Red Tuxes... Actually Black--'Shop Fix?

[termina3]

Hey guys,

Was at an event a while back, and got a photo that turned out like this:


As you can see, the tuxes have a red hue... and should really be black. Are there any photoshop fixes that can retain the shadows but will tilt only the clothing's hues towards black? I'd like to avoid ruining the skin tone...

Thanks!
-T

 

[epicwelshman]

Others prob know better than me, but I'd do a number of things. Try and use Levels and Curves to adjust the contrast, maybe even using discreet layer masks.

There are other ways, like injecting more black into the red channel - the problem is that skin tone is also "red", which would affect them.

Just play around, see what you can do

 

[mperkins37]

Here's to levels!

I did this by dialing the red blue & green back a bit & lightening a bit back to achieve this:

 

[kylos]

I did this by dialing the red blue & green back a bit & lightening a bit back to achieve this:

Now if only you can get the skin tones back.

 

[kylos]

How's this


As epicwelshman said, the skin tones (and especially some of the hair) have red in them, so curves won't quite work on their own. Actually, with a fancy curve on the red channel, you can isolate most of the red levels that appears in the suits from the reds that appear in the faces. The problem really comes from the hair. The red levels in the hair and in the suits overlap considerably, so when you kill the red in the suits, it also flattens the hair. This is particularly bad for hair, because you kill all the fine detail.

What I ended up doing was basically selecting everything but the faces and hair, and using curves to set the low reds to black. It won't matter if you select the shirts if you use multiple control points on the curve to keep the high end the same and reduce the low end 'til it looks good.

You'll probably want to play with the other channels a little bit too, as I can see a little green in some of the lapels. Also, I'm a bit colorblind, so there may be other things I missed.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

With whichever method you choose to do (Levels, Curves, Selective Color, etc) do it as an adjustment layer. Don't worry about what it's doing to the skin and etc, because once you have the tuxedos how you want them, just paint the faces back in on the layer mask.

 

[lancestraz]

You have to use a mask.

 

[termina3]

Thanks guys!

Here's what I've got:


Turned out great, but lancestraz, what did you do to get that beautiful gray?

 

[termina3]

OK, nm, figured it out (B&W layer, not colors)

Again, thanks to everyone!

Result:

 

[marclapierre13]

OK, nm, figured it out (B&W layer, not colors)

Again, thanks to everyone!

Result:

care to explain step by step how you achieved tihs?

 

[termina3]

care to explain step by step how you achieved tihs?

No problem!

The target area in my photo was the tuxes; I had to "erase" away from the faces and hair.

1. Open file in Adobe Photoshop (I used CS3 for Mac)
2. Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Levels
3. Play around with Red, Green, and Blue levels to find the most appropriate color for target area
4. Select OK
5. Currently, the mask/layer is applied to the entire photo
6. Make sure the mask layer is selected.
7. . Select the eraser tool, and "erase" away the areas you don't want the layer/mask to apply to (if you have a small target area, erase the entire doc).
8. Of course, you can also "paint", using the brush tool, the mask layer back on. (particularly useful when small percentage is the target area)

That's for the colors. In my case, this wasn't enough--luckily, tuxes are black and white, so I did the following:

1. Duplicate the Mask layer. (This retains all the work you just did isolating your "target area"--for a new target area, just make a new B&W adjustment layer. Of course, you can also inverse the selection somehow...)
2. Select (only) the copy. Layer -> Change Layer Content -> Black & White
3. Played around with the B&W settings 'til I found what I liked...
4. Select OK
5. Now, target area is first affected by levels, and then turned into B & W.

 

[sonor]

Here's what I've got:

The tuxedos look fine now, but they all look like they're wearing lipstick - too much red in their faces still?

 

[Digital Skunk]

Turn down the reds, use history brush


Stop over complicating things.

 

[termina3]

Turn down the reds, use history brush


Stop over complicating things.

You see, I don't know what the heck a history brush is.

 

[Digital Skunk]

You see, I don't know what the heck a history brush is.

Sorry. Not that you were over complicating things, some other posters were. You don't need a mask at all, that is one way to do it, since PS gives you so many ways to do things, but it's not the most efficient.

Adjust the Red in the coats however you want, then use the History Brush, "Y" and select the history state you want to go back to, put the history icon in the little box next to the history state, then paint you way back to the original skin tones.

If you set your brush to feather and to only paint back a certain percent it blends in real well.