B&W with color retouching question
I would really like to take a crack at learning how to prepare a B&W image with a small segment, e.g. flowers retouched with color. The classic use of this is a B&W of a bride with her flowers receiving just a hint of color.
I have access to PhotoShop 5.5 and PaintShop Pro 7 software. Can one of you computer pros give me some sound and practical instructions/recommendations. Remember, I basically stink at digital imaging enhancement.
I looked at retouching materials from Kodak, but its much too pricey.
-Dave-
Good lesson, just wanted to add...
...a few tips from my own workflow.
Trevor shows his examples at 100% , but of course, you're not restricted to that view. When coloring highly detailed areas of a photo, it's usually more accurate (and easier) if you bump the magnification up. I often use 500% or more to get a real good look at the edges of an area on a pixel level. The original size of your image will determine what magnification gives you the clearest view.
You can keep this magnified view seperate from the normal view (so you don't have to keep zooming in and out) by giving it its own window in ps. Click WINDOW>ARRANGE>NEW WINDOW FOR (will be followed by your file name). In earlier versions of ps I believe it's WINDOW>DOCUMENTS>NEW WINDOW. You can now toggle between the closeup window and the full size one.
Instead of painting an area with the brush tool, it's often quicker to select the entire area, then simply FILL it with the color. This is especially true with fully contained areas with hard edges. Use the COLOR RANGE selection tool for large simple sections of the same tone. For trickier areas (with irregular borders), the pen tool marking a path then converting to a selection works well. Keep in mind that sometimes the color will look better if you feather your selection, and don't forget you can save selections if you want to go back later and work on the same area.
If you decide to create your color area with a selection, another good way to add color is IMAGE>ADJUSTMENTS>SELECTIVE COLOR. Depending on the tonality of the selected area, choose WHITES. NEUTRAL, OR BLACK (or any combination). You then move the color sliders and can see the results as you work. This method will also allow you more color variations than the basic SWATCH PALETTE.
While (as Trevor notes) doing your coloring on a seperate layer, then adjusting the BLEND MODE and OPACITY, is the smartest way to go about it, you can also color right on a COPY layer of the image, and give the brush itself a BLEND MODE. This will allow you to see the actual results as you go along. Obviously, the downside to painting right on the image is not being able to undo things too easily if you mess up or change your mind.
Which is my final point. When you paint, do it in multiple, smaller strokes. IOW, release the left mouse button often. Every time you release, the HISTORY palette saves it as a single step. This makes it much easier to go back and undo just small portions of the coloring. If you tried to paint a large area in one single, long brush movement, then messed up right at the end, you'd have to start the entire area over. BTW, you can set the amount of HISTORY states (GENERAL PREFS). I'm not sure what the default is, but I use 20 to allow more flexibility in undoing work.
Oh, and it's good to get into the habit of "snapshotting" before starting any large editing, and saving often between snapshots...