LightMachine manual

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AstroDon
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LightMachine manual

Post by AstroDon »

Hello,

I do very well with anything I want to do with images in Photoshop CS2 which includes adding or enhancing colours to specific areas. An example is making the sky blue from the whiteish way it currently appears. I also do very well following step by step instructions when I don't know how to perform the task at hand.

When I read up on and saw the examples of LightMachine I thought it was a great tool for tasks like making the sky blue (or bluer), enhancing sunsets (or adding them) or perhaps changing the colour of my shirt or some other object. However I can't seem to do much more than adjust brightness/contrast or change the hue of the entire image instead of just the sky above a house. (The examples page for LightMachine show the sky blue or bluer while the rest of the image is virtually untouched). I have followed very closely the directions in the manual and my images are in 8 or 16 bit RGB mode.

Since it appears many folks are having some success with this plugin
it must be an issue with me having a problem with this particular manual. I'm sure I'm not alone.

I believe that to make this a more intuitive easier to follow and understand manual each step of the process should include images like most manuals or tutorials of this type include. Using for example the woman whose dress colour you've changed several times would be a good one to use and show us in word and picture how it was done.


I don't expect this to be a one click I have a blue sky kind of thing. I understand there is a learning process here just as there was with Photoshop. We or at least I need an easier to understand turorial.

The above made sense as I was typing but if what I'm saying is not easily followed let me know.

TIA

Don, Toronto

HaraldHeim
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Post by HaraldHeim »

With the next LightMachine update there will be some detailed examples and an updated manual. Anyway, I hope the following instructions from the LightMachine manual help. If you still have questions, please let me know.
Changing the Color of an Image Object

1. Switch to Colors Pro mode with the Mode combo box at the top.

2. Click on the Reset button to undo all previous changes.

3. In the preview please click on the object in the image that you want to colorize. Please click again on another area if you want to include it as well. Shift click an image area to remove it again.

4. Switch to the Color and S-Color tab sheets and adjust selected image area as you wish.

5. If the image object or areas aren't corrected or colored as you want it to, there are several possibilities. You can use the Impact slider from the Color Mask tab sheet to intensify the effect. Additionally you can set the Brightness, Contrast, Adjust, Red, Green, Blue and Saturation sliders to more drastical values.

6. If necessary, switch to the Back and B-Color tab sheets and adjust the background areas.

AstroDon
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LightMachine manual

Post by AstroDon »

Hello Harold,

Thanks for the response but this is word for word what it says in the manual.

In an attempt to get it to work for me I used the original of the girl you used in the examples of changing her dress colour. Can't seem to get it.

Not sure what you are referring to where it says 'Switch to the Color and S-Color tab sheets'----Specifically 'Color' & 'S-Color' tab sheets.

Using your girl in the dress example I click on the blue in her dress and blue (I'm in Colours Pro) and in the window in the mask area it changes to blue. (When I click on a white area or some other colour we don't know what colour we'll get in this window, yellow, red, magenta etc., but that's another little thing that's better left for another time.

Anyway. Perhaps it's an issue of not being able to find 'Color' & 'S-Color' tab sheets. Is there a separate 'Color' sheet and separate S-Color sheet and are they opened at the same time? I see the Back & B-Color tabs btw but playing around with all the sliders and things in these areas doesn't seem to do the trick.

I then tried one of you example images where we change the whiteish looking sky around buildings to blue. Clicking on various areas of the sky give us different colours. We might get blue or we might get red or yellow. I still can't find a Color or S-Color sheet.

Now I'm sure I'm doing something wrong here so it's not a knock on the software. Thought last night that I'd find what you are referring to after I got up today but perhaps I didn't have a restfull sleep. (-:

Thinking ahead a bit. What if one wanted to change white to some other colour? I click on something white but get colours other than white to show up in the window in the mask area.

Thanks again for the response. Perhaps I'll wait for the new tutorials before deciding on whether or not this plug is right for me. I might be able to better follow them if they are idiot proof. (-:

Best regards,
Don, Toronto

HaraldHeim
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Post by HaraldHeim »

Sorry for the delayed reply. I wanted to already prepare some image and settings examples as a reaction to your post, but didn't find the time yet. I will try to find some time soon to prepare such examples. That should make it more clear how to do certain things. But of course there are no settings that work on every image. You have to adjust the settings for every image for best results.

It should be Colors and C-Color tab sheet (and not Color and S-Color tab sheets). I will fix that in the manual.

Turning the blue skirt to white in the mentioned example image can be achieved with the "Color Replace - Blue to White" preset that is delivered with LightMachine. After opening the preset you can also modify these settings for your own images.

White, grey and black are no colors in a strict sense. So you can't select a white object in the Colors modes of LightMachine. You need to use the Shadow/Highlight mode for that.

AstroDon
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Post by AstroDon »

Sorry for not getting back to you. I believe I was being blinded by a little frustration in not being able to figure this out. I had actually left it for a day and after a few minutes discovered you likely meant C-Colour. Thought it should be simple since others seem to be able to use it.

Tried it out on the girls dress and it worked ok. Tried it on your night image with the blue topped towers but am likely doing something wrong here as well because the hues or exposure is being changed throughout the image. Also having a bit of a problem with creating a decent sunset but likely just need to practice a bit on various settings.

Thanks for time you took helping out with this issue. Looking forward to seeing your revised manual.

Don, Toronto

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