Bobs blog

The project aim was to reduce the rusty look of the product.  After speaking with the client (Jeff Amstutz at A2Z Design) it was decided I would simply reduce the red color of the rust while maintaining the actual color of the caked dirt on the trenching belt.  Here is the original look.

I took the file into Lab color to render the color on the 16 foot boom arm and belt completely neutral.  I then masked back the areas of dirt and brushed back partial colors in select areas.  I also created an alpha channel based on the luminosity layer and applied that to the mask to bring back partial color in areas based on brightness.  I then flattened the image, converted to cmyk where I enhanced the yellows, saturated colors and enhanced contrast and sharpness.This is a simplified version of a 2 hour retouch job.  Here are the results.

This project stems from an earlier job where the end files were in black and white (gray scale).  For that project the background needed to be black and I needed to add motion to the belt, as though it was running.

The other image associated with this project was more difficult.  Still, it needed motion, however one of the steel plates on the belt had no teeth, it had a blade instead.  That blade needed to be removed and replaced with teeth.  After cannibalizing a plate, teeth and bolts from other areas of the file I was able to distort and warp them into place to make the necessary changes.