34
Brush-on color
T
HE COLOR REPLACEMENT TOOL
performs a task almost identical to the
Replace Color dialog, discussed earlier in this
chapter, but it has one significant advantage:
you can paint the new color directly onto the
image, without having to go through a dialog
first.
In one way, it’s simply more satisfying to
paint the new color straight on. But there are
many other advantages to the new tool: where
Replace Color would globally change one
color for another, the brush allows us to mix
our colors at will. In addition, we can control
the area we color with more precision than we
could with the dialog.
The settings that determine the way the
Color Replacement tool operates are the
same as those used by the Background Eraser
tool, covered later in this book: take a look at
Detailed Hair Cutting in Chapter 8 to see how
to change the settings for both these tools.
1
Here’s our model, wearing a bright
red shirt. In color terms, it’s pretty
close to the skin tones, so the Replace
Color dialog would have some difficulty
with this image; the Color Replacement
Brush is the perfect solution.
6
Here, we’ll use the same tool to
change the model’s hair color from
black to brown. In order to make this
process work, you need to complete
the whole coloring operation in a single
brushstroke. Far too bright – let’s fix it.
2
To begin, choose a color and set
a tolerance of around 50%, then
paint a test patch. You should watch
to see that the color covers all the
areas you want, and doesn’t leak into
unwanted skin regions.
7
Press CSf LSf
to bring up the Fade dialog
immediately after brushing on the color:
now we can reduce the strength of the
last operation by dragging the slider, to
make it more realistic.
IMAGE: PHOTOS.COM
1
Natural selection
SHORTCUTS
MAC WIN BOTH
35
3
Here’s what happens if you choose
the wrong settings. At the top, too
high a tolerance means the skin is being
changed along with the shirt; at the
bottom, too low a tolerance means not
enough of the shirt is changed.
8
In general, you’d want to use a
soft-edged brush for this tool.
Here, we’ll paint tiger stripes onto the
shirt by using a hard-edged brush. We’ll
begin by painting the black stripes, in
Color mode.
4
Try to change all contiguous areas
of color in one go. If you start with
a small patch, as we did in step 2, and
then carry on with a new brushstroke
in the same area you’ll get an ugly join
which can be hard to get rid of.
9
Although the last step changed
the color, it didn’t make the stripes
darker. To do this, we need to change
the brush mode to Luminosity instead.
Now, when we brush over the changed
areas, we make them darker as well.
5
Because the top half and the
bottom half of the shirt are split
in two by the arms, we can treat each
as a separate region. By coloring each
section in one go, we maintain an
evenness of color throughout.
10
Change the brush mode back
to Color, and pick a bright
orange. We can now change all the
remaining red using the new color, to
create this convincing tiger pattern on
the shirt.
HOT TIP
There are three
‘sampling’ modes
for the Color
Replacement
Brush: Once,
which only
samples the first
time you click;
Continuous, which
keeps sampling
the color beneath
the crosshair as
you paint; and
Background
Swatch, which
uses the current
background
color. Once is the
most controllable
method to use;
only choose
Contiguous if
there are strong
variations in
shading.
How to Cheat in Photoshop CC
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