matching hues/saturation/colours

[caspia1]

How do I get to match facial colours/hues and saturation from one image to another without having to optically determine color and hue levels? I see that using the dropper it shows numbered icons for RGB. How do I transport the same into another image?
Thanks for any advice.

[hartpaul]

You might mention which version of PSP you are using so others know what tools are available to you as there are a number o ways of matching colors.
One I use for example to match a background color in one image to the same background in another image is to
1. choose which one I want to match first
2. Make a selection of an area and aply a gaussian blur (or set eyedropper to 11 pixel samples or both)
3. Take a sample and reading of the RGB values and perhaps record these or Right click so it becomes the Background color.
4. Go to the image that you want to change to match and apply red green blue filter (shift U)
5. Now the idea is to apply small amounts of red green and blue to make the numbers match and then theoretically you should have a matching image for that area.
eg a background that I want to match has value of R203, G110, B179 and the one I want to change has values for the same lit area of R245 G124, B165 so I have to reduce Red by about 42 units (equates to about 13 - 18 values on the RGB tool), Green -14 units , B + 14 units.

But the problem is that when you apply the RGB correction this also changes the brightness and so you may have to change the brightness which in turn affects the colors which then have to be tweaked a bit again.
I suspect a better way may be to do this with Adjust ment layers but we need a red green blue Adjustment layer which we do not have as yet, so you can continue to tweak the settings to reach the match as well as control the strength of the application.

[photodrawken]

How do I get to match facial colours/hues and saturation from one image to another

The Metrix plugin from PSI does this very well:
http://www.jnrubin.net/psi/

[caspia1]

You might mention which version of PSP you are using so others know what tools are available to you as there are a number o ways of matching colors.
One I use for example to match a background color in one image to the same background in another image is to
1. choose which one I want to match first
2. Make a selection of an area and aply a gaussian blur (or set eyedropper to 11 pixel samples or both)
3. Take a sample and reading of the RGB values and perhaps record these or Right click so it becomes the Background color.
4. Go to the image that you want to change to match and apply red green blue filter (shift U)
5. Now the idea is to apply small amounts of red green and blue to make the numbers match and then theoretically you should have a matching image for that area.
eg a background that I want to match has value of R203, G110, B179 and the one I want to change has values for the same lit area of R245 G124, B165 so I have to reduce Red by about 42 units (equates to about 13 - 18 values on the RGB tool), Green -14 units , B + 14 units.

But the problem is that when you apply the RGB correction this also changes the brightness and so you may have to change the brightness which in turn affects the colors which then have to be tweaked a bit again.
I suspect a better way may be to do this with Adjust ment layers but we need a red green blue Adjustment layer which we do not have as yet, so you can continue to tweak the settings to reach the match as well as control the strength of the application.

Sorry. I use X6 Ultimate. Does the above solve it? If so, many thanks for the advice.

[Jean-Luc]

My suggestion :
Open the two images (Edit mode).
Set the Pick tool to 11x11 pixels.
Search for the "Manual Color Correction" tool you'll find in the "View/Customize/Unused commands".
Activate (click on) the target image to correct.
Open the Manuel Color Correction Tool.
Click on "Manual target color".
Click on the "Target" color rectangle.
The "Color" window opens.
With the cursor, click on the selected color in the origin image.
This color is now the "Current" color in the "Color" window.
Click on "OK" to apply the current color on the target image.
Cordialement,
Jean-Luc

[hartpaul]

Here is an example of a couple of images I wanted a close match to. The difference was caused by using Auto White Balance in the camera. Zoomed in, it gave what I regard as best (Top - #13) while zoomed out it took more notice of the background and made it a bit warmer then I wanted (Bottom - #12).


With the eyedropper at 5 x 5 pixel setting you can see the difference in values



A better value would be to use 11 x 11 pixel setting on the eyedropper



To reduce effects of variation in the background a selection and Gaussian Blur will smear the variations out.



If I then use the Right and Left mouse buttons to take these samples you can see the averaged difference in the Foreground and Background boxes on the Materials Palette.



Now by comparison I can see what has to be changed to make that bottom image match the top one.



Then Using the Red Green Blue - Shift U (RGB) I can reduce the amount of Red and Green and Increase the amount of Blue to get closer to the match. So it becomes apply the settings , do dropper check and if not there, note differences required , back step to before the RGB change and do the RGB again and apply new increases decreases until matched
My best one was here:



And the final images :

[caspia1]

My sincere thanks to those who provided an answer to my question.
Great to know that there are folk who actually bother to help!