Redeye Removal
page oneHow to remove redeye is one of the most frequently asked questions in the Photoshop forums. With the inclusion of the redeye brush in Elements, I had hoped the question would have been answered for this app. Unfortunately, the redeye brush doesn’t work very well.
Here are two methods for removing red eye which take a little longer, but which do a better job than the redeye brush.
The first method is slower, but better than the second and should always be used if any of the red or other discoloration extends beyond the pupil.
The second method works for small red spots that are strictly limited to the darkest black part of the pupil.
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I added a big red spot to simulate flash redeye.
Start the correction process by zooming way in so you have a good close view of the eye. Then use the elliptical marquee tool to drag a selection outline which circles the area you want to correct. Don’t worry if your selection isn’t perfect — you’ll be able to refine it later.
With the selection active, click on the New Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette (the black and white circle), and choose Hue/Saturation from the menu.
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Make sure the Preview checkbox is selected so you can see how the eye looks. Click OK when you’re satisfied with the coloring of the pupil.
Now, click on the Hue/Saturation layer’s mask thumb.
Clicking on the mask thumb puts the layer into mask edit mode. You’ll be editing how much of the Hue/Saturation effect is visible by painting with black to remove, and white to add.
The reason the mask is currently almost entirely black except for the white spot over the redeye is because you had a selection active (the elliptical marquee) when you created the adjustment layer.
Use the paintbrush tool to paint with black on your image around the edge of where the redeye used to be (when you go into mask edit mode, your toolbox colors will automatically switch to black and white).
You’ll see some of the redeye reappear. Press the X key on your keyboard to switch your foreground and background colors making white your foreground color. Paint on the red that reappeared to make it go away again.
What is happening is that the mask is controlling where and how much the Hue/Saturation adjustment is applied. Black removes the Hue/Saturation adjustment and allows the original uncorrected image to show. Painting with white allows the Hue/Saturation to be fully effective thereby correcting the redeye.
Continue to paint with black and white until you have the redeye removed without affecting any other parts of the eye. You can lower your paintbrush’s opacity (on its options bar) to make a soft gray transition edge between the corrected coloring and the original eye.
A layer mask is effective according to the luminosity (darkness or lightness) of the gray tones. Just remember that black adds to the mask, white removes the mask, and shades of gray add or remove according to how light or dark they are.
Here’s what your Layers palette should look like after correcting one eye.
If you need to correct both eyes (you probably do) drag a loose selection around the red in the other eye. Click on the Hue/Saturation layer mask thumb, press D followed by X to make white your foreground color (if it is not already) and then press Alt-Backspace to fill the selection with white. Finally, paint as before to refine the mask on that eye. Both eyes can and probably should use the same Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
Please note that you can edit an adjustment layer’s adjustment settings at any time. To change the settings, simply double-click on the adjustment thumb (to the left of the mask thumb) and the Hue/Saturation dialog box will reopen with your original settings. You can then change them as you wish.
The second, faster but not as nice method for redeye correction is as
follows.
As with the first method, zoom
in close to the redeye discoloration and drag a selection around the problem
spot with the elliptical marquee tool.
Make a new layer by clicking the New Layer
button at the bottom of the Layers palette.
Use the eyedropper
tool to click on a part of the pupil that looks normal. If you can’t
find any part of the pupil that is not discolored, you can sometimes find
a very dark shadowed areas under the eyelids that will do.
It’s usually better so use a sampled color instead of pure black.
Even though a pupil looks black, it often has a bit of coloring that needs
to be there to match the original image. The eyedropper samples the color
that you click on and makes it your foreground color.
With the new, empty layer that you just made
selected (showing dark blue) in the Layers palette, use the paintbrush
to paint over the redeye with the color that you just sampled with the
eyedropper.
Your elliptical marquee selection outline
should still be active to restrict your painting to the desired area.
Don’t worry if your selection is not
exact. Since you’re on a new, separate layer, you can use the eraser
tool to remove any paint that goes beyond where you want it to without
erasing any of your original image.
If you need to erase, try using a low opacity
with Mode set to either paintbrush (soft) or airbrush (very soft) on the
eraser tool’s options bar.
In any event, when you’ve gotten the
redeye painted over, I’d recommend using a soft, low opacity eraser
around the edges of your painted spot to merge your added coloring smoothly
into the existing eye color.
Here is what your Layers
palette should look like when using this method.
You can do the other eye on the same layer as the first one.
There are several other methods that I can think of for getting rid of redeye, but I believe these two offer the best control with the least damage to the original image.
[NOTE: I forgot to mention that, when removing redeye, you want
to leave your catchlight (white specular highlight) on the pupil if it’s
there in your original image.
If you use the first method, use the mask
(paint with black) to leave the catchlight white while darkening the red
discoloration. If you use the second method, just be careful not to paint
over the catchlight. This is not included in the pdf file, available
below, so please don't forget.]
If you would like to download a zipped pdf file of this tutorial, please
click on the link below and save it to your hard drive. Redeye
Removal pdf
44 KB
If you don’t know how to expand a zipped file or use Acrobat Reader,
download the file above and then go here
to find instructions.
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Copyright © 2002 by Jay Arraich.
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All photographs copyright ©2002 by Jay Arraich
jay@arraich.com
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