Help with color correction

[JenniferMurphy]

I have a digital image (jpeg) of a gingerbread train. The train has two colors of gingerbread. The base is a lighter brown and the trim is darker, almost a chocolate brown.

The train is going to be made into a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle crafter took some photos of the construction process, which I intended to put in a little album to go along with the puzzle, which is a gift.

When I got the photos back, the gingerbread was orange, not brown. There is a car that is supposed to be fire engine red. It's also orange. Many of the other colors are washed out. I talked to the puzzle crafter. She thinks it might be the lighting or the flash.

I loaded the images into IrfanView and fiddled with the settings. The setting that seemed to come closest to restoring the original was the saturation. If I set the saturation to something like -90, the colors are much closer to the originals. But if I get the browns brown enough, the reds become too dull.

Is there any way that I can figure out the right correction other than just trial and error?

Is there a program that I can get that will compare the original to the photos and adjust the photos to look like the originals?

I can't get new photos with better lighting, because the puzzle is now being cut.

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[Garbz]

If it's a lighting issue the correct adjustment would be the colour balance settings rather than saturation. Have a play with those and maybe post an example photo to let us have a play too.

[JenniferMurphy]

OK, will do.

The images are collages with a lot of family photos. When I get a minute, I'll see if I can cut out the personal part and post the rest.

Thanks

[cgipson1]

How was it lit? Daylight or Flash would be the most accurate and not require much color correction. If it was shot under incandescent or Florescent light, then that can be easily corrected for. If there was a mixture of light, some daylight, some incandescent, etc... then it may be very difficult.

Also... what did the shots look like when you sent them to the printer (assuming Digital images)! Did you send them to a good lab, or to your local supermarket, drugstore, whatever? A good lab can do a lot of color correction before they print.

[o hey tyler]

Sounds like one of those times when you should have shot in RAW...

[o hey tyler]

...unless you don't have RAW capability on your camera.

[JenniferMurphy]

I'm not 100% sure of the lighting. I think it was taken in an office with fluorescent lighting and a flash.

Here's an image showing the original (left side) and the photo (right side):



I have highlighted several areas in the original that are a distinctly different color in the photo. I included a text box for each area for the RGB settings plus the hue, saturation, and luminosity as reported by IrfanView.

Can anyone suggest a correction that I can apply to convert the orange images to the brown images?

I also attached a table showing the same settings as above.

Color Table.jpg

[JenniferMurphy]

...unless you don't have RAW capability on your camera.

I didn't take these photos. They were sent to me and they cannot be reshot.

[JenniferMurphy]

Can you post a link to the full-size image before you made any alterations?

I'm not sure what you mean by "before [I] made any alterations". The only alterations I made were to redact all of the faces. I am not comfortable posting family photos, some of whuch are not my family, to a public bulletin board.

I did upload a redacted lo-res image, but it seems to have disappeared. I created a DropBox folder containing 4 files. Here's the link:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/42q4l2ozx1bgo1k/WGCYTtmYiu#/

The files in that folder are:

Color change, Engine, Hi-Res, redacted.jpg	11MB	Hi-res version of the pair of images.
Color change, Engine, Lo-Res, redacted.jpg	650KB	A lo-res version of the same pair of images.
Color Table.pdf	91KB	A table showing the color settings as reported by IrfanView.
Color Table.jpg	150KB	A jpeg version of the same color table.

The image file contains a pair of images. The one on the left is the original. The one on the right was taken by the puzzle maker with, apparently, poor lighting and not a great camera. Unfortunately, the puzzle has not been cut, so I cannot reshoot those images. I would like to see if I can find some color correction settings that will make the image on the right look more like the one on the left.

[KmH]

I did upload a redacted lo-res image, but it seems to have disappeared. I created a DropBox folder containing 4 files. Here's the link:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/42q4l2ozx1bgo1k/WGCYTtmYiu#/

I didn't take these photos.

Links to photos you didn't take are OK.

From TPF's FAQs - * You agree to only post images and/or other material to which you have exclusive copyright, or permission from the copyright holder that you are able to present to TPF Staff. Under no circumstances will any instance of copyright infringement be tolerated.

[JenniferMurphy]

I did upload a redacted lo-res image, but it seems to have disappeared. I created a DropBox folder containing 4 files. Here's the link:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/42q4l2ozx1bgo1k/WGCYTtmYiu#/

I didn't take these photos.

Links to photos you didn't take are OK.

From TPF's FAQs - * You agree to only post images and/or other material to which you have exclusive copyright, or permission from the copyright holder that you are able to present to TPF Staff. Under no circumstances will any instance of copyright infringement be tolerated.

I didn't take the photos, but they were taken for me. They are mine. There is no copyright violation. All of this work was commissioned by me and is original and is owned by me.

Geez, guys, read the posts. This place can get a little anal at times.

[JenniferMurphy]

You said, "I loaded the images into IrfanView and fiddled with the settings." That's what I meant.

Aha. I meant that I tried to adjust the colors but didn't have much luck. I did not save those versions. What I posted are unaltered except for the the redaction.

The colors can be adjusted in Photoshop. You work in layers, a different hue/sat adjustment layer for each color you want to change. If you wanted to hit all of the RGB values precisely, it would take longer (and time = $), but it wouldn't be a quick job even if you only got close enough for government work.

I just eyeballed this, not trying to hit the precise values, to illustrate. And I didn't do all the colors.

That's pretty good. But I'm guessing that there is no simple setting, like adjust the color saturation by 20%, right?

[JenniferMurphy]

I think this forum is run by descendants of Barney Fife.

...or Felix Unger.

[JenniferMurphy]

When I get a little spare time, I'll fiddle around with the hue, saturation, and luminosity settings. I got fairly close just adjusting the saturation.

Can you recommend one set of adjustments for all three settings that might get it close? Would it help to know that it was shot indoors in an office with flourescent light and a flash?

Thanks for all your help.