Getting blue out of car reflections

[naru]

Is there a way to take out the blue from black car bodies or any other color cars but keep the depth of the color.

 

[Rantin Al]

Hiya Naru,

You could try a Colour Balance Adjustment layer.
If you have a sample, I could be more specific.

Al.

 

[naru]

Al

Thanks for the reply. I am new to this so I am not sure how I can send an image. I have used what you suggested by shifting to more yellow on a layer and then used the eraser tool to put back colors everywhere except the body but somehow it loses the contract crunch. I have also tried selective color taking out the blue and replacing color too but it then becomes a little grainy in the graduation. I then tried blurring but somehow the digital image is not as clean as if I had shot film. If I print a 12' image I can see the breakup. I am shooting on a Fuji S1 Pro on jpeg format rather than tiffs as these are for the web. naruphotography.net for samples

thank you
naru

 

[Floydski]

Hi Naru,

Yeah it would be nice to see an example. But one method I use
on occasion which works well (depending, of course). Is use the
Image/Adjustment/Replace Color tool. There you can use the eye dropper on your photo to pick up the color range you wish to alter/change or delete. And use the top slider to make sure it's only picking those areas. Then you can use the adjustment sliders at the bottom to changes it hue, desaturate, etc.

Another tool, which would be more accurate, but does require a little more patience is the Selective Color tool in the same menu as above. There you can actually tweak all colors(and how much each shifts) and eliminate the blues from the dark areas....

Anyway, so ideas to play with.

-Floyd

 

[wbiss]

Hi Naru and welcome to the PSG Forum!

Please, help us to help you by posting the image that you speak of.

Guidelines for posting attachments are as follows
a) maximum file size: 150kbs
b) maximum dimensions: 600 px wide

To post your image... at the bottom of your reply screen you will see some "attachment" options. I'm including a little screenshot which should make it clear. Just locate the file on your HD and I would also suggest that you use the "Preview" option to ensure that you've uploaded the correct file or just to review your message before posting.

Don't forget to check out http://www.photoshopgurus.info/forum/faq.php for further information.

 

[naru]

Hi Wendy

I am attaching a section of the raw file as requested. I am trying to take the blue out of the bodywork. If I use selective color_take out blue I find the image starts to break up/grainy where the blue meets the black when printing a 12" print on an epson 1270. The original file is 17mb.

Thanks
Naru

 

[naru]

Hi Wendy

I am attaching a section of the raw file as requested. I am trying to take the blue out of the bodywork. If I use selective color_take out blue I find the image starts to break up/grainy where the blue meets the black when printing a 12" print on an epson 1270. The original file is 17mb.

Thanks
Naru

 

[Rantin Al]

Naru. Here's a quicky, about 30 secs.

Duplicate the layer.
Add a Channel Mixer adjustment layer, combine to greyscale.
Duplicate any Channel and load as a selection.
Convert the selection to a mask on the Channel mixer layer.
Add a Hue & Saturation adjustment layer, tick Colorize button and set colour.
Reload the mask as previous, and add mask to the H & S layer.

Alt +click to bring up the mask and sharpen with levels.

I've shown the adjustment layers linked, it is easier to turn the group on and off to see the effect.
Also the masks may need a bit of tidying around the top edge of the bonnet (hood).

Done!

Al.

 

[Erik]

I tried the way of removing colour casts with color balance adj layer

midtones: 50 towards Red (less cyan) and -50 towards Yellow (less blue)
highlights are ok
shadows: 3 towards red

then, because the contrast was a bit low, a set the contrast to +7 and the lightness to -3

Then a quick magick wand selection of the sky, a bit of feathering and the curves upped a bit in the centre to lighten the sky.

If it were for print, Id go much more indetail, but for the web this is imo ok. Don't forget that the blue of the sky etc reflects in the car, and gives it a blue reflection.

 

[naru]

Thanks everyone. I do realize that the reflection from the sky would be blue. grey whatever the sky color was at that time,
but I feel that when you view in reality you see less reflection color especaially blue. This is also dependent on the type of paint finish too. I also feel that the person looking could mistake a black car for dark blue. It becomes even uglier on say a red car.

Here is my finished image

ThanksAgain
Naru

 

[Erik]

It's good to see that your problem is solved. Yet, it might be more practical to start with photographs that don't have such a strong blue colour cast. Could it be your camera, as, when taking pics outdoors, such a colourcast as the one you uploaded here seems to be a bit odd in my eyes?
I have no experience with digital photography (I still use traditional slides) but it does strike me as rather odd that a professional camera like the one you used could not do any better??? If I'm not mistaken, digital camera's even offer a preview. Wasn't the cast visible when you took the pic, or did it appear later?

Must be a real bummer for you, having to retouch all these photographs!

 

[wbiss]

;\ naru, thanks for posting a "visual" of your problem! I'm just sorry that I wasn't able to get online yesterday to give the challenge a try.

I see that Rantin Al and Erik have done an impressive job on offering up solutions!!! So many ways to do things in PS!

And your final image does, indeed, look great! :}