Oh, FABULOUS FLORA, I NEED you. Attached are two images. I've corrected everything except the waterfall. My attempt(closeup) looks tacky and fake. The original is also posted. I had to multi the bg so much it just made the water worse. Thanks

kiska

Well until Flora get's up and has coffee maybe this will help some.

the waterfall seems to hold no info in it's brightest regions. .... What got me to try it was wondering if you had tried with the stamp tool set on multiply... you can be selective that way... use a soft brush set at 20% or so.

just sample in the same spot as you first apply the tool.. I'm not happy with what I did either.. but something to play with awaiting Flora's response.

Thanks Rondon. I had used a weak stamp tool, but w/o burn. Yours looks better than mine, but still something is amiss. Maybe some other folks will jump in. Appreciate the help.

kiska

Yes I'm sure folks will.. also your dog looked a bit sad so I've tried cheering it up a bit... fits as an avatar if you like it.

NEAT. That's Hannah. She's a crazy Blue Tick Coonhound. More commonly referred to as Hannah Bananas. How do I replace my avatar with yours???
kiska

try USER CP / EDIT AVATAR ... then scroll down a bit.

we just got a new ankle biter... half Blur Heeler.. half crafty mixed breed.

FYI - Flora is in the process of moving, so I wouldn't expect her to login anytime soon. Sorry I don't have better news or sensational advice of my own.

Rondon, I dragged your Hannah to desktop, then browsed and uploaded. Too big. Thanks tho. Love your new baby. He/she will be herding you everywhere.

Danny, does not Flora realize she is not ALLOWED to venture from her 'puter?
kiska

dunno why it won't it's 50x50 pix and less than 10kb... well if you haven't given up this one is slightly smaller at 48x48pix

Here's my attempt:

1. Duplicated Image

2. Lassoed girl and rock and placed on own layer. Rename Girl.

3. Inverted this selection, activated the main image and selected and placed on its own layer (by inverting the previous selection you just copy the background now leaving out the girl and rock). Rename Falls.

4. Duplicated the girl layer (Girl layer is my source to go back to if I need to). Rename Girl Two. Applied a levels adjustment just to this layer by tweaking the middle triangle.

5. Applied a curves adjustment to the Falls layer. Used the white eyedropper to click on the blown out areas of the falls.

6. The girl still needed some more light so I duplicated the Girl2 layer and applied a Render>Lighting Effects and selected spotlight. I adjusted the light until it looked natural. This took a couple of attempts of lowering the intensity and widening & repositioning the circle representing the light. Rename this layer Light and change the mode to Soft Light.

7. I lowered the Light layer’s opacity until I liked the way it look.

8. Used the patch tool to take a few good areas of the falls to replace the blown out areas. Then fine tuned using the clone tool, smudge tool and blur tool.

9. Did some minor touching up with the blur & dodge tool. Flattened image an increase the saturation just a bit.


~T

fine.... she stands out but not like she was added....

T- I think you have won the prize. Thank you. I have copied your steps and shall try again tomorrow.
Rondon-I think the problem with the avatar is that it's animated, sort of. Don't worry about it. Thanks
kiska

if you are on right now I have loaded your avatar..

at the end of the process there is a little confusion... if I click "save changes" it gives an error message... un needed I gather to "save changes"

Hi everybody,

As Danny (thank you!) already said, I'm in the process of moving .... I'll try to login as regularly as possible but it might not always be possible...

Kiska

.....does not Flora realize she is not ALLOWED to venture from her 'puter?....

:lol: :lol:

My 'puter' is the very first thing I got running .... and where I turn to to get a break from storing, cleaning...etc. :dead:

I had a go at your picture and what I did is very similar to what T Paul did:
Loosely selected the girl and foreground stone and Ctrl+J pasted the slection onto its own Layer.
*Ctrl+click on the newly created Layer to reselect it*, Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate it, Ctrl+I to invert it and changed the Blending to Soft Light. This, to balance Shadow/Lights.
Run the Levels to increase tone and contrast a bit.
Back to the main Image.... Left it pretty much as it was (out of focus and soft) ... The only changes here were:
Created a Curves Adjustment Layer and used the White Eyedropper exactly as T Paul did .... just be careful to lower the White Eyedropper value (In the open Curves dialog, double click on the White Eyedropper and in the Color Picker box, change the B value of HSB to 95) ... this takes care of the 'blown out' whites...
Created a new empty Layer (Blending=Overlay) and with a very soft, black brush (Opacity 10%) just painted on different areas to make the background come just a bit more alive...
Cloned 'good' water on the blown out stream.

Back to the girl:
Reselected the girl **, Created a Layer mask, used the USM to slightly sharpen her, and, finally, refined the Mask around her.

:wavey:

Just love dogs!!!

I think Hannah is very nice.... but Rondon's "new ankle biter" is just too cute for words.... :happy:

Flora and T paul you are amazing... all that from that low res. little copy... good work...
as for the ankle biter (she has no name yet) i've never really had a pup that was this smart.. and actually try's to talk already.. if thats an asset :!:
hope the move went well.. Flora ... didn't know of it... seems like we lost DJ in a move ... glad to see you are right back at it.

RonDon

Kiska just leaving the dog avatar until your next comment... no problem if you decide not to use it.

FLORA-you're baaaaack! I think you might have become a bit of a 'habit' (a good one, tho).Need that 'fix' every now and then. The pic looks great. I'll work on it today. Thanks. Now you can get back to the FUN, important things like sorting out a move.

kiska

My version of your technique. Photog wanted it 'glamourized'. NOT my thing but I did enhance makeup lightly.

P.S.--- Ms. Flora-- "...very nice....". VERY NICE !!!! Is that the best description of a superb specimen of a coonhound you could come up with??? That OTHER canine wannabe, ankle biter, is a mere mutt! I am insulted.

Signed,

Hannah B.

Mr. rondon-- HOW am I to remain a dignified scent hound with my stately appendage FLAPPING in the breeze????? I suppose if it makes the OLD BROAD happy, I shall look the other way. (and I thought I had successfully sabotaged it. @#$%%$$## BEWARE of smart dawgs)

signed,

Hannah B.

Just noticed Your tail is wagging but HERS isn't (heh,heh). The O.B. is now curled up in the corner with her lip stuck out. PEOPLE!

signed

H.B.

Hi!

Kiska, Rondon,

Thank you so much for your kindness!!!!

Kiska,

Great job on the picture .... a bit strong on the make-up, maybe...but that's just my opinion... :happy:

P.S.--- Ms. Flora-- "...very nice....". VERY NICE !!!! Is that the best description of a superb specimen of a coonhound you could come up with??? That OTHER canine wannabe, ankle biter, is a mere mutt! I am insulted.

Sooooo sorry....... :o: hope you and Hannah, a truly "superb specimen of a coonhound", can forgive me!!!!! She's gorgeous, perfect, absolutely stunning .... but .... "ankle biter" is still just too cute for words.... :grin:

I just never could train them right ;)

Flora-too much makeup for me too. I prefer natural looking photos (people too). The photog. rules. Thanks again for your help.
kiska

Ms. Flora--that's better. 'Gorgeous,perfect......'. 'Absolutely stunning'. I'll take that one. You are forgiven your slight socal blunder.

Signed,
ABSOLUTELY STUNNING Hannah (yep, that'll work)

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Flora and T paul you are amazing... all that from that low res. little copy... good work...



Thanks Rondon!