Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
the brush's opacity using the slider in the Tool Options area, and then redo your paint-
ing.
4.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each additional color you want to add
.
As
Figure 10-6
explains, it's a good idea to add a new layer for each color. So when
you're done with one color, change your foreground color, add a new layer in Color
blend mode, and then paint away. This makes it easier to go back later and fix just one
thing without risking the rest of your hard work.
You can also paint directly on the original layer (if you do, try switching the Brush tool's
blend mode to Color). But if you do that, you'll find it far more difficult to fix things if you
make a mistake. Working on the original layer also doesn't give you much of an out if you
decide later that, say, the lip color you painted on doesn't look so great with the skin color
you chose.
SPECIAL EFFECTS: HINTS FOR COLORING OLD PHOTOGRAPHS
If you want to add some color to an antique black-and-white image, it's easier to create a separate
layer for each part of a face you're going to color—lips, eyes, cheeks, skin—than to try to control
different shades on one layer. That way, you can easily change just one color later on. Then, when
you're done working on the photo, you can merge the layers by choosing Layer→Merge Visible
or Layer→Merge Down (see
Manual Merges
).
Here are some other tips for when you're aiming for that 19th-century look:
▪ To create a photo that looks like it was hand-colored a century ago, paint at less than 100 per-
cent opacity—the tinting on old photos is very transparent.
▪ If you select an area before painting, you don't have to worry about getting color where you
don't want it, because the paint is confined to your selection.
▪ Skin colors are really hard to create in the Color Picker. Instead, try sampling skin tones from
another photo. If it's a family photo, the odds are good that the current generation's skin tones
are reasonably close to Great-Granddad's. (If you're comfortable using Elements' more ad-
vanced features, a gradient map [
Saving Gradients
]
can be an excellent way to create realistic
skin shading, although it usually takes lots of gradient editing to get things just right. The
face in
Figure 10-6
was colored using a low-opacity gradient map based on the Copper gradi-
ent that comes with Elements.)
