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Post by tangomike on Apr 12, 2017 14:55:39 GMT
Hello again, PSEM! Moderately proficient user of PSE 14 on a Mac running OS 10.11.5 has run into a frustrating problem, description follows:
1. It's a wraparound book cover with a gorgeous background image of the Superstition Mountains in Arizona lit from the left by golden low sunlight that creates long shadows.
2. Into this image I inserted a 1920's-era unrestored touring car from a photo with a lot of greens and blues, so the car appeared pasted in rather than being an integral part of the background. In the past I've done a lot of similar covers, but I've always been able to manipulate the insertion with satisfactory results.
3. A friend with a lot more experience and using the full version Photoshop showed me how to choose a predominant color from the background, which in this case was a nice golden brown, select the car, and fill the selection with Soft Light and the result dropped my jaw. From that point on, I used that technique and clone stamping rocks and brush from the background around the wheels and underneath the car to improve the appearance of the car as being there when the photo was taken. That's the good news.
4. The not-so-good news is that I haven't yet received permission from the copyright holder to use the photo of the car. Anticipating that I might have to look elsewhere, I found another on a commercial photo website and began working with it to see if it will be suitable before purchasing a license.
5. In this case, I'm not yet trying to adjust the color of the car in relation to the destination background, but to eliminate the appearance that suggests the car was put together with fenders, hood, and running board from cars with different colors. I want the car to look old and trashed out, so that wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that in a couple of places, namely a fender, light from a bright sun in the original photo had turned the fender virtually white with glare.
5. I've tried multiple times to use a blue-gray sample from the left fender to fill a selection on the right one, and in every case, the result is nothing more than a solid color with no texture or variation in lighting.
6. I asked my friend what he would do, and he suggested a combination of Soft Light fill, cloning, and graduations. His quick example looks a lot better than mine, but my attempts at cloning from the other fender don't look very natural, and I'm not sure what he means by "graduations." I'd ask, but I may be close to the point of maxing out my available advice credit with him.
7. So based on previous experience asking for assistance from the experts who populate these pages, I'm looking to avail myself of the amazing talent and willingness to help that have always resulted from a thread-starter visit like this one.
8. Thank you in advance for any guidance offered.
Tosh
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Post by Sepiana on Apr 12, 2017 17:01:27 GMT
5. I've tried multiple times to use a blue-gray sample from the left fender to fill a selection on the right one, and in every case, the result is nothing more than a solid color with no texture or variation in lighting. 6. I asked my friend what he would do, and he suggested a combination of Soft Light fill, cloning, and graduations. His quick example looks a lot better than mine, but my attempts at cloning from the other fender don't look very natural, and I'm not sure what he means by "graduations." I'd ask, but I may be close to the point of maxing out my available advice credit with him. Tosh,
I believe the reason you are getting just a solid color and no texture is because the layer blending mode is set to Normal. Your friend is on the right track. You need to change the blending mode so that the layer of the selection filled with color will interact with the layer directly underneath it. The Soft Light blending mode your friend suggested is a good one to start with. You can also try others such as Multiply, Overlay, Color, etc. You may also to want to reduce the Opacity to get a more natural look.
My guess is that your friend is suggesting using a gradient when he talks about "graduations".
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Post by tangomike on Apr 12, 2017 19:28:36 GMT
5. I've tried multiple times to use a blue-gray sample from the left fender to fill a selection on the right one, and in every case, the result is nothing more than a solid color with no texture or variation in lighting. 6. I asked my friend what he would do, and he suggested a combination of Soft Light fill, cloning, and graduations. His quick example looks a lot better than mine, but my attempts at cloning from the other fender don't look very natural, and I'm not sure what he means by "graduations." I'd ask, but I may be close to the point of maxing out my available advice credit with him. Tosh,
I believe the reason you are getting just a solid color and no texture is because the layer blending mode is set to Normal. Your friend is on the right track. You need to change the blending mode so that the layer of the selection filled with color will interact with the layer directly underneath it. The Soft Light blending mode your friend suggested is a good one to start with. You can also try others such as Multiply, Overlay, Color, etc. You may also to want to reduce the Opacity to get a more natural look.
My guess is that your friend is suggesting using a gradient when he talks about "graduations".
Thank you, Sepiana, and I agree, but it appears that the problem with using any of the other-than-normal blending modes is that they work far less well (to the point of making no difference at all) if the underlying layer has no texture to accept what's being blended with it.
I just now tried using the gradient tool with two shades of the blue-gray sampled from the opposite fender as opposed to white and one shade of blue-gray, which resulted in far too stark a difference. Two relatively close shades with a long transition put a nice touch on it. That doesn't, however, result in any texture difference. What I've been trying unsuccessfully so far is an initial fill to create the texture of old paint that might have rust and/or primer showing through so the soft light fill overlay can interact with it.
Another challenges with this cover is adding a shroud-covered body on the ground near the car. The image was pure clean and white, which is totally incompatible with the story. To dirty it up, I experimented with a brush and two shades of gravel around the shroud. It took a while to find the right brush size and opacity, but the end result appears very realistic, with the folds in the shroud still easily visible.
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Post by Sepiana on Apr 12, 2017 20:02:29 GMT
5. I've tried multiple times to use a blue-gray sample from the left fender to fill a selection on the right one, and in every case, the result is nothing more than a solid color with no texture or variation in lighting.
Tosh,
Let's focus on this issue. I am going out on a limb and suggesting this. There is a technique, discussed in one of Scott Kelby's books, which may (or may not) work here. This technique is sometimes referred to as a "digital patch".
1. Make a selection of the area to get a repair sample. In this case, the repair sample will come from the left fender.
2. Go to Select>Feather and enter 1-3 pixels for the Feather Radius.
3. Press down Ctrl-Alt (Cmmd-Option on a Mac). Then, click and drag your selection over to the area to be repaired (the right fender).
NOTE:
When you hold down these two keys and drag your selection over to the area to be repaired, Elements creates a copy of your selection. If needed, as you drag your selection, you can make it remain in line by adding the Shift key -- Ctrl-Alt-Shift (Cmmd-Option-Shift on a Mac).
If, after you copy your selection over to the right fender area, you see harsh edges, try redoing the process using a higher Feather Radius. Or you can do a quick touch-up with the Clone Stamp, Spot Healing, or the Healing Brush tool.
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Post by tangomike on Apr 12, 2017 20:58:52 GMT
I'll join you on the limb, Sepiana, thanks.
The technique works as advertised, and the edges of the selection looked fine. The problem is that transferring a relatively small sample of the blue-gray from one fender to the other doesn't pick up the interesting color variations on the source fender. When I try the clone stamp to fill in the rest of the destination fender, I run into the same issue (due to operator error, probably) in which the manual fill doesn't look like natural random variations visible in the source fender. Maybe I should be using another tool, but another problem is trying to keep the manual fill "within the lines" of the destination fender so the color doesn't bleed over onto the hood, for example.
Tosh
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Post by Sepiana on Apr 12, 2017 21:44:36 GMT
When I try the clone stamp to fill in the rest of the destination fender, I run into the same issue (due to operator error, probably) in which the manual fill doesn't look like natural random variations visible in the source fender. Maybe I should be using another tool, but another problem is trying to keep the manual fill "within the lines" of the destination fender so the color doesn't bleed over onto the hood, for example.
OK! Let's tackle this in two steps.
First, what about using the Healing Brush instead of the Clone Stamp tool? You may get better results. The Clone Stamp tool does not blend in the repair; instead, it just covers the problem spot with the replacement. As its name implies, it clones one area on top of the other area. On the other hand, the Healing Brush will blend the repair into the problem area. The Healing Brush works very much like the Spot Healing Brush (which also blends in the repair). However, when you use the Healing Brush, you tell Elements which area of the image to use for the repair. Just like you tell the Clone Stamp tool. Also, the Healing Brush is better at repairing large areas than the Spot Healing Brush.
You may want to check this thread for more information. -- Spot Healing Brush vs. Healing Brush
Second, if you keep the area to be repaired selected, i.e., with marching ants around it, the repair will NOT bleed into the surrounding areas. The marching ants will determine the boundaries of the repair; the repair will be confined to the area within those boundaries. You can use this technique with any one of the three tools mentioned above.
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Post by tangomike on Apr 12, 2017 22:24:43 GMT
Fantastic, Sepiana, that's exactly the sort of knowledge that I haven't yet picked up, and it's just started to come together. I still need to do the front, which has the same incongruous white that the left (from the car's perspective) did before I sampled and cloned (prior to learning about the difference between that tool and the Healing Brush, but this image is closer to being usable than I ever thought possible.
During this trial and error process, I figured out a workflow to deal with the predominance of error: 1) select the area I want to change, 2) copy and paste it into a new layer, 3) hide the other layers, 4) use the Magic Wand and Inverse to select the area, 5) contract the selection to prevent too much bleed over onto other areas of the car, 6) unhide the hidden layers, 7) and begin filling with various colors sampled from other areas on the car with Soft Light, 8) undoing any action that didn't do what I expected and repeating the steps until I got a result I liked.
I can't remember at the moment how to add an image, but I'm going to post this and upload the car before and after in case anyone is interested.
Tosh
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Post by Sepiana on Apr 13, 2017 16:30:04 GMT
Fantastic, Sepiana, that's exactly the sort of knowledge that I haven't yet picked up, and it's just started to come together. I still need to do the front, which has the same incongruous white that the left (from the car's perspective) did before I sampled and cloned (prior to learning about the difference between that tool and the Healing Brush, but this image is closer to being usable than I ever thought possible. Tosh, great news! Glad to hear you are making progress with your project (as I knew you would). This is not an easy project. Furthermore, it is one which, as you have already realized, will require using not just one of the retouching tools but a "combo" of them. |
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Post by tangomike on Apr 13, 2017 18:31:51 GMT
Combo tactics have proven their worth, Sepiana. This morning I used the digital patch method to select the "perfect" rock and transfer it under an object on the ground to eliminate the appearance of that end of the object floating a little bit. I altered the orientation of the rock and nudged it into position while offering a silent thank you to this forum and especially to you.
Tosh
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