How to Color a Japanese Person Realistically on Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is an incredibly powerful tool for photographic manipulation, editing, retouching and restoration. It has the capability to create a colorized version of a black and white photo. This technique can be accomplished in several different ways. The method presented here is non-destructive and allows for minute tweaking throughout the process.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Open the black and white photograph in Adobe Photoshop. Add a fill layer by clicking "Layer --> New Fill Layer --> Solid Color." Select a color as close to natural for a Japanese person as you can visualize--you can adjust it later. In an experiment with a photo on my system, I found the color #FCC59B worked well for the photo I was working with.
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2
In the Layers window, click on the small vertical rectangle in the new adjustment layer you created. A highlight box will appear around it.
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3
In the Tools menu, select the Eraser tool and set the brush hardness to around 50 percent. Erase everything in this adjustment layer except the actual skin of the person you are trying to color--background, clothing, hair, eyes and anything else that shouldn't be skin-colored.
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4
Click on the adjustment layer again, and change the fill to "Color." Double-click on the color preview box in the adjustment layer, and use the color picker to experiment with subtle changes to your chosen color until you find the exact shade that is aesthetically accurate for your particular photograph.
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5
If you want to color the entire photograph, repeat this process with a new adjustment layer for each color you want to add to the photo.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Practice this technique with a color photograph. Create a duplicate layer and reduce the saturation to 0% to create a black and white version. Then, colorize this version. This leaves the original color version intact in a separate layer for you to compare your work.
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References
- Photo Credit portrait of a woman. b&w portrait image by Elena Platonova from Fotolia.com
