Mbdisign.nl Forums

Once again, welcome to this tutorial, in which we will be recoloring an element of a full color picture. In an earlier tutorial we have already put some color back into a black and white image, and we will now use a similar method to recolor an element of our full color image.

First of all open the image you will be working with. I have chosen this image:



Press F7 to go to the layers window. Select your background or base layer and copy it two times by pressing Ctrl+J twice. Create a new, empty layer and move it so that is placed below the top layer, like this:




Fill the layer with a bright or otherwise contrasting color with your paint bucket tool. Go back to the layers window, select the top layer and start erasing the element which you want to recolor. Use large brushes for the larger areas and small or very small brushes for the details. The layer beneath the layer you're erasing things from will help you to easily determine whether you have missed a part or whether you have erased a bit too much.
If you've accidentally erased something which shouldn't have been erased press Ctrl+Z to undo your last action or use the History Brush from your Tools to return the parts that shouldn't have been erased. The History Brush is the opposite of the Eraser in this case.
When you're done erasing the element you want to recolor your image will look something like this:




Go back to the layers window and delete the layer which you filled with a bright or otherwise contrasting color. Select the middle layer and go to Image -> Adjustments -> Hue/Saturation. Move the "Hue" slider while looking at your picture to see which color looks best. Adjust the saturation and brightness as well if you want to, until you're satisfied with the result.
Alternatively you can check the "colorize" box and then move the sliders around a bit while keeping an eye on your picture. It depends upon your picture which method works best to get the color you want.
So far this is the result, done with the first method:



If you want to you can go back to the top layer and erase or ad some parts if you're not quite satisfied with that.
As a final touch I changed the contrast and levels a bit, and this is the final result:



In an upcoming tutorial we will see what to do if you want to recolor more then one element in both full color and black-and-white pictures.

If you have any questions or comments concerning this tutorial please don't hestitate to either PM me or to post a message on the forum.