Use the Clone Tool to reveal colour from a B/W copy

Use the Clone Tool to transform this (imagine your favourite picture). Eg A Red rose in a Gray garden or Red lips and Blue eyes in a Gray portrait.



to this




The method I was shown a few years back involved a moderate understanding of the manipulation of Layers and a Layer Mask.
Some time ago I stumbled on this much easier method whilst playing around with the Clone Tool. I guess it is much like applying a History Brush.

The Three basic Steps are [*]Duplicate your picture [*]Transform the Duplicate into a B/W RGB image [*]Use the Clone Tool in Registered Mode on the B/W RGB image to reveal (restore) the colour where you want


Step One
Open your picture. Duplicate your picture either by <Ctl-D> or clicking on Image > Duplicate



Step Two
Create a RGB capable Black and White Image from the Duplicate you have just created. NB You must make it RGB for the image to take colour. So although it still looks B/W it is not capable of receiving colour. A grayscale image will NOT take on colour.

This shows the grayscale step



and this shows the RGB step Note that the image is now in B/W but not yet RGB



You now have a B/W RGB capable image

Another way would be to desaturate your image. A desaturated image although Black and White retains its RGB capability.



Step Three



Using the Clone Tool and ensuring that it is set to Registered, Normal and Image Source Modes (see Arrows), Left Click your mouse button and the <Ctl> key anywhere in the Original (coloured) image to create a reference point. Explanation The reference point is the intersection of where a pin would end up if you were to stack the two images on top of one another and stick a pin through them. So wherever you apply your brush in the B/W image, imagine revealing the exact point in the original coloured image underneath. (I hope that makes sense)

.

Now, by Left Clicking your pointer ("brush") in the Gray image you will reveal (restore) the actual colour of the original image. Note that the pointer may be a pencil, pen, brush or airbrush.



The result is a gray image with the colour "reveals" that you have chosen.



Save the file when you are happy with the result

Some further hints ………to achieve the best results for your application, you can change brush sizes for the "dainty" details. You can change the opacity of the brush where the outline fades or blends You can change your "brush" to a Pencil to reveal sharp outlines.
For "spectacular" or "Interesting" results, try changing the mode from normal to difference or other settings.

If you have made a mistake you can <Ctl-z> to go back. Additionally you can Click on Edit and Undo History and restart before you made the mistake. Note that you will lose your work after this restore point in the history file. To overcome this you could also make a second Gray copy in Step Two and use the same technique (from 2nd gray duplicate to "revealed" gray copy) to now correct your mistakes.

The photo is from my registered copy of CorelGALLERY © 1999
Image Hosting by ImageShack
Thank You PhotoComix for showing how it is done.
All comments, constructive or otherwise are welcome

Cheers wbool63

Couldn't you just duplicate the picture, desaturate, and then daintily erase what you wanted to be colorized?

thats exactly what i was thinking

i wanted to typ the same xD

HI, Fl4m3d_Sky, PhoenixSlash and Lowfire, You are are quite correct, desaturation does not destroy the RGB mode. I should not have made that generalised statement about gray images not being able to take on colour.
Grayscale, however does destroy RGB mode and needs to be RGB moded as per my Tut (as far as I know). I will edit the Tut to reflect your suggestions tomorrow.

Thank you for your comments. Is there anything else I have missed, before I edit the Tut?

Cheers
wbool63

I believe the problem is just in that "daintily erase"....a little mistake would be less evident using the clone tool
aligned on a variant of same image, then if just erasing a duplicate layer

Hum.. i can't explain well why in my opinion little mistakes should be less evident but you can check in the practice....i believe that for merging colours with BW the clone tool could be smoother then the eraser

I believe you must be very, very daintily to get the similar results erasing, and that accuracy could require time concentration and effort...

(and usually little mistakes are spotted only too late, when the Undo story is lost because the image was already closed...)

Hi, PhotoComix, thank you for your input



In my notes at the bottom of the Tut , I explained that once you use the Restore Point in the "Edit >> History , you would lose the subsequent (later) images.


I was trying to keep it simple and was hoping that judicial use (such as changing brushes to reflect need, eg soft/hard/opacity) of brushes would be enough to do reveals with some success.

I guess I have a lot to learn about doing a Tutorial.

Cheers wbool63

i'm coming back to this

i just read again seems quite interesting tut

Also I think using Gradient Map set to default colors is a much better wa to turn a color pic to B/W

IMO