Hello People...

I'm new in RetouchPro, and I'm seeing Photoshop Gurus everywhere... I went through various threads and tutorials both in RetouchPRO and other sites too... But couldn't do great deal of a thing...

I have a badly shot image of Myself that I need edited... Also, I request that a tutorial of the same be put up so that newbies like Me can learn too...

I'm attaching the original image... what I think needs to be done is for the image to look like it was professionally done (or) shot at in a studio... there's some background in the image, that's behind Me, and I wish that it be changed to black... no background stuff... like in a studio with a black wall/cloth at the backdrop is what would make it look great...

Please help Me with this... it sure is going to be very challenging and a long tutorial as also, I need make up to be done on the face (I'm blushing, but I shouldn't because I'm asking for a lot already)... some colour correction maybe required to, as I think the photo has a yellow tint... I'm grateful in advance to everyone who takes interest in this... :)

Well, hello to you also, "the ultimate 1". Welcome to RetouchPro!

So you'd like some people here to retouch your photo and then write a "long tutorial" on how we did it so that you can learn to do it yourself? :)

Tip #1
You have definite ideas about how you want the background -- have you considered setting up the background you specify and having your photo re-shot?

Tip #2
Introduce yourself and tell us what your experience is with Photoshop or other editing programs. What are your goals, what are you doing now to learn these skills? You mentioned looking at the tutorials -- what are you having trouble understanding? People here can always help someone who is serious about learning new skills.

You mean something like this?

Did this in about 1.5 minutes. Duplicate layer, Magic Lasso tool selection, inverse, delete background, add layer below, fill with black.

As for the studio lighting, I'll leave that for the next tutorial. :-)

Gave it a run..
Used the extract tool to.. extract person.
opened a blank layer below and added a blue to black radial gradient.
then opened another layer above the gradient layer and used the CLOUD filter set to softlight.
Went back to the person layer and added a level Adjustment to lighten it.
Then added a Hue/saturation adjustment to remove a little greenish tint from the florecent lights.

Lasa

Nicely done, Lasa.

Ultimate1... There is no need to write a long tutorial on how to achieve this basic technique. I think Lasa and I have pretty well laid out the steps. You may not know what the magnetic lasso tool is, but I don't think folks here have time to teach you how the tools work. That's what manuals and the program help files are for.

Part of learning how to use a program is learning the terms and names of the tools and get a basic understanding of how they work. We have given you the key words, so if you take a little time and turn on tool tips in Photoshop, and explore the program they will become familiar. Look up the key words in the help file, experiment, enjoy.

hope this one is ok...extraxt tool, skin treatment, color fix...all leared by reading posts and trying out on my computer...keepreading and trying out stuff...it will come to you really easy...training to be extra good takes alot of time, and I'm not even close...

gerry

a new one with more noise reduction and skin treatment

gerry...I really like what you have produced...

Okay all I did was the following:
Duplicate
Level adjustment
Color adjustment
Saturation adjustment
Sharpen
Duplicate
Blur Duplicate
Extract body from original and past on blur duplicate

You can search each of the items above ..there is plenty of information on this site.

This is my try.
Extracted
New Background
Focus Magic
Retouch skin
Degrunge

dc

skydog...thanks!



Gerry

Hello People... long time since I've been online due to some submarine cable problems that My ISP was supposedly facing...

I'm very happy to find that You guys out here are real Gurus... helping a newbie is rarely done on a lot of forums (they think I'm a noob)... but thanks to all of You who worked on the image... Lasa, Skydog, Gerry, DCobb, Swampy, CJ Swartz... really something that I was looking for... just need to learn the make up on the face part of it...

will try something and put up the image soon... thanks a lot again guys... :)

howz diz??????

quick mask mode to extract background
new layer
gradient black to white
partial strokes across layer from left to right
partial strokes right to left
added noise to new layer
some color adjustment using selective color

Lasa
how do you get such great results with the extract tool
I have been trying and cant get a extract that clean



Gave it a run..
Used the extract tool to.. extract person.
opened a blank layer below and added a blue to black radial gradient.
then opened another layer above the gradient layer and used the CLOUD filter set to softlight.
Went back to the person layer and added a level Adjustment to lighten it.
Then added a Hue/saturation adjustment to remove a little greenish tint from the florecent lights.

Lasa

Hi there

I liked Lasa's background colors.. just a solid layer painted with smoke brushes at a lighter hue .. For the rest I lightened the eyes and worked the contrast with levels. Then a noise filter

Butch

Thanks guys,
The extract tool normally needs be combined with the history brush. I don't remember exactly if it was needed on this particular image. The brush size in EXTRACT is important big overlapping around fine stuff like hair and small on edges like arms, shirts etc. I actually use GML matting a lot more the Photoshop extract tool (looks, works and feels like the extract tool but doesn't leave halos)
Its a free download: http://research.graphicon.ru/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,31/func,fileinfo/id,50/

With regards to the background. When making a false background I like to use a shade of some color in the image, then fading to black..I think it cleans it up.

Take care,

Lasa

Gave it a run..
Used the extract tool to.. extract person.
opened a blank layer below and added a blue to black radial gradient.
then opened another layer above the gradient layer and used the CLOUD filter set to softlight.
Went back to the person layer and added a level Adjustment to lighten it.
Then added a Hue/saturation adjustment to remove a little greenish tint from the florecent lights.

Lasa

Lasa.. can you please tell me what order your layers were in? I tried this as follows:

1. duplicate background with extracted photo
2. create new layer below photo with gradiant
3. create new layer above gradient but below photo with clouds

after I do this.. since the photo is still the top layer, all I see is the photo. If I move the photo down below the other 2 new layers, I see the photo.. but it is blue and really dark.

I'm confused - and I'm not a newb either.. :) ! thx!!

Hi all... gave it a go...

Selected closely around subject... then inverse and delete
Erased out remaining background around subject with soft brush
Created new background on separate layer
Added shadow behind subject on separate layer
Neat Image to subject
Brightened lights in eyes
Colour adjust subject
Flatten and smooth edges
Cropped

Sherry

Lasa.. can you please tell me what order your layers were in? I tried this as follows:

1. duplicate background with extracted photo
2. create new layer below photo with gradiant
3. create new layer above gradient but below photo with clouds

after I do this.. since the photo is still the top layer, all I see is the photo. If I move the photo down below the other 2 new layers, I see the photo.. but it is blue and really dark.

I'm confused - and I'm not a newb either.. :) ! thx!!

I know this is a little late Fuego but I just found this forum today.

I played with her idea and you just adjust the transparency of the cloud layer till you get it how you like it.

Great idea for a background Lasa.

Thanks ... had about 45 minutes before family shows up for the 4th ... It was a fun race for me =)