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2K: Corel
Draw / Photopaint Contrast & Colour Lesson
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In this Step by step guide we will
be preparing an image for printing.
Preparing The Image:
Open or Import (scan) an image in Corel. If you are scanning
an image to Corel, we may need to some work to the picture to
get it looking nice on screen. The better we can get the picture
on screen the better our print will be. If you are happy with
how your picture looks, skip to printing your image using our
color correction profiles.
The first step is to convert our whole page to RGB bitmap.
If you are using Corel Photo paint, your image is already a
bitmap though make sure it is in RGB-24bit.)
Click Image-Mode-RGB Color(24bit)
if it is grayed out then its already RGB
In Corel Draw-
Click Edit - Select - All Objects..
(ctrl+A)
Now everything on the page is selected
Click Bitmaps - Convert to Bitmap..
In the Color:
field select RGB (24-bit)
(1)
Select a desired resolution (2)
I use 150 dpi for fabric transfers and 300dpi for ceramics
Check Anti-aliasing
Uncheck Use Color Profile
Click OK
Our image is now a RGB Bitmap
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| Original Photo |
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| Scanned Photo |
As you can see our scanned image looks a quite dark with little
detail in the shadow areas. With a few adjustments in Corel
we should be able to get a closer on-screen match to the original.
Note: All monitors display colours uniquely, therefore exact
colour matching is will be difficult.
Next step is to match up the overall contrast of the image.
We'll deal with any colour matching later.
Using Corels Levels and Gamma adjustment-
Click Effects
menu - Color Adjustment - Level Equalization..
(Corel Draw)
Click Image
menu - Adjust - Level equalization…
(Photo Paint)
Click Image
menu - Adjust - Levels.
or press (Ctrl+L)
With our image being dark overall,
we will use the gamma control (1)
Make sure Preview
is selected
Moving the Gamma
control to the right lightens the image and brings out more
detail
Moving the slider (2) Adjsts the
highlights
Moving the slider (3) adjusts the
shadows
The aim here is to get the overall contrast and detail right.
Here I have only used the gamma control
Click OK
Now the overall contrast looks good, the sky is looking a little
dark and red-ish. Let work on the sky now. We will use corel's
Hue/Saturation/Lightness adjustment.
Click Effects
menu - Colour Adjustment - Hue/Saturation/Lightness..
(Corel Draw)
Click Image
menu - Adjust - Hue/Saturation/Lightness..
(Photo Paint)
The Channels
buttons allows you to select a color range you want to modify.
Here I have selected Blue
(for the sky). Now only the blue content of the image will be
effectively selected. Moving the Hue
slider to the left has made the sky more natural looking. Keep
pressing preview when you make an adjustment to see the changes
Click OK to
apply the changes.
We can modify a different color range by selecting another channel
color.
Once you are
happy with the image on screen you can print using our color
correction profiles. |
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