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Dr. Color Path: Cosmetic Surgeon of Photographs

Saturday, October 24, 2009 by Tradexcel Graphics Limited - 7 Comments

Sometimes you may find some defects or lacking in a picture making your precious memory dull. Want to make it after your mind and more treasured? Or, you are not satisfied with an image which you want to use in a magazine cover or advertisement. May be it is okay but for some deficiencies. Perhaps it need some changes is color; perhaps some elements in it deserve to be more stunning. Or adding some effects in some parts can make it standout. Whatever you need, Photoshop is at your service. In such cases Photoshop is equipped with Color Path technique. It does the job of an expert cosmetic surgeon on your photo’s beautification. Color Path process is similar to Multiple Clipping Path or Color Mask though different in application.

The term ‘Color Path’ is very popular method in image editing, which refers to a group of close-ended clipping paths in a same image, let for various changes. So, basically Color Path is a combination of some selected paths, done by Photoshop Pen Tool, Lasso or Magic Wand. Among these tools, powerful Pen Tool is most dependable for professionals.
Since Clipping Path is the core technique for Color Path, I want to explain the process of doing it. Reader, who know it, please, ignore the following paragraph. But, the rest are requested to read it thoroughly to make a clear understanding about it.   

Clipping Path service and Color Path:
Clipping denotes cutting. Clipping Path is a vector path that makes the selection of a part which is supposed to be cut out from its background (consider the remaining part as background). But not always it is a must to cut out such selections. After selecting an area you may leave it for other changes, or masking. The method is very easy even for a new Photoshop user. Just open Adobe Photoshop; then open an image from the File. Open Tool bar from Window tab (usually you will find Tools open in the left side of the Photoshop window). You will see a pen-nib icon in it. This is Pen tool. Click once on it. You will see the pointer will be changed into a pen-nib icon. Then start drawing outline through the edge of the object in the image. Move the cursor over the anchor points of the path. Soon, you will get way to make it more flexible for curving.  Press Alt key to break the curve in an image. Make a closed path around your target or it you can’t select it properly. Then make the path a selection. The selected area of the image will allow you to make changes in color and effects inside it.
You can also select area by Lasso or Magic Wand tool. Lasso is a free-hand and quick tool. But usually delivers crude selections. Magic Wand is a semi-automatic tool, and select through programmed logic. Generally it is able to read color similarity but fail to grab pixels accurately. Often it also leaves the edges seeming soaked and unfinished.
You can make several closed-path selections in a same image. If you want to change color of lips and hair of a model just select these and separately work on them to bring expected changes.  You can change his or her dress-color applying the same process. Even you can change a black & white vintage image into a pristine color image by doing Color Path. 

Use of Color Path in industry:
Color Path is very useful for Promotional and Display purpose. It adds color and texture inside a same image to give it an absolute special look. Think about car sales promos. The company has to display the photos of same model in different colors to make customer convinced about their choices.  But, they need not color so many cars. Photoshop Color Path needs just a single photo and soon after it will deliver numerous photos of this car in different color shades, as many as you need. Nowadays, Color Masking is inevitable for product and fashion photography to make photos more effectual to perform in the glamor world. So, lacking in beauty is no longer a pain in the neck. Let our photos experience the cosmetic surgery of Dr. Color Path. Beautification was never ever so cheap! Sorry, it is not only the cheapest; it is the quickest and the finest also. For more about Color Mask, please visit: www.tradexcelgraphics.com.

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