Dodging produces blue cast

Chuck, thank you. I didnot know this method (like so many other methods). I'll give it a try next week in the studio.

BTW, this blue cast isnot from an underlying layer as I often flatten my images and start working on a new layer again for the next enhancement. I know this isnot the best way to use layers, but this works for me. When I should be able to work afterwards again on previous layers, I know I would and I am working long enough, at least that's what my wife tries to tell me.

Leen

Leen, I misspoke about the 'underlying layer'; what I meant to convey was
that perhaps there was a blue cast in the (flattened) image that wasn't
obvious until the dodging was done. I think I'll experiment with the
dodging tool a bit and see if it does in fact manipulate only the 'B' value
of the HSB, or perhaps does something else altogether...

Chuck

Leen, I experimented a little to see what the Dodge and Burn tools were doing. I opened a new canvas and filled it with a shade of red, not quite pure red but close (RGB 206-37-37, HSB 0-82-81) The dodge and burn tools left the Hue alone, but adjusted both saturation and brightness. Looking at the RGB values, the G and B, while changing, remained balanced, so it didn't appear that a color cast was being introduced by using the tools. Probably more testing required, but that's a start....

Chuck

Unfortunately I cannot work in Elements at home; I have it installed, but my monitor is defect and everything has turned magenta. The new monitor in the studio is to arrive on Friday together with my new printer, so then the studiomonitor can come to my home.
Could you mail me your e-mail adress so I can mail you an example of my experience on an almost finished print and the original JPEG?

Leen

Chuck, I apologise. My webmaster -I love this guy, I mean the work he does for me- is much faster than I could imagine. The image -with the blue cast- is allready on my website.
It is the last image in the "studioportret" galery, a intriguingly beautiful young woman; her eyes really "have it".
The cast, clearly visible, is around her left eye, on the right side.....;-)
Just click my name and you will find the URL

Leen

PS: looking at my website is not the prerogative of Chuck; other people are invited too. I'm mighty proud of what I achieved thanks to the "elementary" knowledge and feedback I received from so many nice people on this forum. Being able to show my images to you is a way of saying : "Thanks to all of you for your tremendous input and inspiration!"

Leen

Leen,

I took a look at the image on your web site and Chuck correctly identified
the problem. As Chuck pointed out, the dodge tool affects saturation and
brightness.

What you are seeing as a blue cast is simply the reduction of saturation to
the point that you are seeing the gray "tone" or "luminosity" of the image.
It's not a cast at all, it's a loss of color. If you remove all the color
from the image, the whole picture will be that "blue" cast (except then, you
see the image is really gray not blue -- the blue is an optical illusion
caused by our brain interpreting it in the context of the surrounding flesh
tones).

So, what to do about it? Try this, load the original image (the one without
the "blue" dodged area), duplicate the image layer and set the blending mode
of the top layer to "color". Click on the bottom layer to make the bottom
layer active. Now use the dodge tool on the bottom layer.

If you need to increase the color saturation, select the sponge tool and set
the mode to "saturate" and the flow to a low number (20% maybe?). Select
the top layer and paint on the top layer with the sponge tool. Don't overdo
it. Flatten when done.

Let us know how it worked out.

Robert, terrific explanation and approach - thanks!

Robert,
Thank you very much for your explanation. Today is Sunday and I have to force myself not to go to the studio as I promised myself to take a day off. Tomorrow I'll try your approach, but there is just only one problem: I changed the color of the image a little too much to make it look like a "real Rembrandt".
Everything you write sounds rather logical, but I suppose I have to disagree on one thing: the optical illusion of seeing a blue due to the surrounding colours. These things don't match in my mind; I think you are right, but the facts are against this theory.
I had exact profiles made for my printer and my monitor screen, I calibrate my monitor every two weeks with a Photocal Spyder and nevertheless this image prints out this blue!
I looked at it with various lightsources, including daylight.I know I happen to be able to recognise a color cast rather well. I can hardly believe something went wrong with the profiling, but I will know this Friday as a trained color expert will come to install and profile my new monitor and printer. Both come from the same supplier as this calibration Spyder.
In the meantime I will check tomorrow wether I'm wrong using the color picker.

I hope there is something we overlooked and this way your explanation will be wrong as if you are right, I cannot rely on my eyes any more.... ;-(

Although I'm confronted with this problem, I'm rather happy about it, as it shows we on this forum are like family, willing to help each other out. Moreover, this problem allowed me to ask an intelligent question and this way I might rise in your esteem.....;-)