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Exercise 5 - Colorizing Download this zip file for all the images you need to complete the exercises for Lesson 7. (Mac users can use Aladdin's free Stuffit Expander to extract the zip file.)
Open the photo. Make sure you have an initial snapshot in the history palette or create a new snapshot if you need to. Select the paintbrush tool. Set the mode to color and the opacity fairly low--around 20-40%. This type of coloring looks best when it is very subtle. Keeping opacity low will help, but you also want to be careful not to select a bright, highly saturated color. When you pick your foreground color, watch the S and B numbers in the HSB section and don't pick a color with more than 80% saturation or brightness. Since you're using a low opacity, remember that the paint is layered on every time you let up on the mouse button and begin a new paint stroke. It's best to fill in one very faint layer of color without letting up on the mouse button, then layer more color on here and there as needed. Experiment with different colors and opacity to mix and blend colors. Don't worry about going outside the edges, because you can use erase to history to paint that color back out. |
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Now
that we've removed the color from a color photo and injected
the color back in to selected areas, let's do just the
opposite. This time we'll start with a gray photo and
paint color onto it. I've chosen a simple flower, but
you might prefer to use an antique family photo of your
own for practice. If you use your own photo, make sure
the color mode is set to RGB before you begin.