Use 6th Grade Maths to Match Color in Photoshop!

so this is our subject today and let's say you want her skin tone to look like this and you also want her skin tone to look like this we'll look at both cases now let me ask you something how is it possible now there are lots of ways you can do it with curves you can do it with hue saturation you can do it with a combination of lot of adjustments but i have a theory a very interesting one stick with me so let's say we have a skin tone to begin with first of all it's very dark so i added a curves adjustment limb to brighten it a little bit very simple so far so good all right so let us do a little bit of math trust me it's not going to be boring so let's say we have our subject skin tone all right simple now what if we can propose an equation where we can add something to the subject skin tone so that it becomes the reference skin term can we do something like that can we just put this sentence into an equation so here we have the subject skin tone what if we add something to it and let's call that something x all right what if we add something to it so that we get the reference skin tone is it possible is this equation looking good all right now this is possibility one this is the first possibility that we are adding something to the subject's existing skin tone so that we get the reference skin tone so how do we find x how do we find what to add to the subject skin tone pretty simple mathematics we have learned this in third or fourth grade just simply switch the variables so x equals reference minus subject right reference skin tone minus subject skin tone right so this is the first possibility this becomes our first equation okay now the second possibility is we can subtract something from the subject skin tone which results in the reference skin tone right now how do we find x here again just switch the values as you do in simple mathematics here x is the opposite it is subject minus reference this is our second equation now all right so these two equations are something that we can start our work with now let's get back to our image all right we're gonna take a sample of our skin tone so let's take the brush let's take a simple brush right now so in the general brushes we're gonna take in the hard round brush all right now let's create a layer on top we cannot paint on the curves adjustment layer now take a sample from right here that works and we're gonna just paint in a blob just make sure you're using the hard round brush just dab right there now we're gonna go to our first reference let's take a sample from a similar area also make sure when you're taking a sample with the eyedropper selected make sure the sample size is large enough so here i have chosen 11 by 11 average so it will make an average of 11 by 11 pixels so it'll make an area of 11 by 11 pixels and take an average color of that so let's go back to the brush hold the alt key or the option key click to take a sample from that area and you're going to make one more layer and just dab on top of it now the flow is not high so make sure the flow is 100 in both cases so we're going to take the sample of the subject again and just paint it right there take the sample of the reference on another layer we're gonna just dab so this one is the reference and this one is our subject so let's try the first equation right here so what was the first equation how do we find x in the first equation it says that there is something that you can add keep in mind add focus that word there is something that we can add to the subject skin color so that it becomes the reference and how do we find what to add well we subtract subject from reference right so what do we have to do we have to subtract the subject from the reference so subject is at the top reference is at the bottom we have to subtract the subject from the reference and therefore for the subject we're going to choose the blend mode subtract so let's go ahead and choose subtract and this is the color we get in between that is the subtracted color that color is x now you might ask where do i fill that color well first of all you need to make a selection of the skin area and only these skin tone areas for that first of all let's turn off all this and then go to select color range make sure select sample color is selected and with the first eyedropper just click on the same area you can increase the flow just make sure you increase it enough so that all of the skin tones are selected don't try to click on other areas because we sample that area so it makes more sense all right so at about 1 35 makes sense to me you can even go higher let's go 150 in this case that looks a little more natural hit okay we have a selection of that area now let's create a solid color adjustment layer with this selection active all right that way a mask will be created with this active selection so click on the adjustment icon choose solid color it really doesn't matter what color you choose now just hit ok you can turn it off all right now turn on both of these we know that the color in the middle is x right let's double click on the thumbnail of the solid color adjustment layer take a sample of this color we have now sampled that color right here just click on in here just make sure sample all layers is selected hit okay now turn it on now let's go back to the equation what did the equation say we were adding x to the subject we were adding it that's the main statement right there so we need to add it and how do we add it let's choose the blend mode linear dodge add and have a look at it our job here is done so let me share this with you first of all let's turn off both of these blobs so here is the before here is the after it has gotten so much closer with that of the reference now you can definitely work the curves work other adjustments we have tons of videos on how to fine tune these adjustments but this is just a mathematical way to look at things but there will be cases when this will not work and that's why we have our second example now i'm going to keep this solid color because we'll need that later and you can delete the subject and the reference let's do it again all right now this is the original one first of all let's do the subject again so let's take a sample from this area and make sure the opacity and flow at 100 make sure you have chosen the hard round brush right there and then simply just dab all right and this is the subject on top of that right now on top of it we're going to create the reference let's name this reference and let's go to our second reference and in here let's find a good place to sample from let's sample from this area let's go back and we're gonna dab so this is our reference now let's go to our very first equation how do we find x we subtract subject from reference so let's put the subject at the top now change the blend mode to subtract now as you can see this is absolutely black and then you try to choose the same color here it just isn't working and according to the first equation we were adding it so the blend mode here is right but this equation is just not working as i told you there are two possibilities the first possibility is that something is being added to the subject and the second possibility let's not forget is something is being subtracted from the subject skin tone so it may be that the second case is applicable right here and how do you know that if anything goes too dark and it's we are not able to apply it just keep that in mind use the second equation so according to the second equation what does it say first of all let's turn this off we don't really need the solid color at the top right now okay second equation says that we are subtracting something from the subject to get the reference and in this case how do we find x we find x by subtracting reference from the subject so in this case we take a reference at the top make sure subject blend mode is normal and reference is subtract okay now we double click on the thumbnail of the solid color adjustment layer we pick that color now in this case what is the blend mode we're going to choose not add subtract again why the subtract blend mode keep in mind we are subtracting x from the subject so we chose x as the color and we want to subtract it so turn it on and change the blend mode to subtract and there you have it my friend let's turn both of these off so here's the before here is the after so much like this one look at this one and look at this one so much similar now you can add a little bit of curves to add more brightness and shine to it but it's the same skin tone it's the same skin sample now if you want to limit it just to the face you can create a group of just this one lip so select that solid color adjustment layer press ctrl or command g and then you can create a mask let's create a negative mask by holding the alt key or the option key click on the mask this creates a negative mask and then with a soft round brush you can just start painting on the areas where you want the change see that how easy it was so there you go my friend simple mathematics symbol addition and subtraction simple variables if you can just experiment with different things photoshop becomes so simple i hope this video helped you and if it did make sure to give us a like and also don't forget to subscribe and not just subscribe ring the bell so that you don't miss any other future tips tricks or tutorials i would like to take this moment thank all these nice and amazing people for supporting pixim perfect on patreon and helping keep pixim perfect free for everybody forever thank you so much again for watching i'll see you in my next one till then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating [Music] you

Channel: PiXimperfect

Views: 284,534

Keywords: match color, match skin tone, portrait retouching, blending modes, linear dodge, add, subtract in photoshop, subtract blend mode, color grading, color correction, skin retouching, fix skin tone, adobe, photoshop tutorial, piximperfect, unmesh dinda

Id: XPUrg5B-GCU

Length: 11min 36sec (696 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 25 2021