Commercial Photoshop Retouching: In the Studio

Chapter 3. Corrections: Improvements on Reality

In this Chapter

• Correction Basics

• Adding Texture to an Image

• Using the Clone Tool

• Neutralizing Images

• Brightening Images

• Changing Image Colors

When I say "correction," I am not talking about your run of the mill correction like when you are asked to make a banana appear more yellow. I am talking about making corrections that can not only make that banana appear more yellow, but add greater shape and pizzazz so it really stands out from the rest of the bunch. The beauty of such corrections is that they can be applied to any image and changed to the point that people can't believe what you started with. Let's dive in and see how to really make those images sing.

Note

The corrections I will discuss here are described in CMYK because anything being printed on paper by a printing press will be of a four-color process, with the occasional special Pantone color. The basic principal of a correction can also be applied in RGB. When I speak of four-color process, to clarify, some ink jet type printers are called RGB devices, but for the most part this means that they like to receive an RGB file. They will then use their internal conversion process to convert the file to CMYK, as the inks used in these printers are CMYK. Some printers use additional ink colors as well to enhance the image.

Correction Basics

Let's start with a few basic philosophies for making corrections. (Note that many of these techniques apply to much more than color ...