Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone had a chance to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather while remembering all of those who gave and are giving their life for this country.
Earlier this weekend, Kendra sent me a special “before and after” request. She is currently in the process of printing/framing/hanging a few photographs in Baby A’s room. She loves the photo below but didn’t care for the pink color cast as a result of the pretty pink backdrop. Color casts can often happen when you use bright-colored seamless paper or blankets. However, Photoshop Elements makes it easy for you to remove these color casts with a few simple clicks.
I started this photo in Adobe Camera Raw just to see if it needed any exposure, brightness, contrast help before bringing it over to PSE7.
Once in PSE7, I first re-cropped and stretched the canvas. I then created a duplicate layer. In that layer, I went to enhance, adjust color, remove color cast. Like I said, it’s pretty easy – just click on an element of your photo that should be white, gray or black and the photo automatically adjusts and removes the color casts. I used another background copy to use the dodge tool to lighten some of the shadows around her face and leg.
From there, I highlighted Baby A’s body with the quick selection tool, then right click to select the inverse – I used the eye dropper to select the brightest shade of pink and used the paint bucket to fill the selection (I basically layer masked Baby A’s body so she didn’t become pink). I created a duplicate layer and applied the inverse of a high pass filter on a soft light blending mode to create a soft and seamless effect on the background. I merged the layers.
I ran Amy McMaster’s Squeaky Clean making adjustments to the levels, adding color in some areas (reducing yellows, reds and magentas in other areas), evening out her skin tone and adding a touch of pop to her eyes.
Finally, I added a texture I found on Flickr that incorporates a lil vintage and a lil polka dot. I’m pretty satisfied with the overall effect. I applied Amy McMaster’s Berries N’ Cream action (with a few simple tweaks) and stepped away from my computer.
Kendra tells me that she’ll be taking a picture of the final product for me to share…so stay tuned. In the meantime, have a great night! Also, if you have any editing challenges or photos you’d like me to work some magic on, just let me know.
