grey background

grahamc

grahamc

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Graham
Edit My Images
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If you have a photo that you want to have a white background, but came out grey, how would you change it?
 
Throw more light at it.

You can make grey go from white to black just with lighting control.
 
yeah, still learning that, but how do you fix it in PS? Without destroying the subject...
 
Brightness/Contrast... and fiddle... or Exposure - Try messing with Gamma... or just mess with everything :D
 
The quick way is to use the dodge tool, medium size, soft edge, set for highlights and do it that way.

Or, you can try the slightly longer route.

First you need to mask the subject from the background.
So
Create a mask from one of the channels, this is a good tutorial for masking hair, which is one of the worst things to mask (that and glass!)

http://www.layersmagazine.com/masking-hair-in-photoshop-cs3.html

Once you've created your mask you can adjust the background however you like, curve, brightness, replace colour, or just replace the background.
 
If subject is well defined use the magic wand tool to isolate background and use the dodge tool.
 
Thanks all! Sorted it with a little exposure (and gamma) and levels changing, then some masking, then white paint with a small, not very hard brush.
 
I think a major question is, was it white to begin with (i.e. in real life)? If so then your white-balance is off, but that can be easily adjusted in Camera Raw or Lightroom, not sure how to in PS.


If I'm way off here then ignore me lol.
 
grey.squirrel said:
I think a major question is, was it white to begin with (i.e. in real life)? If so then your white-balance is off.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, as dependant on the lighting you can turn a white wall completely black.

If it had a blue or orange hue, then maybe WB, but grey is likely due to it not being lit sufficiently in comparison to the main subject.
 
JasonRS said:
Not necessarily, as dependant on the lighting you can turn a white wall completely black.

If it had a blue or orange hue, then maybe WB, but grey is likely due to it not being lit sufficiently in comparison to the main subject.
Click to expand...

Have to agree, grey is just poor lighting control on my part.... White balance on subject was fine, but maybe a little under exposed, well maybe a lot :bonk: all part of the learning curve.
 
grey.squirrel said:
I think a major question is, was it white to begin with (i.e. in real life)? If so then your white-balance is off, but that can be easily adjusted in Camera Raw or Lightroom, not sure how to in PS.


If I'm way off here then ignore me lol.
Click to expand...

You are way off here :D

Grey is just dark white, WB correction is used to correct / change colour casts.
 
Suvv said:
You are way off here :D

Grey is just dark white, WB correction is used to correct / change colour casts.
Click to expand...



Yeah I only just realised, what I meant to say was exposure-compensation lol, it sounded right when I was typing it though.
 
Just found a new way!! Lightroom has an adjustment brush, one of the options is exposure :D
 
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