Forums > Digital Art and Retouching > room retouching - plaid into plain

Photographer

ME_

Posts: 3152

Atlanta, Georgia, US

Sorry I'm going to be a little lazy and ask for suggestions before I've tried anything. (I do not have PS or any decent software where I am, and when I am with my own computer tonight it will be quite late.)

I have received a request to change the color of these curtains from plaid to cream. Anyone have suggestions on the easiest way to do this? I feel like it's going to be hard because of the plaid pattern and that the curtains are not against a solid background. Maybe I'm wrong but if you have any hints I'd love to hear them.

I only have a full-sized JPEG (no raw) and this is cropped and resized as an example shot.

I hope it's OK that I can't volunteer yet what I've tried. I usually would not ask for help without doing so but it's not feasible in this situation. Thanks in advance. :-)

https://i46.tinypic.com/a4613t.jpg

Feb 20 13 09:58 am Link

Photographer

M Pandolfo Photography

Posts: 12117

Tampa, Florida, US

I would setup similarly dark lighting and shoot with the preferred curtain and then composite. No way I would tackle this in PS. Nightmare.

I'm no expert this looks like an extremely different photoshop "fix" for a variety of reasons. Sorry, I know that's not what you're looking for and I hope some have a solution for you.

Feb 20 13 10:05 am Link

Photographer

ME_

Posts: 3152

Atlanta, Georgia, US

Michael, I can see you replied but this idiotic board software isn't showing anything. I am posting here because sometimes that supposedly gets it to work.

-------------
It's not my shot and it is not possible to do it again. I thought it looked a nightmare too and told the client so, but figured maybe I just didn't know the answer.

I did tell him that it might not be possible. But if anyone else has got suggestions, please tell!

Feb 20 13 10:22 am Link

Retoucher

Ken Fournelle

Posts: 99

Saint Paul, Minnesota, US

A couple of options come to mind.  You could make your own curtains.  I think there once was a tutorial on Retouch Pro for curtains. 

Also, I looked at iStock, the stock photo site, and there are several images there you could purchase that could possibly work quite well. 

http://www.istockphoto.com/

k

Feb 20 13 11:43 am Link

Retoucher

Peano

Posts: 4106

Lynchburg, Virginia, US

If you want to change the existing curtains, here's one way.

Select a chunk like this, jump it to a new layer (Ctrl-J) and stretch it downward with a transform box:

https://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af171/retouch46/Forums/curtain1_zps8d9e21dd.jpg


Mask around the curtains, including leaves on the plant and the piano in the foreground. The stretched red area will cover the darker area below it. Use the transform tool to skew and warp the stretched piece as needed:

https://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af171/retouch46/Forums/curtain1_zpsb7984fdd.gif


Do the same with the other blocks, using the red to cover the darker hue, so you have only reds in the curtain. You'll probably need to do a little clone above that to make the folds flow properly. Then Use hue/sat and curves layers above all of that (same mask) to change the color to beige:

https://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af171/retouch46/Forums/curtain2_zpsb60c7e0e.gif

Feb 20 13 12:10 pm Link

Photographer

ME_

Posts: 3152

Atlanta, Georgia, US

Oh that looks like it might work for me, Peano, thanks! I will try that and hopefully it will be possible for me.

Ken, I did think of compositing but hadn't really looked for stock curtains yet - might have to go that way though (or just not do it at all) if Peano's way is too hard for me or takes too much time.

Feb 20 13 01:04 pm Link

Retoucher

Peano

Posts: 4106

Lynchburg, Virginia, US

Taking another look, I think compositing would be far quicker and easier. Any color drapes will do. You can clip a hue/sat layer to it and adjust color, and also a curves layer to control brightness.

https://img221.imageshack.us/img221/8628/drapes.jpg

Feb 20 13 02:17 pm Link

Retoucher

The Invisible Touch

Posts: 862

Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain

Peano... you are the Architect of Photoshop!!

Feb 20 13 02:19 pm Link

Photographer

richy01

Posts: 153

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

The Invisible Touch wrote:
Peano... you are the Architect of Photoshop!!

+1 Peano rocks....

Feb 21 13 08:00 am Link

Photographer

M Pandolfo Photography

Posts: 12117

Tampa, Florida, US

Peano wrote:
Taking another look, I think compositing would be far quicker and easier. Any color drapes will do. You can clip a hue/sat layer to it and adjust color, and also a curves layer to control brightness.

https://img221.imageshack.us/img221/8628/drapes.jpg

You never cease to amaze me.

Feb 21 13 08:08 am Link

Retoucher

Peano

Posts: 4106

Lynchburg, Virginia, US

Michael Pandolfo wrote:
You never cease to amaze me.

Thanks for the compliments, but this is really a simple operation. If you make a mask like this, you can drop in any curtains you like. The only additional work is to transform and perhaps warp the new curtains to fit.

https://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9363/maskdj.jpg

Feb 21 13 11:19 am Link

Photographer

Chuckarelei

Posts: 11271

Seattle, Washington, US

The Invisible Touch wrote:
Peano... you are the Architect of Photoshop!!

Not only that. Peano is MM Member of the Year 2012 award.

Feb 21 13 11:30 am Link

Photographer

ME_

Posts: 3152

Atlanta, Georgia, US

Somehow I think it's easier for you than for us mortals! :-D

Feb 21 13 11:34 am Link

Retoucher

Peano

Posts: 4106

Lynchburg, Virginia, US

ME_ wrote:
Somehow I think it's easier for you than for us mortals! :-D

C'mon! You were doing this in the second grade. "Take your crayon and color in the curtain without going outside the lines." You're just using quick mask now instead of a crayon.

https://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5991/crayonu.jpg

Feb 21 13 01:05 pm Link

Photographer

BeautybyGod

Posts: 3078

Los Angeles, California, US

holy.crap.

Feb 21 13 01:38 pm Link

Photographer

ME_

Posts: 3152

Atlanta, Georgia, US

That's informative. Do you care to elaborate?

Feb 21 13 02:34 pm Link