Ok so I saw the thread that was about Lens Flare and they didn't post an image so I have two (of me and my fiance, hold the jokes :) ) I don't have the faintest clue on how to really retouch a photo in photoshop. I use CS3 but I only do sports photos and just (a couple days ago) started to read up on how to retouch and I am slowly learning, it's an art I tell ya and you guys are great at it.

So anyone care to tell me IN DETAIL, step by step what you did in PS to get this (if possible) to look like a photo with no flare / a better version than it is.

I tried to duplicate the picture, then made an exposure (-2.0) on the original and then masked in the darker on the flare, boosted contrast up about +10 but it still doesn't look too good.

Anyone care to take a stab at it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vidoprof/

thanks
Ryan

I used the highlight slider in shadow/highlight to reduce the glare and made a duplicate layer using softlight blending mode and adjusted opacity to taste and desaturated a little.





http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2229489279c657faefdebpc2.jpg

I took the easy way out..

Used history brush in multiply mode on the better head till darker then copied it to clipboard

Levels and history brush on the boat picture with a gradient to even things out..

pasted the head from the other picture and while holding the shift key to resize diagonally to size then rotated to fit lining up using difference mode on the head layer till lined up and everything was black.. masked the head and cleaned edges.. adjusted color of new head to match boat pic girl merged layers..

levels and curves final adjustment

Super quick way IMO:
Duplicate layer, set blend mode to multiply, reduce opacity to best judgement - I used 45%.
Duplicate layer again, set to multiply, use a black to transparent gradient on the mask mask so that it's only making the far right of the image darker.
9MB psd file (http://videosean.gotgeeks.com/RP/2229489279_c657faefde_b.psd)

I think swapping his head may have been the best move for the other image :)

Ok guys these are great.

Wolfman: I love what you did. It still doesn't look to orangy on my face and hers with yours. Thanks for the explanation. Really helps.

Ol: Can you explain a little better in detail what you mean by "Levels and history brush on the boat picture with a gradient to even things out.. "

How much levels and where exactly did you go with the levels? With a gradient? Sorry for the lack of knowledge, but this would really help.


Video: thanks for the PSD file (I can't download it now, but will when I get home). It's a little dark but I can probably desaturate it and that might work real well.
Can you tell me exactly what this means "use a black to transparent gradient on the mask mask so that it's only making the far right of the image darker." I am not to familiar with the gradient tool. Thank you


Anyone else have the PSD so I can see what exactly was done? :)

Thanks guys

Ryan

Ol: Can you explain a little better in detail what you mean by "Levels and history brush on the boat picture with a gradient to even things out.. "
Ryan
maybe these will help some

Thanks again.

So in the second shot (where you replaced my head) is there anyway that I can DEsaturate just the heads of each of us. They just look too orange.

Thanks

Ryan

p.s. Any chance you can all post you .psd file so I can see exactly what you guys did?

Thanks again

Ryan,

You might try this:

When you make changes to the whole picture using a Hue/Saturation layer.. concentrate on what you want changed (like the faces) and let everything else go bad or look funny.. when the faces look like you want, or are as good as you can get them.. With the mask selected.. Paint on the picture with BLACK where you want the colors to show through from the lower picture in the stack .. (adjust your brush as needed)

Below are some fast and rough samples of what I mean

Can you tell me exactly what this means "use a black to transparent gradient on the mask mask so that it's only making the far right of the image darker." I am not to familiar with the gradient tool.
Image1: The keyboard shortcut for the gradient tool is G, it shares a space with the Paint Bucket tool in the tool palette.
Image2: At the top of the photoshop window you can change the options for the tool, I have black to transparent selected in the dropdown menu.
Image3: I did this example on a plain, empty layer but the tool works the same when you have a layer mask selected. By holding down the shift key while you drag (release shift after you release the mouse button) you can get a perfectly straight line.
Image4: What it does.
Image5: What it looks like in your image with only that layer showing. You can also see a tiny white border around the layer mask icon in the layers palette... that means the layer mask is selected. The white border would be around the layer thumbnail/icon and the image part of the layer would then be selected if you clicked on that in the layers palette.

The 2 extra layers in my file have their blend modes set to Multiply, which will darken things. You could reduce the opacity (in the layers palette) of those layers to make the image lighter. Desaturating wouldn't make the image lighter, it would make the colors weaker or less intense.

I put my psd file here because I thought that looking at it in photoshop might be easier than trying to explain what I meant by using the gradient tool on the layer mask :) On a layer mask black hides, white shows and shades of grey show/hide to different degrees. By using a gradient on the mask you should be able to get a smooth, unnoticeable transition from 100% hidden to 100% shown.

Another tip might be to alt-click on the layer mask icon/thumbnail in the layers palette. That will select the layer mask AND show you the layer mask in you image document. Alt-clicking the layer mask's icon/thumbnail again will show you what's on the layer and the mask will still be selected.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aWDqWTy4d2M - at about 1:15 into the video they show how to add a layer mask and using the gradient tool on it.