These two photos were scanned at 600 (with NO auto settings). I then cleaned up the BG with Image Doctor, clone stamp and the healing brush. after doing some color adjustment the the sea and sky used Snap Art for the finished results. My question is this; how can I get more facial detail in the finished painting? I have d/l the Art History brushes from Trimoon but have no idea where to put them in Photoshop. Would using these help with the problem? Thank you, everyone for your expertise.

It's doubtful Trimoon's brushes would help here... FYI: Drag/drop the file into Photoshop's window. Photoshop will "know what to do" and put them in the right place. Choose AHB tool from Tools palette. Trimoon's settings will show up in the "presets menu" among the others for the AHB.

A common method to restore detail is:
* Place an unaltered copy of the image on top of "the painted one"
* Change layer blend mode to "Luminosity" -- to retain color of layer below
* Layer > Add layer mask > Hide all
* Set foreground color to white (press D key, then X key)
* Choose brush tool and select a soft-edged brush
* Flow ~ 35%, Opacity ~ 35%
* Airbrush setting: on
* Right-click and adjust brush diameter so it's about the same as eye diameter, maybe a little larger
...then click (paint) lightly around eyes, nose, etc. to reveal a little original detail.

If you over do it, switch to black (press X key) and paint black to back it off a bit.

Depending on the circumstances you may need to do one of the following to the top layer:
* Apply more Unsharp Mask to exaggerate the effect
* Apply the Dry Brush filter to make it look a little more arty

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Does any of this help?

Thanks for the reply and YES, YES, YES it truly does help. Your explanation was so good that it was like sailing out of a fog bank into bright sunshine! I can't wait to get busy with this photo and will certainly post the results. Thanks again.

Thanks for the reply and YES, YES, YES it truly does help. Your explanation was so good that it was like sailing out of a fog bank into bright sunshine! I can't wait to get busy with this photo and will certainly post the results. Thanks again.Don't forget your sunglasses! :)

Glad to help...

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BTW... This "airbrush white or black trick" also works for selectively revealing or concealing the effect of Adjustment Layers.

Try this to see what I mean...
* Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation
* Click OK in the next dialog
* Drag the Saturation slider all the way to the left
* Click OK. Result: a black and white image
* Now paint black in places where you want to conceal the effect of the Hue/Sat AL

This is how "everything is black and white except the red rose" pics are done.

To selectively lighten portions of an image, the same basic technique can be applied using a Levels adjustment layer:
* In the Levels dialog drag the left slider left. This will lighten the entire image, but not to worry.
* Click OK.
* Ctrl + I "to invert" the mask (goes from white --> black)
* Airbrush white to reveal the effect where you want to lighten.

OK... enough fun for you today!

Danny~
OK...I'm almost ashamed to ask (note that I said ALMOST) but, with reference to "* Place an unaltered copy of the image on top of "the painted one"", how do I do that? Thanx.

Geezer

Danny~
OK...I'm almost ashamed to ask (note that I said ALMOST) but, with reference to "* Place an unaltered copy of the image on top of "the painted one"", how do I do that? Thanx.

GeezerI admire your courage; many people would choose not to ask and would go on just wondering/flailing -- stuck in the mud.

Somewhere I'm assumig you still have the original file you scanned and cleaned up... and that you duplicated it (I hope) and started art-i-fy-ing (is that a word? :)) the duplicate.

(For what it's worth I always start out by duplicating the Background of the duplicate file and do work on Layer 1, thus preserving an unaltered version of the image as a separate layer within the arty image -- just in case I ever need it, like for the purpose we're talking about here.)

Option 1: If the Background in the arty image is unaltered...
* Click on the Background
* Select > All
* Edit > Copy
* Edit > Paste (to make a new layer)
* Drag this layer to the top of the layer stack
...and you're in business

Plan B:
* Open both the current arty and then scanned/cleaned up original files
* In original, click on cleaned up layer
* Select > All
* Edit > Copy
* Click on the arty image to make it the active image
* Edit > Paste (to make a new layer)
* Drag this layer to the top of the layer stack (if necessary)
...and that would do it, too.

Do either of these help?

Keep asking if not. Other folks will benefit from "your pain." :)

Thanx for the reply. As to my "courage", well, I was a Bomb Squad Technician and always thought that questioning those with more experience was infinitely more preferable than the I.D.G.I.C.T.R.O. approach ("I Dunno...Guess I'll Cut The Red One.). I tried both methods and prefer Option 1 to Plan B (but have both in my PS notebook). Again, thank you very much and have a safe and happy Holiday Season.