How To Change The Color Of Your Photo Effectively

This photo was taken in a Boeing plane with my Sigma 8-16mm wide angle lens. I placed the camera on the floor, face the camera lens upward & press the shutter button. I like the perspective of this photo, however the overall color does not look interesting. So, I decided to add some colors to improve the results. This can be achieved by using GIMP’s “Adjust Color Curves” & Layer Mask. Simply, follow through the tutorial & you may then apply similar techniques to any of your photo.

Before

Original Photo.
[ Photo by favorizer.net / cc by-sa 2.0 / bigger size ]

After

Brighter result with some red & blue colors added to the photo.
[ Edited by favorizer.net / cc by-sa 2.0 / bigger size ]

[ This tutorial is for The GIMP, you may apply similar steps in Photoshop ]

STEP 1

If you follow my previous tutorials, the first step is always duplicate a new layer from the original photo for editing. Click on the “Duplicate Layer” icon at the bottom of the Layers Dialog & name the layers as “L1″. You may click the ‘eye’ icon to make the original layer invisible.

STEP 2

Firstly, we increase the brightness of the photo. Make sure Layer “L1″ is selected & go to “Adjust Color Curves” ( Menu : Colors > Curves ) & make the curve as shown in the above illustration & click Ok. Next, change the Channel back to Blue & adjust the curve to add blue to the photo. Click OK to apply the adjustment.

STEP 3

Next, duplicate a new layer again from the original photo & name it as “L2″. Raise the layer “L2″ by moving it to the top of the layer stack, simply click & drag layer “L2″ to the top.

Now, make sure Layer “L2″ is selected & go to “Adjust Color Curves” ( Menu : Colors > Curves ) again. This time, we are going to add some red to layer “L2″. Change the channel to red, make the curve as shown in the above illustration & click Ok.

STEP 4

Now, add a layer mask to layer “L2″. Right click the layer “L2″ & select “Add Layer Mask”. In the “Add Layer Mask” dialog, select “Black (full transparency)” & click “Add”. Layer “L2″ is now become invisible.

STEP 5

Select layer “L2″, make you are selecting the layer mask. Click the “Blend Tool” under the Toolbox Window, make sure the foreground color is white. Under the “Blend” dialog, make sure the “FG to transparent” blending mode is selected.

Now, move your mouse to the photo, click & drag to draw a straight line to blend a white fill [FG] on the mask. Repeat this until you satisfy with the red color. The white color on the mask makes the layer “L2″ visible. In fact, it blend equally into layer “L1″ from top to the middle of the photo.

STEP 6

That’s it. Ok, the final tweak … which I always like to do: Use “Adjust Color Curves” again to improve overall contrast. The “S” shape is always the starting point for contrast adjustment. Have fun !