Color – Lorri Freedman Photography

Photoshop Quick Tip – How to Change the Color of Your Workspace

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to change your workspace color, as shown in the above image.

Here I have a photo I took on Block Island. The default workspace around the photo is a pale gray:

To change the color of the work space, all I have to do is “right click” anywhere on the area of the workspace. This will bring up a menu. The default “Gray” has a check next to it:

I can set it to”Black” or I can select a custom color:

I’d like to make a custom color of dark gray. I’ll click on the Select Custom Color option and the color picker will come up. I’ll drag the white circle to a dark gray area. I’ll be able to see the color I choose in the preview box. Then I’ll click OK:

Here is what it looks like with the dark gray workspace:

If I should change my mind and decide I want the workspace back to its default setting, all I have to do is right click anywhere on the workspace. Then choose the “Gray” option:

Here’s a sample of different colors to choose from:

How to Colorize an Old Black & White Photograph

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to colorize a black and white photo into the above image.

Here I have a photograph of my grandmother taken when she was 16. It has a sepia cast which I’ll need to get rid of to do a proper colorization of this photo:

The first thing I’ll do is turn this photograph black & white. I’ll go to Image, Adjustments, Black & White:

The Black & White dialog box will open up. Since the photo is sepia, most of the sliders will do nothing. Just the red and yellow will make a difference. I’ll move the sliders to the right to lighten the photo just a little, then click OK:

The next thing I’ll do is make a new layer. This is the layer I’ll use to paint on. I’ll name this layer “Overalls” and I’ll make sure that I change the mode from Normal to Color:

Now I’ll pick a color from the color picker palette. I’ll choose a blue color for the overalls:

The next thing I’ll do is add a mask to the “Overalls” layer. I’ll click on the mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette:

I used the mask to clean all around the overalls. Remember black reveals and white conceals when you’re painting with the mask:

Here’s the photograph so far:

I decided to lower the opacity of the blue overalls; this is how the layers palette looks at this point:

Now it’s time to add some skin color. This can be tricky and it’s a matter of taste. I’ll make a new layer like I did for the overalls and I’ll label it “Skin Color”. I’ll remember to change the mode from Normal to Color. I’ll pick a light brown color, and when I’m finished painting the skin I’ll just lower the opacity to give it a more realistic look:

Using the same method as above, I’ll make the hat and scarf yellow. Here’s what the layers palette should look like. It’s hard to see anything in the hat and skin layers because the colors are light. But they are there:

Here’s the finished photograph:

This post is dedicated to Katie. I hope this helps you.

Changing Eye Color Using Photoshop

Above, I have a photo of an eye. It’s a pretty green eye, but for this tutorial I’ll be changing it to blue.

The first thing I’ll do is hit CTRL-J on my keyboard to make a duplicate layer of the eye. This will allow me to have more control later on. I’ll name “Layer 1” to “eye”. To name the eye layer just double click on the word “layer” and then you’ll be able to type in the word “eye”:

The next thing I’ll do is pick the color blue from the swatches palette:

After I pick the blue color from the swatches palette, I’ll see it in the color picker in the tool box:

Next, I’ll go to the options bar at the top of the screen and change the brush mode from Normal to Color. This will allow the details of the eye to come through:

Now it’s time to paint the eye blue. It’s ok if it’s a little sloppy at first. The next step will fix that problem.

The next step is to add a mask to the eye layer:

Now I can clean up around the eye with the mask using the paint brush. Remember that “black reveals and white conceals”.

The advantage of having a separate layer is that, it’s possible to lower the opacity of the eye color.

Here the opacity is at 100%:

Here the opacity is at 65%:

Here the opacity is at 40%:

I think I like the eye at 40% opacity, so that’s how I’m going to leave it. This is an easy way to change the color of someone’s eye, and you can make it any color you want.
Here is the end result:

Remember when you’re finished to set the brush mode back to Normal.

Enjoy!

How to Replace a Color Using the Brush Tool in Photoshop

The above pink daisy didn’t start out that way.

Here I have a photo of a yellow daisy. Let say, I want to make this daisy pink. There are a lot of ways to do this.

For this tutorial I’m going to use the brush tool from the tool box in Photoshop:

The first thing I’ll do is go to the Color Swatches palette to pick the color I want. Here I’ll pick a pinkish color:

When I click on a color from the Color Swatch palette, the color appears in the “color picker” box in the tool box:

Before I start to paint with the brush tool, I’ll need to go to the options bar at the top of the screen to change the mode from Normal to Color:

The Color option is at the bottom of the menu:

Setting the mode to Color allows me to brush the new color over the flower leaving the texture of the flower intact.

Here I’ve taken the paint brush and painted over half of the flower to show how the paint brush works:

Here is the finished photo:

Try this technique for yourself and have fun!

How to Get Rid of Any Color Fringing Using Photoshop

Above is a section of a photo that I took of a blue heron. After I finished working on the photo, I noticed a blue fringe that went around the bird’s head and beak.

Here’s a close up of the bird’s beak, so that the blue fringe can be seen:

The first thing I’ll do is to click on the eye dropper tool in the tools pallet:

Once I have the eye dropper tool active, I’ll click on the blue fringe and the color will show up in the color picker box:

Now I’ll go to Image / Adjustments / Replace Color menu item:

Here, the Replace Color dialog box appears. The color I selected, blue, will already be in the Color box. I’ll Move the Fuzziness slider to the right slowly, until I start to see the blue fringe. The blue fringe will appear white in the Fuzziness box:

What I’m going to do is bring the Saturation slider to the left, to desaturate the blue fringe. I’ll also move the Lightness slider to the left to darken the desaturated line.

Remember, every image is different. The Lightness slider may have to be moved to the left or right, but I’ll always move the Saturation slider to the left to desaturate.

Here are my settings for this image. Look at the bird’s beak. Big difference:

This can be done with any color fringing using this method.

Check it out and see how it works for you. Have fun.