This photo has been repaired mostly, but the over exposed skull is driving me nuts. I have tried burning but looks unnatural, thanks for any advice!!

A couple options to consider that came to mind when I first saw the image.
* If you were attempting to add character to the image by including the skull in the foreground, I applaud your creativity. In my opinion (even it the skull was properly exposed), its presence is a distraction if the true subject of the photo is the woman in the background. If that's the case you could crop out the skull and your problems are over.
* I'll bet if you surfed the net you could come up with a skull image that could be used to either completely or partially replace the under exposed one via a little layer mask maneuvering.

My 2¢

If that's the case you could crop out the skull and your problems are over. I could not agree with you more Danny !! The customer insist on the skull.... rats!!!

I have to agree with Danny, then -- if possible find another skull and photograph it from the same angle, then merge it into the photograph. It's pretty much impossible to do much with the reolution of photo you posted, but just as an indication here's a start using a photograph from the web and distorted to fit -- if you need to print this at any significant size then shooting a real skull at the right angle will give much better results, though.

I have a tutorial that should help. It shows you how to use tone-based masks.

http://www.thelightsright.com/DigitalDarkroom/Tutorials/Masking%20by%20the%20Numbers.pdf

I also have an action set that automates the generation of tone-based masks.

http://www.thelightsright.com/DigitalDarkroom/PhotoshopTools/TLR%20Tone%20Mask%20Toolkit.zip

Cheers,

Mitch

Mitch:

Could you apply your tone-based mask method to this pic and post the results? That would illustrate the value of the technique.

~Danny~

Mitch:

Could you apply your tone-based mask method to this pic and post the results? That would illustrate the value of the technique.

~Danny~

I'd be glad to, but all I see is a thumbnail.

Have a look at the tutorial, it walks though an example. ;)

Cheers,

Mitch

Sorry for the small file, let me try again. Thanks for all your input!!!!!!!

That is the original .......... I am working with .... Thanks!!!!!

Ah, a bigger pic to work with. That should help.

Bet Mitch's tutorial would be helpful on this one.

Here is my shot at it ...

-control-alt-tilde to select highlights, control-j to move highlights to new layer - changed new layer to multiply blending mode
-control-j on new layer 6 or 7 times to add density
-control-alt-shift-E to merge visible
-turn off visibility of background, merge visible
-mask artwork layer to exclude good areas
-new layer, control-alt-shift-E for layer to work on with composite image
-cloning, color, noise and lightening and darkening for shape

Luckily this skull is supposed to be out of focus in the forground;)

Roger

Here's my try,

Duplicated Background, set new layer to multiply with graduated layer mask.
Named new layer Darken.
Duplicated Darken Layer 3 or 4 times.
Merged Darken Layers, and applied Sponge tool set to Desaturate to take out some of the excess colour in the straw.

Total time taken about 5 mins. Picture needs refining, and may not be as dark as you wish. My aim was not to do the work for you but to indicate a technique that could be used.

Hi Danny,

In Elements 2 I duplicated the original twice; changed the mode of the top layer to color; converted the middle layer to gray scale (tone) by setting the saturation to -100 in Hue/Saturation.

then the gray scale layer was duplicated 5 times.

the top two gray scale layers were "screened" and merged togeather to form a brighten grayscale image (yes brighten) .

The next layer down was converted to a black and white mask with "threshold" under "image" and adjusted so only the bright areas were represented in white. The white area was selected with the magic wand tool and was removed with "cut" under "Edit". A "gaussian blur" filter (with a value of 40) was applied to this mask to smooth the transion between the images above and below the mask.

A mode of "multiply" was set on the next two layers down. The bottom layer was unchanged. These layers were merged to produce the picture below.

Wishing you all the best,

Wildey Johnson

Yep, larger image to work with made all the difference in the world...

Used a method similar to the one Roger used...
* Selected the horns and skull using Quick Mask. Could have done a better job on the selection, but it was late and Leno was about to come on and I didn't want to miss the monologue, so it's a little sloppy. :)
* Isolated the skull/horns onto a separate layer.
* Duplicated this layer numerous times (blend mode = Multiply)
* Merged the new horns and skull onto a single layer.
* Image > Adjustments > Desaturate the horns/skull (it was pretty discolored)
* Applied a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer set to colorize and fiddled with the settings until I thought it looked more-or-less skull-like (maybe a little dark. I dunno.) Did a little painting on them, too.
* Merged with the base layer via a layer mask.

Then...
* Created another not-so-neat selection of the hay. I thought it looked a little washed out. On a new layer set to Color, airbrushed in a little color and fine tuned it with a grouped Hue/Sat adjustment layer set to colorize.
* Created Hue/Sat, Color Balance and Curves adjustment layers and selectively applied their effects where needed by airbrushing black or white. This was done to bring out warm some colors and bring out detail in some areas.

Here is about 5 minutes of effort.

I used my TLR Tone Mask Toolkit. Specifically, the Highlights Notch action. I then used the Magic Wand to exclude some areas in the shirt, etc.

I save the selection as an alpha channel. Applied a 2 pixel Gaussian Blur. Used the channel as a selection.

I made a new layer for the selection. Set the mode to Multiply. Copied that layer twice. Reduced the opacity of the last layer.

With a little more effort, more could be done. ;)

Cheers,

Mitch