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FIXING COLORED SCANS IN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
It's a lot easier to fix black and white drawings, because there's the "grayscale" option, but what about colored pictures? I know a lot of scanners give a bad yellow tinge to your otherwise bright pieces, and usually dull down the shades into murky tones.
In this tutorial, I'll show you how to restore your colors!
To see how to fix black and white drawings, click here. But otherwise, read ahead.
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Since the artwork that I'm using is a painting, it couldn’t fit fully on the scanner. That's why I scan them in two pieces: the top and bottom.
First, scan in your image, and make sure the pieces are aligned correctly! If one part is even slightly off, it'll make piecing the picture back together much more difficult.
Press firmly on the piece so that the shadows don't get under the scan.
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Next, you're going to put back your pieces. Import your pieces in a single file- and it's a good idea to make your canvas larger than the pieces length-wise. Set the top layer at Multiply from the layer window; this makes it easier to see where your parts are moving.
Then, align your piece as best as you can. You may have to modify it's size depending on how well you managed to scan them in. You'll see that your pieces should overlap, as shown in the darker parts of the picture (the head).
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Now it's time to blend the two pieces together. Put your top layer back to Normal since it is no longer needed in the Multiply mode.
Take your eraser and set is to a large soft brush. Keep the opacity to around 30-40% and run it along the lines where the two parts meet. You can gradually increase your brush size to meet your preference until the pieces blend together.
Once completed, flatter your layer:
Layer > Flatten Image
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Next comes modifying the light and darkness of the piece. Press Ctrl + L and the screen below should pop up. Play around with the notches until you get the tones modified as you'd like.
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To restore your color and get rid of that awful effect your scanner has:
Image > Adjustments > Color Balance ...
Or press Ctrl + B which should pop up the Color Balance window.
There are 3 settings to play around with; Shadows, Midtones and Highlights. Usually I like to start with the Shadows first, and experiment with the notches. The more further down you bring the notches, the more extreme the color changes get, so I like to stay pretty close to the middle.
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This is your result!
Side note: this tutorial can also be used for photos; if you don't have a scanner and you take photographs of your artwork instead, but only if the lighting is decent.
BETA: Thank you Terri for proof-reading!
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