How to realistically color in a photo

[Thomas Lunt]

I am not very experienced in Photoshop yet and I have not taken any course. I am completely self taught.
My question is reagrding thie photo below. The grass was very ugly and I wanted to green it up. Is there an easier method to the one I used?

I created a fill layer at 50% opacity and then erased the green off of the subjects and trees. It was a real pain and you can still see where I erased the green near his leg where the grass is white. I will have to live with this if I can't find an easier method.

Let me know!

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa160/Thomaslunt/Picture265.jpg

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa160/Thomaslunt/Picture266copy.jpg

[Grace]

create a fill layer with the color you want, use a layer mask and paint away the areas you don't want with a black brush, then if you mess up you just use a white brush to bring that area back :)

[Grace]

looks pretty good though! I wouldn't have known you did anything had you not posted the original...well, except by his shoes..thats the most noticable..but other than that..good job :)

[mmahoney]

Kathy, you're some gardener :lol:

[Grace]

thanks! I can kill most anything :)

[Anke]

Hey, I think you've done an excellent job!!

[Thomas Lunt]

Thanks guys. Your input helps.

[howzitboy]

looks great to me but id add a layer mask and erase out all the super nice grass and add in some of the dry stuff to dont look like your sitting on a golf course.

[mcmadkat]

Err.....those are two different photos, and I don't mean the grass...

[Thomas Lunt]

Obviously I used them to illustrate my question but I didn't even realize they were two different shots. VERY observant there mcmadkat!

[MiniMemories]

I have a question. i don't know anything about this but how do you erase color without erasing the picture?

[spphoto]

I have a question. i don't know anything about this but how do you erase color without erasing the picture?

Make two layers, with one of them your prefered black and white version and one with your color version. Then just use a layer mask on the top layer to erase what you don't need from that layer.

[ArcticEOS]

You did pretty good. Just zoom in on his leg and make your brush smaller then continue to fill :)

[a521]

Wow! You did a great job! Just zoom all the way in and continue with what you've already done, you'll be able to get to the individual blades of grass. If not, just clone out the top portion of those white blades.

[cheritapictures]

nice touch up... it save you...

[mmahoney]

Another way is to use the hue / saturation adjustment layer .. the grass is actually considered yellow by PS, so slide the yellow saturation & hue to where you like it. This method does not affect the other colors so you don't need to do a lot of erasing of the layer mask.
Mike

EDIT .. now that I look at my colors they are pretty pukey .. but you can adjust then to what you like.

[MiniMemories]

You did pretty good. Just zoom in on his leg and make your brush smaller then continue to fill :)
yeah I'm with these two you did a good job just gotta add some more little detail

[mizarphotos]

http://www.mizarphotos.com/Picture265.jpg

[nwa2]

Another idea is to take advantage of the fact that the wedding part are in black / white / red / flesh - no green.

This makes it easy (relatively)to select the green grass and manipulate it.

[nwa2]

Selecting only greens with the magic wand to create a layer mask which was blended in. Also manipulated green and yellow channel of hue/saturation filter using an adjustment layer.

[nwa2]

Alternatively, turn up at the venue one week earlier and apply liquid fertilser.

[mcmadkat]

Good job on the painting though, reminds of when the queen would visit some places and they would paint the grass green literally!

[Thomas Lunt]

You guys crack me up. Thanks for the tips and encouragement. Mizar - Your version looks a lot more "real" than mine. Mine looks a little carton to me.
Nice job

[BEWITCHED]

such a big diffrence and it looks so much beter .

[|)\/8]

I used a mask layer along with the lasso tool and brush, took about 10 minutes. I used your first photograph :D.

http://www.dykstra.us/images/Picture265.jpg

[R_Metzel]

Thomas, clean up around the foot and you are golden! Best edit so far because it did 3 things, greened everything up, brought out more detail in his suit, and brightened the entire picture up, which makes it much more cheerful. Nice work! ;)