Lately, when I look at our son's eyes, I can't really tell what color they are. I mean, I know they are hazel, but it seems as though each time I look, they're a different color. Usually depending on what he wears, they are a certain predominant color with a smidge of brown in the middle. At times, they appear predominantly green, sometimes blue, and at times, a kind of gray blue. So, when I took the following picture yesterday, in natural light, coming from the patio doors, I thought it would be a great opportunity to find out, by doing a
layer mask project with my photoshop elements 5.0 editing program.
Before I begin to show you how I do the layer mask, let me just add that the only preliminary editing to the original picture that I did, was to clean up a few crumbs on his cheeks and sharpened it up slightly for crispness' sake. I did not play with saturation or light or colors, so that I could get a true representation of his eye color.
So, let's begin. Here is the original...
So first, after doing a quick clean up to the photo, as I pointed out before, I then started out by 'duplicating the layer'. To do this, click on 'layer' at the top of the screen and choose 'duplicate layer' from the drop-down menu.
What does that do? Think of this layer mask project as two slices of bread, in which the first layer, or slice, is going to be the original photo and then the 2nd layer, or slice(the duplicate) is going to be the one I manipulate without changing the original layer. This means, if I were to not be happy with the 2nd layer, I could and just delete it and I'd still be left with the original.
Okay, so now I have 2 layers. Next, I went to the 'Enhance' tab at the top of the screen, and chose, 'convert to black and white' from the pull-down menu. I made sure I set my preference to 'portrait' before saving the change. Again, this is only making the 2nd layer black and white. The original layer underneath is still in color.
Once this step is done, I clicked on the pink eraser on the left hand side of the screen. Zooming in on the eye area, I carefully "erased" away the black and white part of the iris and revealed the original layer underneath that exposed the colors.
Because it is so small here on my blog, you may not see a difference yet, so I will crop in for a closer look...
Isn't that neat? I love how his eye color seems almost peacockish (is that a word?) with the mixture of blue, green, brown and a tinge of turquoise? Almost reminds me of those old mood rings we used to get back in the 80's. Remember, I didn't enhance or enrich the colors at all so what you see is the true color of the original layer. If you look closely, you can even see my head in the catchlight of his eye! Giggle!!
In closing, before saving the new photo, you must first click on the 'layer' tab at the top and choose "flatten image" from the drop-down menu.
Why don't you try this on one of your pictures if you've never done it? It's a really fun technique. I tried it on our daughter awhile back, who has vivid blue eyes, as you can see
here.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. I know I had lots of fun doing it.
So until the next time I am bitten by the blog bug...
Leaning On His Everlasting Arms,
Denise
Just my cup of tea! 
P.S. Came across another frog the other night...
