for unsaturated images
I did a tutorial for very desaturated images a while ago but I developed another, better one this week and I thought I'd share.
to
Program: Photoshop CS3
PSD: yes, here, but I did a tutorial too so the layers could be identified and adjusted if needed. I hope this is okay!
Difficulty: Easy
Translatable: No, uses selective colour.
1. When you've cropped your image to 100x100px, firstly you'll need to bring natural colour to the image, so go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation and take the saturation +50. Depending on how much saturation it needs you may feel more comfortable with +40 or even +30.
2. Now your image should be much brighter and the colour should be more defined. I normally bring in more contrast early on and so now go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves. Put in these values:
RGB: O:55 I:67 and O:185 I:178
Red: O:118 I:143
Green: O:118 I:143
Blue: O:118 I:143
This will also start to bring in a darker tone.
3. Now we're going to think about colour. A lot of my edits end up being quite pink/red and I went down that path again with this. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Colour Balance and put in these values:
Midtones: 10, -2, -10
Shadows: 13, -5, -7
Highlights: 14, 2, -10
4. She's even rosier now and it's really bringing out her cheekbones. I wanted to soften the image very slightly, so I made a new layer and filled with #ffc1c1. Then set it to screen at 10%.
5. Now, using a big brush set to #ffffff, make a new layer and put a big blob towards the bottom of your icon. This is really great for pinpointing colour and varying it in different parts of the picture. Set it to soft light.
6. This is a little too bright, so now we're going to add some selective colour. This also brings out some really nice texture to her face. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Selective Colour and put in:
Reds: 7, -10, -17, 6
Yellows: -18, 58, 48, 45
Magentas: 9, -17, 68, 23
Whites: -14, -2, 9, 5
Neutrals: 12, 8 14, 0
7. This leaves a really nice golden glow on her face. To enhance this and bring back the reddy tinge just a bit, make another Colour Balance layer and set it to:
Midtones: 20, -10, 20
Shadows: -5, 5, 5
Highlights: 10, 10, 10
8. You could skip this step if you want to, but I think the hair needs to be just a bit darker. Make a new Colour Fill layer (Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Colour) in #030f1d, set to Exclusion.
9. You could leave your icon here but I like sharpening my icons to keep them defined. Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to copy the whole thing into one new layer (you may need to make a new layer first or it might copy/paste into the colour fill layer. It used to do that in PS 7 iirc) and then go to Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen. Set this new layer to opacity about 50-60% so the sharpness isn't too overwhelming.
And there you are!
Another example is this, which uses the exact same colouring but the original picture had a dark background. It turns out very nicely too:
to
Program: Photoshop CS3
PSD: yes, here, but I did a tutorial too so the layers could be identified and adjusted if needed. I hope this is okay!
Difficulty: Easy
Translatable: No, uses selective colour.
1. When you've cropped your image to 100x100px, firstly you'll need to bring natural colour to the image, so go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation and take the saturation +50. Depending on how much saturation it needs you may feel more comfortable with +40 or even +30.
2. Now your image should be much brighter and the colour should be more defined. I normally bring in more contrast early on and so now go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves. Put in these values:
RGB: O:55 I:67 and O:185 I:178
Red: O:118 I:143
Green: O:118 I:143
Blue: O:118 I:143
This will also start to bring in a darker tone.
3. Now we're going to think about colour. A lot of my edits end up being quite pink/red and I went down that path again with this. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Colour Balance and put in these values:
Midtones: 10, -2, -10
Shadows: 13, -5, -7
Highlights: 14, 2, -10
4. She's even rosier now and it's really bringing out her cheekbones. I wanted to soften the image very slightly, so I made a new layer and filled with #ffc1c1. Then set it to screen at 10%.
5. Now, using a big brush set to #ffffff, make a new layer and put a big blob towards the bottom of your icon. This is really great for pinpointing colour and varying it in different parts of the picture. Set it to soft light.
6. This is a little too bright, so now we're going to add some selective colour. This also brings out some really nice texture to her face. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Selective Colour and put in:
Reds: 7, -10, -17, 6
Yellows: -18, 58, 48, 45
Magentas: 9, -17, 68, 23
Whites: -14, -2, 9, 5
Neutrals: 12, 8 14, 0
7. This leaves a really nice golden glow on her face. To enhance this and bring back the reddy tinge just a bit, make another Colour Balance layer and set it to:
Midtones: 20, -10, 20
Shadows: -5, 5, 5
Highlights: 10, 10, 10
8. You could skip this step if you want to, but I think the hair needs to be just a bit darker. Make a new Colour Fill layer (Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Colour) in #030f1d, set to Exclusion.
9. You could leave your icon here but I like sharpening my icons to keep them defined. Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to copy the whole thing into one new layer (you may need to make a new layer first or it might copy/paste into the colour fill layer. It used to do that in PS 7 iirc) and then go to Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen. Set this new layer to opacity about 50-60% so the sharpness isn't too overwhelming.
And there you are!
Another example is this, which uses the exact same colouring but the original picture had a dark background. It turns out very nicely too: