Joined: 11 Jun 2009
Posts: 4
Location: Alameda, CA, USA
Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:28 pm Post subject: Color a b/w logo
I have a typed logo, black text on white background with anti-aliased edges. I'd like to color it, so that the type is, say, blue instead of black and the anti-aliasing now blends blue into the white background.
Read Adobe's help files, experimented forever, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to do it.
The image is 24 bit RGB color. I created an alpha channel, pasted the b/w logo into the alpha channel as a mask:
Then filled the background blue (50, 50, 240). When I do this on GraphicConverter (another photoediting app on Mac), it has the desired effect and I end up with a blue-on-white logo. On Photoshop, it looks like this:
You see on the left the background is blue as before and the type is a weird RGB 179, 34, 163.
Joined: 07 May 2009
Posts: 144
Location: Tennessee PS Version: CS5.5 OS: OS 10.5.6
Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:03 pm Post subject:
I would try to select the black text with the "Color Range" command, under the "Select" drop down menu.
And with the text selected you can create a new layer and fill the selection, then you will have a stencile of your text, this is ideal for layer effects and other edits.
Hope this helps _________________ For great Photoshop tutorials and freebies, check out www.iammrknowitall.com
Joined: 11 Jun 2009
Posts: 4
Location: Alameda, CA, USA
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 12:45 am Post subject:
Thanks, that kind of works. Kind of because filling the selection is hard to get the anti-aliasing right. I played with feathering the selection, but it's never exactly the same. You can tell from the little snippet in the picture above, the logo has a lot of fine lines. It looks odd when the smoothing is wrong.
Besides, I'd really like to understand what went wrong and why so I can deal with it better in other situations. Where did that weird pink come from?
Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 63
Location: London PS Version: CS4 OS: OS X 10.5.6
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 4:55 am Post subject:
Hi envision,
Adding the logo as an alpha channel was the right step. Don't worry about the pink color just yet, you're not done!
Here's what to do next:
1. In the Channels panel, Ctrl+Click on the Alpha 1 channel. You will have a selection
2. Go to: Select > Inverse
3. Now you have a perfectly antialiased selection, just add in whatever color you want on a separate layer. Then on another layer, set your background color.
Joined: 11 Jun 2009
Posts: 4
Location: Alameda, CA, USA
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 2:31 pm Post subject:
Great, that worked perfectly, thanks!
BTW, for Mac users: it's Cmd-Click (Apple-Click on older keyboards). So that creates a selection from the alpha channel apparently. Would never have figured that out by myself.
That leaves the bonus question: where did the pink come from? I'd like to understand what happened there before.
I'm glad this thread is here. I am pretty new to photoshop, and have been given a logo, black and white, in TIF. 8 Bit RGB.
I need to convert the logo image and text (which is black) to bright orange. The background needs to stay white.
When I use color range to make a selection mask, the text comes out looking less-than-smooth. The end result is that the final product looks quite sloppy, and as opposed to nice smooth text, I get jagged edges and messy curves on the lettering. Should I post a link to the image here so that people know what I'm talking about? I'm new to this forum and don't know what the protocol is. I set up an alpha channel and I think I followed the instructions given here already correctly, but I am still not able to get the results I need!
Joined: 11 Jun 2009
Posts: 4
Location: Alameda, CA, USA
Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:40 pm Post subject:
So after I had to deal with this again, I found another, maybe easier, way to colorize a black-and-white logo (or create a transparent PNG with alpha-channel from it).
If you add an alpha channel by clicking the Create new channel (earmarked notepad on bottom of Channel list) as I did, it applies to the whole picture (all layers) and has some strange effects (see earlier post). Also, when saved as PNG, the alpha channel is ignored, with both "Save as" and "Save for Web & Devices" even when transparency is checked on. It only shows in BMP - not useful for web use.
What I hadn't realized in my first attempt is that in Photoshop every layer can have its own alpha channel, called layer mask. So if you start with a black/white image of your logo:
Create a new layer and fill it entirely with the color you want the logo to be in (Select - All, then Edit - Fill).
Click on the b/w layer with your logo again to activate it (light-blue highlight). If you can't see it, make sure the eye icon is on.
Select - All, then Copy.
Activate plain-colored layer, on bottom of Layers list click the Add layer mask icon (to the right of "fx", looks like a rectangle with a white dot in it). A second layer miniature will appear next to your plain-color layer, linked with a chain symbol.
Click on Channels tab, you should now see a new channel "Layer 1 mask" (assuming you didn't rename the color layer, otherwise it will show "[YourLayerName] mask"). If you don't see it, go back to the Layers tab and make sure the plain-color layer is highlighted. The mask channel will only show when the layer it is linked to is active.
Activate the layer mask, blue highlight and eye. Deactivate the RGB channels by clicking the eye on "RGB".
Paste the b/w logo into the layer mask
Assuming your logo is black on white background, you need to reverse it: Image - Adjustments - Invert or Cmd-I (Mac) / Ctrl-I (Win). The black area will cover the layer the mask it is linked to, i.e. make it transparent. The white parts will let the layer shine through. This cuts the shape of your logo out of the full-colored layer like a cookie cutter. Or think of it as putting a partially blackened translucent foil on top of the layer, which is what they used to do in the olden days with film and paper.
Turn the eye of the RGB channels back on.
Go back to the Layers tab and deactivate the eye of the black/white logo layer, or delete it altogether. You don't need it anymore and it may be covering your new creation.
Done!
I find this more flexible because you're not hard-cutting the logo as in rogermota's solution. You can adjust the mask later or change the color by simply filling the underlying layer again. Also, transparency created this way will be saved in PNG as opposed to the separate alpha channel.
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