display of the red and blue channels, showing me only the green channel in the document. Here we see another grayscale image, but it's slightly different from what we saw with the red channel. This happens because the intensity of the green color is different areas photography naturally differs in the intensity of red. I repeat, the brighter the area, the more intense it is green color, while darker areas have less saturated green. Any areas of pure white have full green intensity, while areas of pure black have no green at all:
Green channel preview. Lighter areas = more intense green, darker areas = less green.
If we now look at a black and white image of the blue channel, it will be just as different from the others and work exactly the same. My photo contains a lot of blue (or any other color that uses blue as its main ingredient), so the blue channel looks overall darker than the red and green channels:
Blue channel preview. The lighter the area, the more blue is involved in mixing the color in the full color version.
So far we've learned that Photoshop mixes the red, green, and blue color channels to produce all the colors we see in an image. Now, based on this, let’s try to figure out which of the three tools under consideration is best for us to use when. Each of the three automatic commands manipulates color channels differently, producing different results. Next, I'll briefly describe how each of them works before we look at them in action.
The Auto Contrast tool is the most basic and straightforward of the three discussed in this tutorial. When we select it, Photoshop analyzes a composite of all three color channels (in other words, it treats all three as if they were one black and white image) and simply converts the dark pixels to pure black, brightens the light pixels to pure white, and redistributes all other tonal values in between. The result is an image with improved overall contrast. It's important to note that because it treats all three color channels as one composite image, Auto Contrast does not change the colors in the image. It simply enhances overall contrast, making it a good choice for images that don't suffer from any color issues.
Auto Tone is similar to Auto Contrast in that it also darkens dark pixels to pure black, brightens light pixels to pure white, and redistributes all other tonal values between them, but it has one major difference. It does this not based on three channels mixed into one, but based on each channel separately, which means that the red, green and blue channels will also be adjusted individually. We know that Photoshop uses the brightness values in each individual color channel to determine how much of each color to mix in the full color version, so by changing the color channels independently of each other, we will change the colors in the full color photo because... The brightness values in the channels have been changed. This means that, unlike Auto Contrast, which does nothing more than increase overall contrast, Auto Tone changes the colors in the image at the same time it increases contrast. If an image has an unwanted color cast, Auto Tone may be able to correct it.
Auto Color is similar to Auto Tone. It also darkens dark pixels to black and brightens light pixels to white on a channel-by-channel basis, so that the red, green, and blue channels will be adjusted separately and independently of each other. But Auto Color goes one step further. Instead of simply redistributing all the tonal values between them, it attempts to correct any unwanted color cast by neutralizing the midtones in the image. This is usually (but not always) done by Auto Color best choice to automatically correct contrast and solve color problems at the same time.
In the next article I will tell you how to correctly and effectively use automatic image adjustment tools.
Image correction in Photoshop
Sofia Skrylina, teacher at the Art training center, St. Petersburg
CompuArt No. 12’2011 discussed methods for diagnosing color shifts and some Photoshop tools for image color correction. In this issue, we will continue to remove color shift using other tools, and also look at situations when it is more appropriate to use the Lab model instead of the RGB model.
Options
Dialog window Options(Variations), in addition to removing color shift, allows you to adjust the tonal balance of the image. At the top of the window there are two thumbnails - the original image and the result of the adjustment. Below are examples of correction; to apply a specific option, you just need to click on its thumbnail (Fig. 1). Using the slider, you can set the accuracy of the correction, and using the switches, you can change the saturation of the image or the correction area: Shadows(Shadows) Midtones(Midtones), Sveta(Highlights).
If the window is reapplied, then before making corrections you must reset the previous settings by clicking on the original thumbnail.
This window is called by the command Image(Image) -> Correction(Adjustments) -> Options(Variations). In Fig. Figure 2 shows an example of eliminating excess red color using this window.
Rice. 2. Example of removing color shift using the Options dialog box (on the left is the original image)
Applying a Dialog Box Choose color
Team Choose color(Match Color) allows you to remove color shift in one image based on another image. It is used when it is necessary to process a series of photographs taken under the same conditions. In this case, it is enough to balance the colors in one image and process the rest with this command, taking the image with the color shift removed as the source. This command also turns out to be convenient for balancing colors in different images, combined in one project so that the same colors can be used that would coordinate well.
To match the colors of two images, you must perform the following manipulations:
- Open both files in Photoshop, go to the window of the photo that is subject to correction (Fig. 3).
- Run command Image(Image) -> Correction(Adjustments) -> Choose color(Match Color).
- From the dropdown list Source(Source) select an image whose colors will be used to replace the colors in the color-shifted photo (Fig. 4).
- Set correction parameters:
- using the slider Luminosity(Luminance) — brightness of image pixels;
- via the slider Color intensity(Color Intensity) - color saturation;
- using the slider Let loose(Fade) — partially restore the original colors of the image;
- when checking the box Neutralize(Neutralize) The program will try to determine which shades of the image were neutral and keep them that way. This operation does not correctly determine the neutral color in all cases.
The result of the correction and the original photograph are shown in Fig. 5.
Rice. 5. An example of eliminating excess red color using the Match Color dialog box (on the left is the original image)
Quickly adjust color shift
In addition to the tools that have big number different settings, Photoshop offers quick tools for correction. In relatively simple situations, they will help you get a satisfactory result fairly quickly. Let's look at tools for automatic color shift correction.
Auto-correction tools
Automatic color correction is performed in the dialog box Levels(Levels) or Curves(Curves) by clicking the button Auto(Auto), and its setting is in a dialog box that opens by clicking on the button Options(Options), - fig. 6.
For color correction, you can use three pipettes: black, gray and white. If the image contains areas that should have a neutral color, then use a gray eyedropper. To determine the black and white points, black and white pipettes are used, respectively. To use them, you need to select the desired eyedropper and simply click it on the area that should be gray, black or white.
Eyedroppers can be used in conjunction with sliders in a dialog box Levels(Levels) or dots in the dialog box Curves(Curves). First, the color shift is partially removed using eyedroppers, and then more subtle color and tone corrections are carried out.
In Fig. Figure 7 shows an example of eliminating color shift using a white eyedropper. The click was made on the cloud located to the right of the dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
Rice. 7. Eliminate color shift and brighten the image using a white eyedropper (on the left is the original image)
In addition to levels and curves, auto-correction can be performed using the command Image(Image) -> Automatic color correction(Auto Color). So, in Fig. Figure 8 shows an example of image correction of the Kunstkamera building.
Rice. 8. Eliminate color shift using the Automatic color correction command (on the left is the original image)
When comparing the obtained result with Fig. Figure 2 shows that the result of auto-correction is closer to reality - it contains less blue color than when using the dialog box Options(Variations). At the same time using the window Options(Variations) the water took on a bluish tint, making the photo look like a postcard. In any case, the choice is up to the user!
It should also be noted that a tool appeared in Photoshop CS5, which allows you to add vibrancy and shine to a photo by increasing detail and glowing edges. This is the dialog box HDR Toning(HDR Toning), which is in the menu Image(Image) -> Correction(Adjustments). In it you can process a photo final stage corrections. So, in Fig. 9 result obtained in the window Options(Variations), adjusted in the window Toning HDR(HDR Toning).
Using the Dialog Box Hue/Saturation
Dialog window Hue/Saturation(Hue/Saturation) is not intended for color balancing of the image. It applies to images that do not have a color shift! But it turns out to be indispensable for increasing or decreasing the saturation of the image, which is adjusted with the corresponding slider (Fig. 10).
Moreover, this window allows you to influence certain colors of the image. So, in Fig. 11, after a general increase in saturation, the sky was processed by affecting only the cyan and blue colors. The correction resulted in brighter and more saturated colors in the image.
Rice. 11. The result of increasing image saturation in the Hue/Saturation window (on the left is the original image)
Image correction in Lab mode
In the Lab color model, brightness is completely separated from the image, so tonal correction only requires influencing
to the brightness channel, and for color correction - to color channels a And b. It should be noted that the Lab model has a wider color gamut than RGB, so you can painlessly convert from RGB to Lab and back as many times as necessary.
Tone correction in Lab mode
Before proceeding with the correction, you should convert the image to the Lab color model by running the command Image(Image) -> Mode(Mode) -> Lab. In Fig. Figure 12 shows an image of the dome and its histogram, which shows that it is necessary to increase the image contrast.
To increase contrast, most tone correction tools are used, except dialog boxes Exposition(Exposure) and HDR Toning(HDR Toning). In Fig. Figure 13 shows an example of using the dialog box Levels(Levels), correction was carried out only in the channel Brightness(Lightness). As you can see, now you need to increase the saturation of the image.
Increasing image saturation in Lab mode
To increase the saturation of a photo in the dialog box Curves(Curves) it is necessary to change the angle of inclination of the straight line in the channels a And b. In Fig. 14, to increase the saturation of the dome photograph in both color channels, the straight line angle is increased by one amount.
Rice. 14. The result of increasing saturation by increasing the angle of inclination of the straight line in both color channels of the Lab model
Note that color correction in the Lab model produces much less noise than, for example, using the tool Hue/Saturation(Hue/Saturation) in RGB model. So, in Fig. Figure 15 shows the result of increasing the saturation of a photograph of a landscape already familiar to us. The photo on the left is processed in the dialog box Hue/Saturation(Hue/Saturation) in the RGB model, which produced noise in the sky area. In this case, we had to additionally process parts of the image using tools Blur(Blur) and Finger(Smudge) to remove multi-colored pixels (see Fig. 11). In Fig. 15 (right) the same photo was corrected only in the color channels of the Lab model in the window Curves(Curvers). As you can see, the correction did not create any noise.
In some cases, the Lab color model is convenient to use for recoloring an image, as described in CompuArt No. 4’2011.
So, Photoshop provides quite a lot of tools for color and tone correction, the choice of which depends on the specific situation. It is better to carry out correction using several tools in order to then choose the best result.
The article was prepared based on materials from the book “Photoshop CS5. The most necessary" by Sofia Skrylina
Nowadays you won’t surprise anyone with a digital camera - probably every family has one. Both young and old take pictures; The quality of the photographs leaves much to be desired: many photographs seem to be shrouded in some kind of fog; the bright blue sky looks gray on them, the sunset is not at all as amazing as you thought when shooting; Objects that are quite visible during the photographing process appear in deep shadow in the resulting images, etc. Of course, you don’t want to show such photos to friends and acquaintances, or print them. If the pictures reflect truly important moments in your life, then you can try to improve them using one or another software tool. However, not all users have the necessary experience for this, and it takes a lot of time to correct photos.
A more than urgent task arises: how quickly and with minimal preparation (or no preparation at all) can be done to improve the moments captured on the camera. Of course, we are not talking about obtaining masterpieces of photographic art from the point of view of professional photographers, but simply about improving the brightness, contrast and saturation of photographs, adjusting the color scheme on them, drawing out shadows, etc. If the appropriate corrective operations are carried out correctly, you can get natural and attractive photographs from seemingly irretrievably lost low-quality images.
The question is which software solutions able to provide such transformations in automatic mode and with the least effort for the user. There are possible options here... Theoretically, minimal capabilities for basic auto photo correction are now provided even in ordinary graphics viewers, such as XnView, IrfanView, etc. However, to change incorrect setting exposure, correcting poor color reproduction, sharpening the image, etc. It makes more sense to turn to more suitable products - specialized programs for improving images or comprehensive solutions for image processing (photo editors and photo organizers). We will look at some such programs in this article. But first, let’s clarify a number of rules that should be followed to carry out successful auto-correction.
Rules you shouldn't forget about
- Auto-correction of pictures that have already been subjected to some kind of artistic processing (for example, effects and frames have been added to the photo) will most likely be unsuccessful. Any “decoration” of images is carried out only at the final stage, after all the required correction operations: noise removal, color correction, sharpness adjustment, etc.
- Don't try to correct photos with different software one by one, since during such transformations in some solutions some important information about the image - as a result, the results of auto-correction in other software products may turn out to be completely unpredictable.
- If you use filters with your camera that create various effects when taking photographs, then be prepared for the fact that the effect may be canceled during automatic correction. Therefore, it is possible that to improve such images, photographs will have to be adjusted manually.
Specialized programs for improving images
There is not much highly specialized software for improving (or, as they say, optimizing) images on the market; We will focus on the most popular programs among users: Photomizer, PhotoPerfect Express, Ashampoo Photo Optimizer and SuperEasy Photo Booster. They in no way pretend to replace full-fledged editors for image processing, but nevertheless they allow you to correct digital photographs, and without the slightest difficulty (literally a couple of mouse clicks). In addition, these solutions do not require the user to have any global knowledge of correction (there is also no need to study lengthy manuals), so understanding them is not a problem.
To optimize images in any of these programs, it is enough to indicate the image being processed (it is possible to improve tens or hundreds of photos at once in batch mode) and start the transformation process by clicking on the appropriate button, and then save the final image. And that's it - your pictures will become more expressive and more realistic almost in the blink of an eye (Fig. 1).
Rice. 1. Examples of image optimization in Photomizer
Photomizer 2.0
Developer: Engelmann Media GmbH
Distribution size: Photomizer - 18 MB; Photomizer PRO - 30.4 MB
Work under control: Windows XP/Vista/7/8
Distribution method: shareware (3-day demo - ftp://ftp.engelmann.com/photomizer.exe ; ftp://ftp.engelmann.com/photomizer-pro.exe)
Price: Photomizer - 29.99 euros; Photomizer PRO - 49.99 euros
Photomizer is a simple solution for quickly improving photos, including in batch mode. The program can automatically correct color and exposure errors, improve insufficiently clear images and improve the level of illumination in areas of light and shadow. It can also be used to eliminate noise and remove artifacts resulting from JPEG image compression. In practice, this solution shows impressive results when processing images with irregular or muted colors (the latter often occurs when shooting underwater), blurry or foggy landscapes, photos taken in adverse weather conditions or in low light, old scanned photos, etc. To save time, the program comes with preset input profiles that are configured to optimize digital camera photos, slides, negatives, webcam photos, scans, and stills captured mobile phone(it is possible to create custom profiles). The program is presented in two editions: basic Photomizer and extended Photomizer PRO; the latter is equipped with a more solid set of built-in input profiles and additionally includes tools for eliminating distortion, as well as aliasing simple effects and frames.
Any transformation in Photomizer can be performed, in fact, in several steps - just load the image, select the input profile and check the boxes of the operations of interest (Fig. 2), although if you wish, you can intervene in the transformation process by changing the degree of impact of a particular operation on image. Processed photos are saved in JPG or BMP formats. It is possible to optimize hundreds of images at once in batch mode.
Rice. 2. Quick auto photo correction in Photomizer
PhotoPerfect Express 1.0
Developer: Arcadia Software
Distribution size: 40.9 MB
Work under control: Windows XP/Vista/7
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.photoperfect.com/download.html)
Price: free, but some features (some algorithms and batch processing) require purchase license keys: i?e Standard algorithm - $24.99; i?e Professional algorithm - $94.99; Perfectly Clear algorithm - $49.99, Batch and More module - $15, etc.
PhotoPerfect Express is simple and convenient program to quickly improve your photos. It implements five image optimization algorithms: RGBMax, YMax, Xe847, i2e and Perfectly Clear - the first three can be used for free; the other two are offered on a commercial basis (when using commercial algorithms without payment, a watermark is installed on the images). Each of the algorithms in its own way improves the image by adjusting color, brightness, contrast, sharpness and a number of other parameters, and the result, as a rule, turns out to be noticeably better than the original (this statement also applies to freely available algorithms, so purchase the keys to commercial tools are not needed by many users). Although everything, of course, depends on the original image, for example, to improve faded and faded photos, as well as images with deep shadows, it is better to use the Perfectly Clear algorithm, when processing landscapes or images taken in daylight, the Xe847 algorithm demonstrates excellent results, using which manages to bring a digital photograph to the form the photographer saw it at the time of shooting, etc. When using the i2e and Perfectly Clear algorithms, auto-correcting a photo can also eliminate red-eye and minimize noise. It is worth noting that if the last three algorithms are used, it is possible to implement more fine tuning a number of manual optimization parameters taking into account the individual characteristics of the processed photo, which allows you to achieve even more impressive results.
Carrying out automatic correction of photos in PhotoPerfect Express is as easy as shelling pears - just open a folder with photos, specify a photo (if necessary, you can rotate it) and select the optimization algorithm whose processing result turned out to be the best (Fig. 3). Of course, you first need to view the results for each of the algorithms, which can be done by simply clicking on the buttons with the names of the algorithms and watching the photo change, or by calling up the results comparison window (Image Optimization ® All at once), in which the photo will be presented in six versions: original and five transformed. The resulting images are saved in JPG, BMP, TIF or PNG formats and can be sent for printing in popular formats (9x13, 10x15, 13x18, 20x25, etc.).
Rice. 3. Photo optimization using the Xe847 algorithm in PhotoPerfect Express
Optimizing images in batch mode in PhotoPerfect Express is theoretically possible, but in practice only commercial users will be able to use the corresponding tools, since it requires the purchase of the Batch and More batch processing module, which not only allows you to optimize hundreds of photos at once, but also provides access to cropping functions photo and resizing it.
Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 5.5
Developer: Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG
Distribution size: 51.2 MB
Work under control: Windows XP/Vista/7/8
Distribution method: https://www.ashampoo.com/ru/rub/fdl)
Price: RUB 299.99
Ashampoo Photo Optimizer is a convenient program for quickly correcting unsuccessful photos in batch mode or one at a time. It automatically analyzes the image and makes the required adjustments to color, brightness and contrast, and also “stretches” shadows and sharpens images. As a rule, as a result of such transformations, visually the pictures become much more attractive, they turn out to be brighter, more contrasting and expressive; This is especially noticeable in darkened and faded photographs, photographs taken in poor lighting, etc. However, there are exceptions; in our case, for example, the program sometimes failed to properly adjust the color balance. Ashampoo Photo Optimizer also provides tools for manually processing images - you can rotate and flip images, crop them, level the horizon, eliminate red-eye and perform color correction. Additionally, it is possible to apply simple effects to photos (sepia, aging, blur, etc.) and introduce watermarks into them.
Automatic improvement of images in the program requires a minimum of effort from the user - you just need to open the folder with images and click on the “Optimize” button (Fig. 4). When manually adjusting color, the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and gamma values are adjusted using sliders. Processed photos are saved in JPEG, BMP, PNG, TGA or TIFF formats; It is possible to send photos by e-mail, publishing them in Facebook and Picasa web albums, setting them as desktop wallpaper and printing. You can optimize in one click in Ashampoo Photo Optimizer not only one photo, but also all images in a folder at the same time.
Rice. 4. Enhance your photo with Ashampoo Photo Optimizer
SuperEasy Photo Booster 1.1
Developer: SuperEasy GmbH & Co. KG
Distribution size: 8.31 MB
Work under control: Windows XP(SP 1)/Vista/7/8
Distribution method: shareware (seven-day demo version - https://www.supereasy.net/en/usd/dld/0008/SuperEasy-Photo-Booster/)
Price:$19.95
SuperEasy Photo Booster - very simple utility to automatically improve the quality of photos. The program recognizes those areas of the photo that may look better and optimizes them automatically, adjusting the brightness, saturation and contrast of the image, setting the correct white balance, adjusting the brightness in light and dark areas. The result is approximately the same as in the case of image processing in PhotoPerfect Express using the RGBMax optimization algorithm.
To correct one image, just open it and, if necessary, change the optimization level (Fig. 5); in case of batch processing, a folder is specified instead of a file, in addition, you need to configure the conversion parameters and then start the process. The resulting images are saved in JPG and BMP formats.
Rice. 5. Automatic photo correction in SuperEasy Photo Booster
Comprehensive solutions for image processing
There are many solutions for photo processing on the market, including various types of photo editors and photo organizers. The functionality of such programs, as well as the complexity of their development, can be very different. It makes sense for advanced amateur photographers to pay attention to fairly serious photo editors Adobe Photoshop Elements and Corel PaintShop Pro, beginners are wiser to choose easier-to-use tools, such as the Home Photo Studio program or the Picasa photo organizer.
Any of these solutions provides a traditional set of features for conveniently managing photo collections and editing images. In terms of editing, not only basic operations are available (resizing photos, rotating, cropping, etc.), but also more complex actions with the connection of a wide range of technical tools (changing angles, eliminating optical and perspective distortions, correcting incorrect exposure settings , enhancing image sharpness, correcting poor color rendering, etc.) and artistic retouching (applying effects, imposing frames, etc.). Also, these solutions provide one or another toolkit for automatic photo correction. Optimizing images with its help is not difficult, although in any case you will first have to devote some time to familiarize yourself with the selected application (especially for Adobe Photoshop Elements and Corel PaintShop Pro). However, the results of auto-correction in such solutions, with the possible exception of the product from Adobe, are not as impressive as when using specialized programs for improving images.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 12
Developer: Adobe Systems Inc
Distribution size: 1.08 GB
Work under control: Windows XP(SP3)/Vista(SP2)/7/8; there is a version for Macintosh
Distribution method: http://www.adobe.com/downloads/)
Price:$99.99 (Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 in the Allsoft.ru online store from RUB 2,121.52)
Adobe Photoshop Elements - a comprehensive organization and editing tool digital photos. The application includes two modules: an organizer and a graphic editor, the latter is a simplified version of the famous professional graphic editor Adobe Photoshop, aimed at amateur photographers. The built-in organizer lets you import, manage, view, and search photos and video clips (you can organize your photos by people, location, and events), and provides simple ways for display (creating photo albums, wall gift calendars, postcards, etc.) and online photo sharing. The graphic editor includes a traditional set of tools for this kind of solutions (brush, pencil, gradient, etc.), can work with selected areas and masks, supports layers (including adjustment layers and fill layers) and includes an extensive library of effects.
The graphic editor is designed for detailed correction of photographs and can work in one of three modes: fast Quick, controlled by Guided (with the output of recommendations that simplify the application of operations) and Expert mode. The tools for fast automatic correction that are of interest in this article are available in quick mode. First of all, this is the so-called “smart correction” Auto Smart Fix, with which, with one click of the mouse, you can adjust the color balance and improve the display of shadows and light areas, and therefore the overall appearance of the image as a whole. The result of such a correction is usually quite impressive (Fig. 6). In this mode, tools are also available for auto-correction of Auto Levels (adjusts the overall contrast of the image and may affect its color), Auto Contrast (adjusts the overall contrast of the image without affecting its color), Auto Color (provides adjustment of saturation and color tones - Fig. 7) and Auto Sharpen sharpness (provides increased detail). In addition, the “quick” mode has tools for red-eye removal, teeth whitening and stain removal, although these operations are performed manually.
Rice. 6. Smart Adjustments in Adobe Photoshop Elements
Rice. 7. Automatically adjust saturation in Adobe Photoshop Elements
As for the batch mode, Adobe Photoshop Elements provides the ability to process multiple files (File ® Process Multiple Files), during which images can be improved (the Quick Fix panel is responsible for the corresponding operations - Fig. 8) and, if necessary, supplemented with watermarks. Also, with batch processing, it is possible to automatically rename files, reduce their size and convert.
Rice. 8. Batch image correction in Adobe Photoshop Elements
Corel PaintShop Pro X6
Developer: Corel Corporation
Distribution size: 237.5 MB
Work under control: Windows XP/Vista/7/8
Distribution method: shareware (30-day demo - http://www.corel.com/corel/category.jsp?cat=cat4130131&rootCat=cat3520071)
Price:$99.99 (Allsoft.ru version of Corel PaintShop Pro X5 from RUB 3,165.94)
Corel PaintShop Pro is a comprehensive solution for organizing and processing images, designed for a wide range of users. This decision includes an integrated organizer as well as a graphic editor. The organizer provides organization and management of a photo collection (supports facial recognition technology and linking pictures to a map manually or based on GPS data), as well as the creation of stylish photo projects (photo albums, collages, postcards, calendars, slideshows, etc.) with the ability to publish them on YouTube , on Facebook or Flickr. In turn, the graphic editor supports layers, masks and alpha channels and comes with large sets of gradients, masks, fill patterns, textures, frames, tubes, shapes and brushes. It brings together a wide range of photo enhancement tools, as well as multiple framing options, an impressive array of built-in effects and filters, and naturalistic Art Media Tools.
Corel PaintShop Pro offers three workspaces: Manage, Adjust, and Edit. The first allows you to view, organize and search for photos; the Adjust and Edit workspaces provide the ability to edit pictures using the built-in graphic editor - both, among other things, also provide tools for automatic correction. These are the One Step Photo Fix (one-step photo correction) and Smart Photo Fix (intelligent photo correction) functions. Function One Step Photo Fix is responsible for adjusting exposure and white balance, and using the Smart Photo Fix function, the level of brightness, shadows, highlights and saturation is adjusted automatically or by connecting sliders. The results of such correction can be different - sometimes photographs visually look noticeably better than the original ones, although, in our opinion, they are often too bright (Fig. 9). In other cases, especially when processing images taken in bright sunlight and with very pronounced areas of light and shadow, the resulting images are not at all pleasing to the eye. So it all depends on the source material. As for batch processing, the functionality provided in this plan only allows you to rename and convert images.
Rice. 9. “Intelligent” auto photo correction in Corel PaintShop Pro
"Home photo studio"
Developer: AMS Software
Distribution size: 57.35 MB
Work under control: Windows XP/Vista/7/8
Distribution method: shareware (10-day demo version - http://amspark.ru/HomeStudio.exe)
Price: from 690 rub.
“Home Photo Studio” is a simple editor for processing pictures. The program includes a minimal set of tools for working with photos and is aimed at beginner amateur photographers. With its help, you can crop pictures and level the horizon on them, change brightness and contrast, adjust color balance, etc. In addition, you can apply frames and masks to images, add shadows and a three-dimensional outline, and create postcards and calendars based on images.
Automatic correction tools built into the program (menu Image® Improvement catalog or the use of appropriate scripts) allow you to eliminate the most typical defects - improve photos that are too dark or, conversely, too light, make photos with faded and dull colors brighter, etc. As a result of auto-correction, images often look really better (Fig. 10). Batch processing of files is supported, and during this process, along with renaming and converting files, it is possible to apply scripts from the “Photo Enhancement” group to them.
Rice. 10. Automatic shadow correction in the “Home Photo Studio” program
Picasa 3.9
Developer: Google
Distribution size: 14.3 MB
Work under control: Windows XP/Vista/7
Distribution method: freeware (http://dl.google.com/picasa/picasa39-setup.exe)
Price: for free
Picasa is a popular photo organizer integrated with Picasa web albums. The program combines tools for cataloging photographs (based on albums and “People” collections) and publishing them (creating photo collages, burning photos to a CD, publishing in Blogger, etc.), viewing and simply editing photos. Built-in editing tools allow you to resize images, rotate them, crop them, and also perform a number of image correction operations (removing red-eye, adjusting brightness, contrast, etc.). It is possible to apply filters and effects.
The simplest auto-correction is implemented in the program, although to a minimum. These are the “I’m Feeling Lucky!” functions. (provides color and contrast correction), “Auto Contrast Correction” and “Auto Color Correction”. The results of automatic image optimization can be quite satisfactory (Fig. 11), but more often than not they are not pleasing to the eye, although some positive changes in the images usually take place. As for batch processing, in Picasa in batch mode you can only export images to a folder with their renaming and resizing.
Rice. 11. Successful use of the “I’m feeling lucky!” function in Picasa
Conclusion
If you are not eager to delve into all the details of image correction technology and are limited in time, then you cannot do without software tools for automatic image optimization (after all, you still want your photos to look more attractive). By connecting one of the solutions with similar functionality to your business, you can easily improve the quality of your photos without any problems. Moreover, in a minimum time even with large quantities images in case of batch processing. Another situation is also possible (albeit, subject to appropriate user preparation) - mass processing of ordinary photos (vacation photos, from a party, etc.) with auto-correction tools, along with the finishing of individual, outstanding, in the user’s opinion, photos manually.
As for solutions for quickly improving the images taken, in our opinion, it is preferable to use highly specialized programs that provide more high quality optimization and are more convenient for solving this specific problem than complex software products for image processing.
Before you start getting acquainted with color correction, it is worth clarifying that this topic is very broad. To engage in color correction at the proper level, it is better to take special courses where you will be taught the basics of color harmony, taught how to correctly combine colors and use existing methods and methods of color correction. And it is advisable to obtain a certificate. In the age of digital technology, photo processing is a very profitable activity. And the most profitable investment at all times has been and remains education.
We'll look at the basic universal method color correction.
Before you make color correction in Photoshop, you need to understand what it is and for what purpose it is used.
Color correction is a change in the colors, tones and saturation of an image, used either to improve the picture or as a creative technique. The first case may include the need to get more realistic colors or make the photo lighter. After all, when certain settings photographic equipment, colors can be conveyed distortedly, not the way we see them in real life. This also includes photo correction to increase color saturation to make the photo more attractive. In the second case, color correction will be suggested to you by your own imagination. This could be vintage color correction, fantastic colors of landscapes and the like.
Color correction in Photoshop is done on adjustment layers. If color correction is applied to an image layer, the changes to the image will be irreversible. Adjustment layers work like filters. All effects of the adjustment layer will be visible in the image below this layer. Also, the adjustment layer will allow you to make changes to the final result, if necessary. We discussed the topic of layers in a previous article.
Automatic color correction
The easiest and fastest way for beginners is automatic color correction. Open the image in Photoshop, create a duplicate of the image layer ( Ctrl+G). Go to the duplicate layer and click Shift+Ctrl+B. This Photoshop command automatically adjusts the contrast and color of an image, automatically detecting shadows, midtones, and highlights.
This is what the pictures look like before and after automatic color correction.
Hue/Saturation
Open the image in Photoshop. On the layers palette, find the list of adjustment layers by clicking the half-filled circle icon.
Select from the list “Hue/Saturation”/Hue/Saturation.
In the layer settings dialog box, you can change “Hue of flowers”/Hue, "Brightness"/Lightness(make the photo lighter or darker) and “Color saturation”/Saturation(make faded or rich shades).
An image can be divided into color channels. The settings allow you to work with all color channels simultaneously or with one.
When working with a separate color channel, selecting a specific hue that needs to be changed, use the tool "Pipette". Click on the tool icon, move it to the desired area of the photo and make one click. You will see stops on the gradients. On color gradients, you can limit the color range, then changes will occur only in it. By moving the limiters, you set the operating range.
Next, by moving the hue, saturation and brightness sliders, all that remains is to select the settings according to your task. Let's give this photo a purple tint to get a more colorful sunset. To do this, select the blue channel. Drag the range stopper on the gradient to the right to capture the range of purple shades. Move the slider closer to purple Hue, add saturation. When finished, close the settings window.
That's how it happened.
You can learn even more about Photoshop in the course at Fotoshkola.net.
Curves
Adjustment Layer "Curves" has more abilities than we will consider in the basic method for beginners.
Open the image, call the adjustment layer "Curves" from the list of adjustment layers.
A settings dialog will open. Initially the curve appears straight. We are interested in the tool "Pipette". There are three of them. The first is responsible for shadows, the second for midtones, and the third for highlights.
Now we take the eyedroppers in turn: first click on the blackest part of the photo, second on the gray part, third on the whitest part.
With each dropper you use you will see changes. Curves of RGB color channels (red, green, blue) will appear on the graph. When finished, the curves window can be closed.
In the end it will turn out like this.
Levels
For the adjustment layer "Levels" We will also consider only the basic method of application.
A raster image, and in in this case the image of our photos consists of dots. These dots each have their own color. The black, gray and white points in the image are responsible for saturation, brightness and light. Adjustment Layer "Levels" allows you to change the point value level. Level 0 - black pixels, 255 - white. Level 128 - gray. The remaining levels range between 0 and 255. Redistributing the levels changes the tonal range of the image.
For quick color correction, you need to redistribute the level of midtones. Open the image, select from the list of adjustment layers "Levels".
In the settings dialog box, select the middle eyedropper, which is responsible for midtones. In the image, click on the area where there should be perfect gray. Then close the settings window. In this way, equal values of red, green and blue are selected.
As a result, we get a balanced, rich picture.
In this tutorial we'll show you how to apply selective color correction to a photo, or more precisely, how to convert an image to black and white, but still leave the selected element in color.
And although this effect is extremely easy to achieve in Photoshop program, many are wary of it because they are not always sure that they are choosing the right tools. Most often, people resort to selection tools, and then there are often hiccups. In this tutorial we'll show you how to create this effect without using selection tools. All we need is a simple Black & White adjustment layer, a layer mask and a brush, nothing more!
I'll be working in Photoshop CC, but this tutorial is also compatible with Photoshop CS6.
So, here we have the original photograph, which shows a woman in a red dress.
Original image
And here is the image that we will get after performing all the necessary manipulations. The entire photo will be converted to black and white except for the red dress. Again, we won't resort to using any selection tools.
Final image
You can follow all the steps in this tutorial while working with your own photo. Just select a photo and identify an object that will remain in color, it could be a dress, a flower, a telephone booth, in general, anything. Let's get started already!
Step 1: Black & White Adjustment Layer
Only after opening the program, you will see in the layers panel that the document so far contains only one layer - the Background layer - which is the original image.
We will create the effect using a non-destructive method, i.e. Let's leave the original image untouched and apply selective color replacement using a separate adjustment layer. Click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the layers panel:
Click on the New Adjustment Layer icon
From the list that appears, select the Black & White item:
As the name of this adjustment layer tells us, it is used to convert a color image to black and white. Now let's look again at the layers panel, as you can see, above the Background layer there is now a new Black & White adjustment layer.
Photoshop placed a new adjustment layer on top of the image layer.
We see that the program itself converted our color photo to black and white, using the default settings. We can independently adjust the parameters of the black and white image, which is what we will do now.
Convert to black and white by default.
Step 2. Adjust the settings for converting to B/W
You can find all the controls for the Black & White adjustment layer in the Properties panel. Here you will see six sliders, three of which are responsible for the primary colors (Red, Green and Blue) and the next three for the secondary colors (Yellow, Cyan and Magenta). Move the slider to the left to darken, or to the right to lighten the area of the image that contains a given color in full color.
For example, moving the red slider to the right will cause the area of the image that originally contained red to become lighter. And by moving the blue slider to the left, we will darken the areas that were originally blue. You should not thoroughly memorize the colors of all image elements, since this is easy to understand by moving the sliders. Do you like the result? Yes? Amazing. No? Then keep experimenting with sliders.
Move the sliders to darken or lighten areas of the image based on their original color.
Above the sliders you will find the Auto button. This button sends a command to Photoshop, by which the program itself selects the parameters. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But you can always correct the result yourself after using the Auto button.
If you want to compare your black and white version with the color version, simply click on the visibility icon (the eye-shaped icon) in the Layers panel to turn off the visibility of the adjustment layer. By turning it off, you will see your original image. To return to black and white, return the adjustment layer's visibility:
This is what my photo looks like after conversion. At this stage there is no point in making everything perfect. You will see that we can always return to this point to make any changes.
Corrected black and white version
Step 3: Select the Brush Tool
One of the main advantages of all adjustment layers is the built-in layer with a mask. In this article I will not go into detail about how exactly masks work, but if you are interested, I advise you to find the material and read it. And although the mask is not visible to us in the image itself, we know that it is there because its thumbnail is displayed in the layers panel. Notice that at this stage the thumbnail is filled with white, which means that the adjustment layer is affecting the image layer underneath it.
We can reveal some of our color source image with an adjustment layer by simply painting over the mask with a black brush. Choose a tool Brush Tool in the toolbar:
Step 4: Select a Soft Round Brush
Click on any part of the open document right click mouse (Ctrl key for Mac) to open the brush settings panel. Then select the soft round brush from the top left corner of the panel. Press Enter (Return for Mac) to close the window.
Select a soft round brush
Step 5: Change the Foreground Color to Black
Photoshop uses the Foreground color as the brush color. Since we need to paint with black using the layer mask, we should change the Foreground color to black. To do this quickly, press the D key. This command instantly sets the original colors for the foreground and background, namely white and black. To change them, press the X key on your keyboard. The foreground color should now be black.
We can see the current colors at the bottom of the toolbar. The foreground color is indicated by the square located at the top, and the background color at the bottom.
Step 6: Paint the inside of the object
To return the color to the selected object, first, arm yourself with a large soft brush and on the layer mask, begin to paint only the inner part with black, without touching the edges of the object. You can change the brush size using the keyboard. Hold down the key ] to increase the brush size, and the key [ , to decrease. To increase brush hardness, hold down Shift along with the key ] , and in order to reduce hardness use a combination Shift+[.
In my photo, I decided to return the color to the girl's dress. I use a large diameter brush to paint most of the object without worrying about the edges. I started from the bottom of the dress.
I then switched to a smaller brush and painted part of the top of the dress, again leaving the edges alone.
Notice that if we look at the layer mask thumbnail, we can see that the areas we painted in the photo are now showing up in black. This is how a layer mask works. The color white is used to indicate the areas of the image to which the effect is applied. The black color on the layer mask indicates areas where the effect is hidden.
Step 7: Paint the edges with a smaller radius brush
To accurately draw the edges of an object, you should first zoom in on the picture. You can also use convenient hotkeys for this. To zoom in on a photo, press and hold Ctrl+Spacebar (Win)/Command+Spacebar (Mac) and click on the desired area of the image. To zoom out of a photo, use the following keys: Alt+Spacebar (Win) / Option+Spacebar (Mac).
To draw finer details in the photo we will need a brush with a smaller diameter. To make the brush smaller, I press the left square bracket key several times. You may have to increase the hardness of the brush; I described how to do this using hotkeys just above.
Very carefully draw the edges of the object with a brush of a smaller diameter.
If you accidentally drive over the boundary of an object, there will be nothing wrong with that. For example, I accidentally drew a finger:
This error is very easy to fix. Press the key X to change the foreground color from black to white. Then paint over the area you touched with a white brush to get rid of the color. And then press the key again X to return black as the main color and continue working.
I continue to paint around the edges of the dress, zooming in and out and changing the hardness and size of the brush if necessary.
Final result:
Step 8. Make adjustments to the Black&White settings
At this point you may want to adjust the settings of the Black&White adjustment layer. To do this, in the layers panel, go to this adjustment layer and open its settings panel. Adjust the sliders until you achieve the desired result.
Additional step:
Since we only worked with one adjustment layer, we can easily reduce its effect, partially returning the photo to its original colors. To do this, we just need to slightly reduce the Opacity of the layer. You'll find this option at the top right of the Layers panel. I reduced the opacity to 75%:
This adjustment will allow the original colors to show through a little through the adjustment layer that sits on top of the image. Let's compare the Before and After photos again:
And here's the final image with the vibrant red dress taking center stage.