CHAPTER 22 THE PORTRAIT 333- Slide the Lightness slider to the left to reduce
the highlight and brightness. - If the iris is too gray, change the colors from
Reds to Master in the drop-down and shift
the Hue and Saturation sliders to add a little
color.
This method is preferred by most photographers.
The problem is that selecting the red portion of the
eye with the elliptical marquee isn’t always easy. Be
sure you press down and hold the Alt key so that
the marquee expands outward. Another aid is to
choose Select, Modify, Expand and expand the
selection by a few pixels.
Using Channels to Reduce Red Eye
A fast, quick, and dirty way to reduce red eye in Photoshop is to use channels. This
method is so simple that even beginners can get acceptable results in minutes and
keep family members happy.
Follow these steps in any version of Photoshop to reduce red eye using channels:
- Open an image and choose File, Save As to save the original from any mis-
takes you might make. Name the new image. - Make sure the image is in RGB mode by choosing Image, Mode. If the file is
in CMYK or LAB, change it to RGB mode by choosing Image, Mode, RGB. - Zoom in as much as possible on any red eye.
- The easiest way to select only the red eye is to use the red channel of the
image. Click the Channels tab to access the image’s red, green, and blue
channels (choose Window, Channels if Channels isn’t onscreen). - Click on the red channel (see Figure 22.7). The other channels should be de-
selected and only the red channel should be highlighted/checked. The color
image will become black and white.
The red channel provides the most tonal separation from the eyes and the face,
making it easier to select the entire eyeball. If you cannot access the Channels tab or
aren’t sure what a channel is, you can still select the red eye using the ellipse selec-
tion tool.
Channels aren’t avail-
able in Photoshop
Elements. Use the layer method
described in the section “Using
Layers to Reduce Red Eye”
instead.