I personally get better results when using Elements by selecting out the pupils and doing a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer. I just zero out the reds and zero out the saturation in master…well sometimes I might have to adjust the lightness a touch. By the way, if you put the pupils on a separate layer (layer via copy) just group (control G) the adjustment layer with the pupils so as the rest of your image doesn’t get zapped. I like to put the pupils on a separate layer so that I can use the eraser to fix any selection errors. You’ll find there are a number of workarounds for this problem. This just happens to be my favorite.
Terri
Hi Terri,
I am new to Elements 2.0 and have a problem correcting "Red Eye"
Could you be more specific in your explanation above for us lamebrains…..
Many Thanks,
Bill
Okay, Bill here goes:
1. Open image.
2. Use a selection tool and select the pupils. (I like to use the selection brush with a soft round brush a little larger than the pupil to get a pretty round selection without much hassle.)
3. With the pupils selected go to the menu and choose layer<new<layer via copy.
4. You should now have a layer with just the red pupils. While this layer is active go to the bottom of the layer’s palette and click the new adjustment layer icon (looks kind of like the yen and yang symbol), choose Hue/Saturation option.
5. You will get a pop-up dialog box. Use the arrow to toggle to reds. While in reds, pull the slider labeled saturation down to zero. You can also pull the red’s lightness down to zero also. I think I forgot that in previous post. Go back to master and pull the saturation slider down to zero if still redness. Any remaining red can be knocked out using the lightness slider in master. Caution watch the preview window when adjusting the lightness slider in master so you don’t go too far and end up with a flat black eye.
6. Click okay when both eyes look satisfactory in Hue/Saturation preview window. Oh, no. The whole image has been affected! Not to worry. Click on the Hue/Adjustment layer to make it active then press the keys Ctrl and G at the same time. TA DA! Now only the pupils have been affected by the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. The red is gone, and you now how beautiful shiny black eyes with highlights!
7. Note: you can do this without copy via layer but I like to do it this way because I can just take the eraser, make the pupil layer active, and clean up any selection error I made. By the way when selecting the pupils, it’s best to err on the too much selected side so as to not have a red rim around your pupils.
Hope this clears up my previous post.
Good luck,
Terri
As an add-on to previous post, this technique dosen’t seem to work with pet white or yellow eye.
Terri
Yet another work around for the red eye issue is to use a levels command after you have created a layer via copy. (step 3). Instead of doing a Hue/Saturation adjustment go to the top menu and select Enhance<adjust brightness/contrast<levels. Make sure you do this with the eyes selected and the pupil layer active. Also don’t use the levels at the bottom of the layer’s palette because it will to my experience affect the entire image. So, you have the pupils selected, the layer active, and have just punched in the level command from the top of the menu and get a dialog box. Just adjust the reds first slider in the histogram to remove the red. (I was also able to do it in the RGB mode but figured it might work better in reds). Then if too much pupil was selected go back and do a clean up with eraser on pupil layer. I hope I haven’t given you information overload but I was just fiddling with this and found this also seems to be a work around for red-eye correction. You’ll find there are at least three ways to do everything in elements. Don’t cuss the red eye brush too much because it can be very useful in changing colors in an image…it just seems to have a problem with glowing red.
Terri
