Matching color within the same image

[GordonShock]

Hi all,

Here's the situation. The full sheet ad I scanned is not the center of the magazine, in other word, both parts of the ad are not from the same sheet. I scanned both parts and now I am matching them to get the full ad again.

The stitching is fine but the colors and brightness/contrast don't exactly match. Now I've tried many color matching tutorials, but they all feature two different images, but in my case it is two parts of the same image that I need to match and I'm not sure how to proceed.

Any tips here would be great.

[Ivan Zajats]

as you've got them on separate layers, treat them as different images and follow the tutorials 🙂

match by contrast, saturation & hue with the adjustment layers

if you merged the layers first, you made a mistake

[GordonShock]

Thanks Ivan, indeed I made that mistake. What's hindering me is the inability to put the two halves side by side. When I import as a stack, the halves are, well, stacked, and when I open them individually they become two separate projects.

Is there a way to have both layers in the same project shown in two different panels in the main area so I can see the difference done by the color match? Because as it is now, the only way for me to see if the color match does its thing is by looking at the tiny previews in the layer panel...

See the attachment for what I mean.

Thanks

[headTrix Training]

You could just drag the layer from one image, up to the tab of the other image (keeping your mouse button down) until the tab is selected, then continue dragging the layer onto the canvas. Then you can use the crop tool, and INSTEAD of cropping - pull the handles OUT wide to increase the width of the canvas. Then simply drag the other layer over to the right so you can see both in the same Photoshop file, side by side, each on their own layer.

Hope that helps!
Mark

[Conrad_C]

If they are already two layers in a single document, another way to do it is shown below: Use the Move tool to Shift-drag either layer to the right, off canvas, until the left edge of the layer snaps to the right edge of the other layer. When those layer edges snap to line up, Photoshop marks where they meet with a vertical magenta Smart Guide. While the edges are snapped together, let go of the mouse button and the Shift key. (The Shift key was to keep it from drifting up or down.) The last step is to choose Image > Reveal All so that Photoshop enlarges the canvas to match the outer edges of the layer you just dragged. You don’t have to do it this way, but I like to because it sets the canvas size precisely with no math or guesswork.

When no layers are selected, the Properties panel shows you the Canvas size, so you can see that after the drag and Reveal All, the canvas size is now twice as wide as before.

Another way to do it is to type "*2" after the existing Canvas W: number and press Enter, which is another way to double the width. Then drag one layer to the left until it snaps to the left edge of the canvas, and drag the other layer to snap it to the right edge.

When you add adjustment layers, you can set them up as clipping masks for each side so that each side’s adjustments only affect one layer and not both. Or you can mask them off. If you put all the adjustments for one side into its own layer group, you can create a mask for that layer group and it affects everything inside.