Hi!

Just wondering how this one looks to the pros out there. Not sure if I've perhaps strayed too far from the original...

The skin tone is extremely "muddy" with the bottom half by her lips darker than the area above and all sorts of streaks throughout.

What techniques are recommended to clean up the face while still retaining the proper shadows, etc.

I'll post the orig first.

Thanks for any feedback,
Diane

This is my best version so far.

Diane

This is an "intermediate" version with the background and dress already fixed.

I'd really like to learn how to fix the skin on the face much more efficiently than I probably did.

Diane

Diane,

Sorry to say but I think you have gone too far with this.

I downloaded your original and had a go - hope you don't mind -this is the result.

Christine

Hi Christine,

Wow, your's looks excellent. But how did you do it? How did you fix the skin and get that skin color??

Hope to hear back from you soon...

Best regards,
Diane

Hello Diane,

Quite simple really, duplicated the layer and ran gaussian blur until the skin looked smooth. Created a layer mask on this layer (Alt + click on the layer mask icon). Then painted the skin back using white on the layer mask avoiding eyes, nostrils and mouth.

Created a new layer from the original and blurred layer. On this I used the smudge tool around the eyes and lips.

Christine

Christine did a good job on this one. I thought it was a little flat though, so I punched it up slightly. I took Christine's image, duplicated the layer, and set the blending mode to screen. A layer mask was added, and I painted the dress with black, to bring it back to the original tones. Lowered the opacity of the layer until I liked the look it. It was still a little flat, so I used a curves adjustment layer. The point on the curves grid was found for the skin tones by holding the ctrl key down while clicking on the area of the face that I was interested in. Then I raised that point by using the "up" arrow on the keyboard until I was satisfied. The dress became a little lighter, so I painted with black again to darken it. There is not a great deal of difference, but on my monitor, the added contrast looks a little better.

Ed

Nice finishing touch Ed.

Christine

Hi Diane

I would have to agree. One of the big problems many have is knowing when to stop. Sometimes we spend too much time in close up mode and not checking the effects on the overall picture.
There's many things you can do but here's a couple of suggestions. Pump up the contrast a little bit. Go to filters and create a pattern from her skin. Use the Healing Tool set to this pattern for repairing damage. For the darker lower jaw use a soft brush set to "lighten" at 4% opacity. If you feel you must, also try the blur tool set to a very low setting. Build your work carefully and keep checking the results in full picture mode. Also, I think the biggest problem is the neck and chest. There seems to be a lot of light damage. The tones need to be darkened to more closely match the facial tones. Hope this helps. Happy New Year!!

Cheers
Duv

Hi Guys,

Thanks very much for all your help on this one. I'm sure glad I got up after going to bed the other night and posted the above... I did have trouble following Christine's steps above--there must be some steps missing??-- and just had to lighten up the original color a bit via auto-color. But I found a similar technique using the gausian blur in Scott Kelby's book, The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographer's at page 208-212. I would highly recommend this book!

I'm still not quite finished--I have to review how to paint with a layer mask for the dress-- but here is a much improved version.

Also, are there any other photoshop books that any of you would recommend?

Thank you all again and have a very Happy New Year!
Diane

Christine,

Just wondering where you found the background drapes that you used??

Thanks,
Diane

Hi Diane

Scott's book is good but perhaps an even better one is Katrin Eismann's Photoshop Restoration & Retouching, second edition published by New Riders www.newriders.com

Cheers
Duv

Thanks, Duv.

I have the first edition but I guess she added alot in the revised version?

Diane

Hi Di!

In another post someone recommended this. www.digitalmastery.com/tips. Looks like some good tips and good book.

Cheers
Duv

ps. Sorry if you don't like the Hi Di.

Diane,

The drapes are pure photoshop.

The method was described by Doug in the Tips section but is basically - select 2 colours from the image. Add a new layer
select the gradient tool change the tool mode to difference.
Make small horizontal strokes (the width of each fold). The layer will go black at times - just keep going.

Put the layer below the image and mask out the image where you want the drapes to be.

Christine

Re the drapes, you can check out Doug's original post (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7270&highlight=fake+AND+satin) or this tutorial based on it (http://www.retouchpro.com/tutorials/index.php?m=show&id=66).

Hi Diane,

I think we need to go further with adjusting the image to start with to bring it back to the tones as they would have been in the original. The highlights on the pearls should be white, but that blows out the skin tone much lighter than it would normally be if we just make a straight levels adjustment, which means that we have a lot of fading in this photo. In order to seperate the light tones back to what I think would be about normal I used a curves adjustment layer in luminosity blending mode, it is attached with a screen shot.

Great work everyone, I especially like the drapes technique! Thanks, Leah.

Roger

Good thoughts Roger! Per my original post I thought the chest was unnaturally light either due to the lighting used or possible fading. Here it is slightly adjusted. Also, I was thinking a lighter background might compliment this lady.

Cheers
Duv

Originally posted by Duv
Hi Di!

In another post someone recommended this. www.digitalmastery.com/tips. Looks like some good tips and good book.

Cheers
Duv

ps. Sorry if you don't like the Hi Di.


Hi Duv,

I don't mind the "Hi Di" at all... Thanks for your post about Ben Willmore's book and his website. It looks really interesting and a very good resource. Have you tried any of his tapes??

Best regards,
Di

Christine,

Thanks very much for explaining the technique to make drapes. THis is a really great thing to know! I'll give it a try...

Diane

Hi Di!

The site is new to me. I've actually just ordered the book. If you want to hold off, I'll let you know what I think. I didn't notice the tapes. I'll check it out.

Cheers
Duv

Duv,

Your last version looks fabulous!! Do you recall the steps? How did you do the pearls and her chest area? How did you lighten up her face and keep it brown?


Roger,

If I darken the chest area and work on the pearls, are you saying that you still think I've got her face too light?

In the end, aren't customers happiest with a version that looks the prettiest, rather than one that exactly matches their original? Assuming of course, that we don't stray too far from the original.

Diane

Thanks Di!

Basically, I do much the same as Christine and Roger. I don't try to do too much, "especially" around the eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth. To lighten, I only used a curves adjustment. Nothing fancy. Just enough to open up the contrast. To darken her chest I sampled her forehead then painted with a low opacity brush set to darken. My thoughts on Roger's curves adjustment are that perhaps the pearls aren't white. They could be cream or pink.
My philosophy is to use the KISS principle as much as possible, especially around key features. Not to answer for Roger, but I think you have to find a balance that satisfies you and the client. Remember, those you will never see, will also be evaluating your work. You don't want to hear the whispers "She likes it, but it doesn't look like her!"

Cheers
Duv

Hi Diane,

I was not saying that I was trying to match the original, but that I was trying to match what the original looked like before it faded. Usually that does bring out the prettiest photo unless the photographer messed up.

One clue to the idea that there has been some fading is the pearls, not the whole pearl - it could be pink, but the highlight reflection on the pearls should be close to white no matter what color the pearls are. Technically that would really be darkening, but since the skin tone is almost the same as the pearl highlight those skin tones have faded, on top of that age, dirt and staining have darkened the light areas of the photo.

Upon using a curves adjustment to move the pearl highlight to near white the rest of the photo looked to light, so I adjusted it until it looked good to me without blocking up the dark areas.

I don't think any selective darkening or lightening is needed after this global adjustment - just repair work.

Roger

I did an additional levels adjustment to reduce a bit more of the flatness and to lighten the pearls. I'm getting values about 245/233/178. Not white white but whiter. Roger, is this more in line with your thoughts?

Cheers
Duv

Duv,

Skin is still too light to my taste ... the curves adjustment sample I posted is the way I like it ... but with everyone viewing on different monitors and such and this all being subjective there is no right or wrong if it looks good to you.:)

Roger

Thank you Roger. Actually it's too light for my taste as well. Went back to an earlier version and applied your curve. Albeit later in the workflow, I do like the darker skin and the pearls are whiter.

Cheers
Duv

Hi Roger and Duv,

Thanks again for all your help on this pic . It took awhile for me to see just how light the face still was in my last version. I had worked on it so long that it didn't even stand out to me to anymore

I followed Duv's suggestion on how to darken the chest but maybe the opacity I used was too high as I ended up losing her collar bones and then it was too late to go back to my earlier version which had them..So I darkened with a brush.

So here is my last version...I ran out of time and energy to start with the drapes...

Diane

Hi Diane

Don't get frustrated but I think you need to go back to ground zero. All of us have gone thru what you're going thru now. Keep talking to us. I'm sure individually or collectively we can get you to a better restore job. Maybe we should just take baby steps, check the results and make any corrections or suggestions before moving on. If you're up to it, let's start again and have some fun.

Cheers
Duv