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We continue with the next plugin which is 'color zones' ...
This one is a bit more complex than the others.
It uses the typical curve handling interface of Dt.
If you watched the previous tutorials you certainly are familiar with it.
But I will explain the features of this plugin,
which is the most complex of the color group
and when you learn to manage it well,
it will be the reference plugin for color issues,
because it is very comprehensive
and you can do many things in a simple way,
but the learning curve is a bit hard.
If on the other plugins
the objective was to alter the colors globally in the photo
(applying dyes, increasing saturation, changing the channel information),
with 'color zones' we can make local adjustments.
These local adjustments are applied
to certain color zones in the photo,
or to other zones that we'll see step by step.
Let's start: the interface has two parts.
The first, 'select by' has a menu with options
'hue', 'saturation' and 'lightness' and a color picker.
The rest of the interface has three tabs:
lightness, saturation and hue;
a central area with a gradient color that changes
depending on the tool you have chosen;
a black line that I will explain its purpose;
the curve, with different circle shaped “handles”;
a circle that marks the amplitude,
which can be changed with the mouse wheel;
a grayed area that limits the waveform
that can be achieved;
and at the bottom,
a few marks that indicate the position of the upper “handles”.
The first thing you need to know is that you can select areas of the photo
depending on different criteria.
The different options available in 'select by'
and the different tabs serves that purpose.
That is, in this picture there are several areas that I can select.
I can select an area for its tone (eg, red tones).
I can select by saturation (colors very saturated or less saturated).
I can select by lightness (darkest or lightest areas).
From the selection I make, I can alter the lightness,
hue or saturation of these areas.
Thus, with the combination of these two elements,
the possibilities are virtually endless.
Let’s start with some examples:
The selection by 'tone' is the most intuitive.
We will select a tone of the photo.
With the color picker select an area of the photo,
you can see that the black line changes
as you change the color picker mark.
We will select, for example, the greens:
the black line is placed on the green area of the color map.
Because I've selected 'tone', all shades of green I have in the photo
are selected regardless of their brightness or saturation.
What can I change in the selected greens?
Its lightness, saturation or hue.
So in order to change it, I can simply move the curve
in the black line interception.
But if I want to be very accurate,
I have to move the closest bottom mark
in order to be coincident with the black line
and change the curve in its interception with this black line.
The bigger the circle, the wider the area that will be altered.
If I make it wider and raise the curve
it will change the brightness of the greens
and the adjacent tones (yellow, orange, blue).
In the opposite way, if I move the curve down,
it will lower the lightness by the same amount.
If I make the circle smaller
the adjustment will be much more local.
If I move the contiguous bottom marks
and approached them to the one I'm working with,
the affected area will be smaller
and it will adjust only the intend color.
This way only the greens will be changed.
I can also increase the saturation
by moving the slider in the same way.
I can also do a selective black and white
moving all the way down.
I can also alter the hue by selecting the appropriate tab.
As always, we must ensure
that the changes are very subtle not to ruin the photo,
or the color will changed dramatically.
We can change the criteria and select 'saturation'.
I will change the color picker mark,
positioning it in a less saturated zone.
The black line is placed in this area that is grayish,
not very saturated.
Then I can change this area increasing the saturation.
The combinations are the same as with the previous selection.
The same happens if I choose an area by its lightness.
As you can see with this tool
you can do almost all the modifications that can be made in a photo,
so this plugin becomes a "Swiss army knife" in Dt.
As for the presets, the black & white it's very interesting,
from which you can do amazing things in this kind of photos.
This practically eliminates the need for layer masks, brushes or similar tools.
The next one is 'color transfer'.
If the previous plugin I liked a lot,
this one I don't like it as much.
Using this tool is a bit more special,
because it's used to "steal" the colors of a photo
and transfer it to another one.
Sometimes we may want a chromatic range of a photograph
hat we have or that we found online,
and using this tool we can transfer it to other photos.
We have a palette divided between 1 and 5 clusters,
an acquire and apply button.
If I click the 'acquire' button, the palette "grab"
the image colors in a gradient.
The more clusters are selected,
the more complete the color range is acquired.
If I go to lighttable and choose another photo,
click on 'apply', I get a very strange result,
which is the application of the color gamut
acquired from the previous photo.
Logically, the plugin compare colors between the two images
and try to change within the same ranges,
and in this case the result is a disaster
because the images are too different.
Obviously, the use of this tool has to be with a pairs of photos
with very similar motives.
I've been testing and the results did not convinced me at all,
as this tool lacks many important settings
(opacity, blending modes, etc.).
'Vibrance': is related to saturation and is a brother of 'Velvia',
that we saw in the beginning of this chapter.
It has just a slider,
with which we can give a "blow" to the image color.
The good thing about it is that is very subtle,
but the changes are significant.
It works on the most saturated colors in the photo.
It is useful to work with portraits,
where it is important to respect the skin tone.
'Velvia' is not good for portraits
because its use affects the less saturated tones.
If we really want to respect the less saturated colors,
'Vibrance' works well with a maximum of 10%.
However, with this range the results are almost imperceptible.
You can also use the normal blending mode with a low opacity.
'Input color Profile': This is a technical plugin,
with which we can select different icc profiles.
With some profiles the image gets pretty dark.
This can be corrected using the next plugin:
"unbreak input profile", changing the values in "linear" and "gamma"
to regain the initial image.
This is not really a change in the photo,
but rather a way in the form of interpreting all the photographic process
made by the program.
This is important because the work will be more accurate
if we have the correct profile for the final purpose of the photo.
This is all ... Finally I did it! I'll continue in the next chapter,
with the 'correction' group.
This group contains plugins that require a lot of processing,
so hopefully the next video does not end with an explosion.
Incidentally, I have broken out the power supply
while mounting the equipment, I should have recorded it,
t would have been a shocking document ...
thanks for the video views and channel subscriptions!
Subtitles by Paulo C. Santos Garcia