Web Development

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

How to match color in photo manipulation

In this easy tutorial, you'll learn how to use color check layers to color match in Photoshop.

If you prefer video tutorials, check out the complete Photo Manipulation for Beginners course from the Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel, and if you want to know more about using Photoshop to match color, check out this great tutorial on Color Theory for Beginners.

You'll find all the Photoshop resources you need for this tutorial at Envato, as well as tutorials on how to create a Photoshop composite and cool Photoshop photo effects.

Match color in Photoshop: Color check layers

Trying to guess things like color, contrast, and saturation by eye when working in Photoshop isn't the best option. Instead, create "color check" layers that simplify your image so you can pinpoint and adjust the different settings more precisely, without having to guess.

Step 1

Create a new layer at the top of your layer stack and go to Edit > Fill > 50% Gray.

Step 2

Change the Layer Mode to Luminosity, which will show the colors of your image.

In this example, some aspects of the milk are red, while other aspects have a lot of blue in them, and others still, like the middle batch, have touches of both red and blue. The milk bottle, on the other hand, is very yellow.

Step 3

To get an even clearer picture, go to the Adjustment panel and create a Vibrance Adjustment Layer. Move it above the gray layer and set it to 100% Saturation. Now we can clearly see the different hues.

Step 4

Group these two layers using Control/Command-G. You can also lock this layer by hitting this icon so that you can freely click on your different layers without this one getting in the way. This is a good idea for all your check layers.

Step 5

Now let's fix this milk situation. There are many different options for adjusting colors. This time, let's choose Image > Adjustment > Hue and Saturation in Photoshop. Because milk is white, any color it has would be the colors being reflected from its environment for the most part.

Step 6

When turning an image into one consistent color, check Colorize. That's what it does. Now dial in the hue setting so that the blue shade matches the blue in the sky, which is what that milk would be reflecting. Lower the saturation because milk is a white object. Repeat this step with each milk splash and the bottle of milk, turning them all into a consistent shade of blue.

Step 7

Now use this layer to dial in any other color. For instance, the bananas in our example are leaning towards red, so tweak those using a Hue/Saturation layer to bring in a bit more yellow.

Step 8

Use a Selective Color adjustment layer to make the grass greener, which will play off of the reds and the strawberries. Selective Color is a great adjustment when you want to pinpoint and tweak a very specific use in an image.

Before

After

This is just the first of three check layers, and while we'll be going through each one by one, in a more realistic scenario you'd create all three at once and then just switch between them, turning them on and off as you go. These layers are here to remove some of the guesswork with photo compositing. They're not telling you what to do—just giving you a more simplified view.

Discover more Photoshop resources and tutorials

In this tutorial, we covered how to color match in Photoshop. To learn more about color psychology and colour photo effects with Photoshop actions or to read tutorials on Photoshop techniques like photo manipulation in Photoshop, head over to Envato Tuts+ and the Envato blog. And for premium digital resources to cover all your creative needs, be sure to visit Envato.

Here are some great resources to get you started:

Monday, August 12, 2024

How to Create a Photoshop Composite

In this tutorial, we'll show you how easy compositing in Photoshop is by creating a realistic image using multiple photo sources.

If you prefer video tutorials, check out the complete Photo Manipulation for Beginners course from the Tuts+ YouTube channel, and if you want to know more about photo editing in Photoshop, check out 100+ Great Photoshop Tutorials for Clever Beginners.

You'll find all the Photoshop resources you need for this tutorial at Envato, as well as tutorials on how to find and prepare images for photo manipulation and how to extract images for photo manipulation in Photoshop.

Learn everything you need to know about Photoshop with these fantastic resources:

Create Your Composite Image in Photoshop

In this example, we are going to create a composite image in Photoshop, showing a bottle made from fruit. Find the resources used for this course in the following collection:

Download Course Files From Envato

Step 1

Take one of the twisting splashes of milk you've extracted from the photo source and place it above the bottle. Hit Control/Command-T to enter transform mode, and use the anchor points to angle the splashes so that they point towards the main bottle. We want to use these splashes to lead the eye towards the fruit that we'll add later.

If you want the image to be anchored to a certain spot, move the middle anchor to that area. Now, when you turn the layer, it'll rotate from the place it's anchored to. This will come in handy when placing our fruit as well.

Step 2

Now work on the next splash. You want this splash to appear as if it's wrapping around the bottle, so add a layer mask and use a hard round brush set to black to mask away the parts we don't need. Add a bit of feather to the edges of your mask so they aren't too hard. You can do this by clicking the mask, going to the Properties panel, and adding a feather of around 0.5 to 0.9 pixels.

Step 3

For our last splash, you also want to wrap the milk around the back of the bottle so that it's almost cradled by the milk. Hit Command-T to enter transform mode and resize and shape the splash. You'll also need to do some manual warping. In the upper options bar, hit the icon to enter Warp Transform mode.

Step 4

Warp Transform is incredibly easy to use. Just click and drag to warp the layer and change its shape. If you want to warp one section of the image, you can add more splits or guides by right-clicking on the warp and creating a cross-wire split sectioning off the top part of the milk splash. That way, when we warp and move the area, the rest of the image moves less.

Step 5

With the milk and bottle done, we can finally drop in our fruit. Use the Object Selection Tool and a layer mask to extract all the fruit from its original image and turn each layer into a smart object. Now begin placing the fruit by dragging and dropping it, focusing on placement.

One thing to pay attention to is that you work with the existing lighting, not against it. So when angling your banana slices, point the highlights outwards, and use some of the existing shadows and lighting as a guide for placing other fruit.

Step 6

When working on a Photoshop compositing project, it's best to use individual images so that all the pieces look different, but you can duplicate pieces and move them around until you like how they look in your composition. When you're done, use a hard round brush and a layer mask to make small changes to some of those fruit shapes you duplicated so that they look unique.

Discover More Photoshop Resources and Tutorials

In this tutorial, we covered compositing in Photoshop by creating a realistic image using multiple photo sources. To learn more about compositing in Photoshop or to find more tutorials on Photoshop techniques like how to manipulate a photo, head over to Envato Tuts+ and the Envato blog. And for premium digital resources to cover all your creative needs, be sure to visit Envato.

Here are some great resources to get you started: