Registered: January 2004 Location: Mid-South Posts: 2,111 users gallery
I began by doing a basic correction for color balance using levels and curves.
Saved file and reopened it to work with the Art History Brush.
Used a combination of several AH Brushes on four different layers. Varied the opacity of each layer until I had a painterly version that was sort of impressionistic.
Merged visible and sharpened the heck out of this top copy. Corrected for some of the oversharpening in certain areas by using the spot healing brush. Then bumped the saturation way up.
Used dodge and burn to bump shadows and highlights.
Added a lot of texture using the Stucco and Sandstone textures that ship with Photoshop on another merged visible layer and lowered the opacity to 30 percent.
Copied the original background copy and moved it to the top of the stack where I created a vignette and lowered the opacity to around 27 percent. This last step draws the eye toward the center of the picture and replaces some of the detail lost in the art process.
RetouchPRO
