Spice up boring colours?

Hi, I have a nice picture - but the colours themselfs are just plain "dull"
is there a way to spice up the photo and bring more life into it?
(Its a display image with white background)
Thanks!

Andski

Re: Spice up boring colours?

Glad it helped. At 100 percent it can be a bit too much, but the fade
command tames it nicely. The only photos I have seen that can handle the
100% amount is photos of rocks, canyons, and things that don't have a lot of
other things in them like people, plants, etc. Then at 100% it works quite
well. Everything else I usually have to dial it back to 25 or 50%.
R

Hebee Jeebes

Re: Spice up boring colours?

Thanks Hebee Jeebes, I loaded your curves file and tried it on a few
photos just now (using fade command with it) and it works great.
I am learning advanced tips and tricks of Photoshop and look around in
photoshop google groups for new techniques.
- Fotodewan
photos.raniasplace.com

Fotodewan

Re: Spice up boring colours?

One of my favorite ways to jazz up colors is to use Lab mode. Convert your
image to Lab (this is lossless btw) and then go in to curves. Change the
grid in the curves histogram to 10's, you do that by Alt clicking in the
grid box.
Load my curves setting file, which you can download from
http://www.sonic.net/keesha/lab_color.acv
You can then see what it does. It really makes the colors pop and it does so
in a way that is very hard if not impossible to duplicate outside of Lab
mode. After you apply it you can use the Edit > Fade command (must be done
right after using Curves) and fade it back if it is too much. Then covert
your image back to RGB.
I got this technique out of the Lab Color Space book from PeachPit Press. I
didn't much like the book in question, but I did get some useful tricks out
of it at least. Myself I created an action that does the coversion to lab,
apply the curves with the file above, fades (brings up the fade dialog box
so you can set it the way you want) and then coverts back to RGB, so it is
basically a simple process.
This works best on organic items like rocks, trees, wood, things like that.
It tends to bring out some really nice subtitle color variances.
R

Hebee Jeebes

Re: Spice up boring colours?

...
try the adjustment layer called selective color
you can adjust each color to any shade you like, using the dropdown

KatWoman

Re: Spice up boring colours?

Thanks to the both of you! - just needs a little playing and then I think
get where I want to be.

Andski

Re: Spice up boring colours?

...
Not having seen the image, I would suggest this: convert to Lab, and make
the a and b channels steeper by moving the end points and keeping the center
point in the same place. While you're at it, make the Lightness curve a
little steeper in the middle or at one or both of the ends if you have
important shadow and/or highlight detail.
--
Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com/forum/

Mike Russell

Re: Spice up boring colours?

Thanks - Already been around those variables - how excatly is it used/ how
does it work?

Andski

Re: Spice up boring colours?

Sounds like you need more saturation.
Image -> Adjust -> Hue/Saturation
--
Aaron
"Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems
good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the
rest." -- John Stuart Mill