Befores and Afters

[FC Painting]

Hello all. I own a professional painting company. Primarily, we do residential re-paints. I do a lot of before and after pics. Now, I want to do some future pics. I am not trying show the client exactly what it will look like - just a general idea. For example, I am doing this ladies specialty shop (girls trinquettes, specialty / custom make-up, etc...)
Currently, walls are a flat, light pink. She wants hot pink with some black stenciling coming down in columns. This being a night-n-day difference, will give her a better vision. Hopefully, it impresses her as well.

I am looking for software to help me do this. Most of what I am finding, you've got to trace the area and then fill with color. This does not look real. Any free or low cost software out there? Also, how do I insert a pic in a post? I'll show y'all what I'm talking about. Thanks and I really appreciate any help.

 

[MrRamonG]

Gimp is free and has a lot of the same tools as Photoshop.

 

[FC Painting]

Thanks. I tried gimp. Maybe the above pic will give you a better idea of what I'm trying to accomplish. I want the back wall a hot pink. Using gimp and others only allows me to trace the wall and around objects. Since the wall has different colors due to the lighting I can't really select that one surface and apply a new color. Youll notice all of the details I gotta curve around (chandalier, mirror, clothes, etc...). Thanks for the feedback.

 

[NateWagner]

The tough part will be doing this in a time frame that is cost efficient. With how busy her background is that's going to be relatively difficult to do.

You definitely won't be able to get it to look real for a short period of time, the easiest way would be to reshoot and get her to move some of the stuff out of the way. that way you wouldn't have to trace around everything, and you could get her a better idea of what it would look like.

As is, it's much to busy, and would be highly time consuming.

 

[FC Painting]

The tough part will be doing this in a time frame that is cost efficient. With how busy her background is that's going to be relatively difficult to do.

You definitely won't be able to get it to look real for a short period of time, the easiest way would be to reshoot and get her to move some of the stuff out of the way. that way you wouldn't have to trace around everything, and you could get her a better idea of what it would look like.

As is, it's much to busy, and would be highly time consuming.

That's what I was afraid of. I was hoping there was a fairly, simple program that would allow me to hi-light the busy stuff and move it out of
the way. Then "paint" the wall a new color, add the columns and replace the busy stuff I moved. Even if the busy stuff had a little bit of the original background when I moved it back that would still look ok. Thanks for replying.

 

[Josh66]

If all you need to do is change wall colors, you can do that very easily, and very quickly in Lightroom.

Now Lightroom isn't free... I know you could do it in Gimp, but it isn't quite as easy as in LR. LR's automask works pretty good too, so in many cases you don't even have to try to select around objects.

 

[NateWagner]

Yeah, not so much. I mean, it is doable, but it would be as I said highly time consuming.

If you had PS you could create a new layer and then paint the whole wall hot pink not worrying about the other stuff, and then use a layermask to show the layer underneath (in order to show the busy stuff). But in order to make it at all realistic that is a lot of work.

 

[FC Painting]

If all you need to do is change wall colors, you can do that very easily, and very quickly in Lightroom.

Now Lightroom isn't free... I know you could do it in Gimp, but it isn't quite as easy as in LR. LR's automask works pretty good too, so in many cases you don't even have to try to select around objects.

I would be willing to spend some money to purchase a user friendly software package. I am looking to add this benifit to my marketing arsenal. Using LR, could my task be completed in 15 minutes?

 

[Josh66]

Highly time consuming? I think with the full size picture, it would take no more than 10 minutes. Probably not even that.

Picking a color would take longer than actually applying it.

 

[NateWagner]

I suppose it depends on the quality you're looking for.

with all of the somewhat hidden wall areas there are, and cropping around the busy stuff? yes. if you did a good job it would be highly time consuming.

Are you suggesting just using an adjustment brush? or what? for lightroom?

 

[Josh66]

Yeah, if all you have to do is change the color of the wall - that could be done with just the adjustment brush.

I wouldn't even try to do it on this web sized version, but with the RAW I don't think it would be hard at all.

Define "highly time consuming". How long are we talking about?

 

[burnws6]

I just did it....in about 4 minutes. And it looks decent.


Photoshop> Select>Color Range> Multiple Eyedrops> Fill with color of choice> set layer blend to soft light> zoom and erase unwanted pinkness lol

 

[FC Painting]

Very interesting and helpful stuff. I guess - I'll try LR and see if they've got a demo I can try out. I'd like to go as far as adding this to my website and have potential clients send me pics with their new color choices. Also, during the warmer months, we could do some drive-by's and take pics of exteriors that need painted or powerwashed. Then send the before and after pic to that potential client. That last part may be a bit over-kill. Might make some folks a little nervous taking un-solicited pics of their home.

 

[Josh66]

I guess - I'll try LR and see if they've got a demo I can try out.

Yes, they do. Go to adobe.com and download the 30 day trial (which is the full software).

 

[burnws6]

Very interesting and helpful stuff. I guess - I'll try LR and see if they've got a demo I can try out. I'd like to go as far as adding this to my website and have potential clients send me pics with their new color choices. Also, during the warmer months, we could do some drive-by's and take pics of exteriors that need painted or powerwashed. Then send the before and after pic to that potential client. That last part may be a bit over-kill. Might make some folks a little nervous taking un-solicited pics of their home.

lol here

Paint Colors - Color Ideas - Color Visualizer - Sherwin-Williams