How to Recolour Shadowed Section

[Roland Rick]

Hi Community

 

I think this is a typical newbie to Affinity Photo problem and I really appreciate any help!

 

Target: "Follow the red arrow" ;)

 

I want to remove the shadow from the section. On the gravel ground this is no problem with the Inpaint Tool.

 

But this can not be used to remove the shadow from the forearm.

 

What I already tied:

 

1. Get the colour with the colour picker, select Colour Replacement Brush Tool, the result is:
   
2. Undo (because it is destructive).
3. Quick Mask the section, apply the "Recolour Adjustment Layer", I tried all Blend Modes, best result I got is with "Screen"
   

 

Please find a slice of the untreated original attached

 

For each reply many thanks in advance,

Roland

[barninga]

did you try raising the exposure after applying the recolour adjustment?

 

you could also try the frequency separation filter, configuring it so that the jacket texture and bumps goes to the high frequency layer; you will sample the colour of the upper part of the arm and then paint the forearm in the low frequency layer. i tried this method on your image and attached the result, it's a 30-second job... the more the accuracy, the better the result.

[Roland Rick]

Barninga, thanks for the hints.

 

Q: You made this with the "Paint Brush Tool" and painted just over it, did you? This will unfortunately wipe out the original structure/texture of the jacket. I am trying to find a solution just replacing the colour.

 

Many thanks for your reply.  :)

 

CU, Roland

[barninga]

yes i used the paint brush, after applying the frequency separation filter, and only on the low frequency layer. the goal of applying the filter was to separate the color (which stays in the background layer) from the texture (which goest to the hf layer), so that the paint brush can apply the desired color without affecting the details of the jacket. as i said, i made just a 30-seconds try. i guess that by setting the filter more carefully, and painting more accurately, the result can improve significantly. burning the color (on the low frequency layer again) along the bump lines of the jacket can improve the final effect even more.

 

using the recolour brush could give good results also, like you already experimented. maybe a problem can be represented by the orange areas: you can try to get rid of them by raising the tolerance of the recolour tool.

 

you could also mix the two methods (frequency separation to paint out the orange areas, and recolour brush for the remaining).

 

the forearm in your image shows also some noise, so applying a denoise (live) filter could be interesting. if you use a live filter, you can easily position it on top ot the layer stack (thus affecting the image after all the previously dome adjustments) or just over the high frequency layer, thus applying it on the original image, and see what options is the best.

[crabtrem]

Have you thought about switching to LAB, selecting the area you want to highlight, use curves to raise the luminosity settings?

[Roland Rick]

Hi barninga and crabtem, many thanks for your help! I am trying to reproduce the techniques you suggested. For me as newbie the most difficult part is the "how" to do this what you have been suggesting: learning by examples. It would be very helpful if you can send me a .afphoto file showing it. This really would help me out of mess. ;)

[crabtrem]

I'm not expert on this.  But just a few seconds, only using the lightness channel in a curves adjustment, under LAB mode, selecting the shadow areas.  It may be a good starting point.

 

 

 

 

[crabtrem]

Something else you may consider.  I went into the develop persona, used the overlay brush mask to mark out the shadow area, and used the basic adjustments.

 

[crabtrem]

I think the final product will rely heavily on what barninga suggested, but maybe my suggestions will provide you an easier method to get to that point.

Hopefully.

[JimmyJack]

I think you're going to have to work for the result :)

 

IOW.... no simple fix. You're going to have stack filters and stack color layers with filters and color blending layers for the transition area... etc.

 

Definitely  doable, I just don't think its a one button magic situation. I would love to be wrong.

 

I'll try to work something up quickly.

[Roland Rick]

JimmyJack,

 

Thanks for reply! :)

 

I am not afraid of doing the work myself. But as newbie, often the one or other hint helps.

 

LOL: Somehow I had a "pre-awareness" getting a reply like of yours ;), because I already assumed, it's not so easy.

 

However, doing this "not one magic button" stuff will increase my  Affinity Photo knowledge dramatically ;)

 

Advantage knowledge :D

 

CU Roland

[Madame]

I tried the frequency separation suggested by Barninga, and it gave a decent result.

I used the inpainting brush in the transitions.

 

1. Make a good selection of the sleeve.

2.Cmd J to put the selection on it's own layer.

3. Add a frequency separation filter.

4. Collect a "good" yellow colour.

5. Paint on the low frequency separation layer.

6. Merge visible layers.

7. Use the inpainting brush to tidy up.

[Roland Rick]

Madame

Cool, this really helped. I am just playing around, the result will become almost perfect!  :D 

1000 thanks to all!

Cheers,
Roland

[JimmyJack]

Clearly I don't know how to use the frequency tool for a big block of color  :D .

Can someone show a couple screen grabs of the process??

 

I threw everything and the kitchen sink at it. Pretty quick. Could use some fine tuning.

I'd much prefer to be a whole lot lazier  ;) .

 

 

 

 

[Roland Rick]

JimmyJack: cool, almost perfect.

 

Wow, you had to apply "one or two" filters and layers. How many minutes may such a work take?

 

Do you work with a Tablet or Mouse and/or Touchpad? If tablet: which one can you recommend to me? I am asking this, because e. g. the edges to the shadow lower left of sleve are very precise

[JimmyJack]

Did that on trackpad, not much painting involved.... but have and use a Wacom Intuos Pro. I like it, but it's also the only tablet I've ever had so I can't comment too much on comparisons.

 

I will say this... make sure you get one big enough for your needs/comfort.

Mine's a bit on the small side (wow, that sounded really bad  :D )