Help with enhancing eyes and removing shadows from arm

[mfgriggs]

Hi everyone,
I would like to enlarge and print the attached picture. What can I do to make it look its best. I am particularly concerned about the eyes....I think they could be sharper and perhaps a little lighter.....To a lesser extent I am concerned about his right hand being so dark and the upper right corner of the image.....any other pointers??


Thanks

[Flora]

Hi mfgriggs,

Is this what you had in mind?

Eyes > Created new Blank Layer set to Overlay, sampled colour from eyes, and, with a soft brush (Opacity 10%), I painted over the irises to enhance them. Working on the same Overlay Layer, I changed the brush colour to white and enhanced the whites of the eyes.

Arms > Loosely selected the arms (individually), created a Hue&Saturation Adjustment Layer, increased Lightness and Saturation.

Increased Contrast and Sharpness with USM.

Hope this helps ...

[mfgriggs]

Wow..........That makes a huge difference. Thank you soo much.

[Legacy~Art]

Flora your ACE!!!

[mfgriggs]

Flora....what is "loosely selected" and USM?

[mfgriggs]

Flora a few days ago you helped me with my picture of a swimmer. There was a problem with the eyes and the arms. YOu did a great job fixing them but I can't seem to get it. I can get the eyes but I can't seem to get the arms to work. Specifically, I am unable to get the dark region of the swimmers right arm to match the same color as the rest of the arm.

Can you explain to me again what you did?

Thanks

[Flora]

mfgriggs, Elle,

thank you so much for your great comments!

mfgriggs,

sorry for getting back to you so late ....

Originally Posted by mfgriggs

Flora....what is "loosely selected" and USM?

By loosely selected I meant to draw a rough selection around the problem area using the Lasso Tool (see Attachment 1) .... This selection will be 'refined' later with the help of a Layer Mask.

USM = Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask which I use for increasing contrast:

Amount > 20%
Radius> 50
Threshold> 0

...and sharpness:

Amount > 50%
Radius> 1
Threshold> 0
... Just tweak these values until you are happy with the result.

Originally Posted by mfgriggs

...but I can't seem to get the arms to work. Specifically, I am unable to get the dark region of the swimmers right arm to match the same color as the rest of the arm.

Can you explain to me again what you did?

Thanks

After loosely selecting the darker area (as explained above), with the selection still active, I created a Hue&Saturation Adjustment Level where I increased Lightness and Saturation (values in Attachment 2).

Even after refining the mask, I was left with an oversaturated 'stripe' between the corrected area and the rest of the arm ... I adjusted that with the Heal Brush and by creating two blank Layers on top (Blending: Color for the first and Lighten for the second) and with a fuzzy brush, Opacity > 20-50%, sampling colour and 'lightness' from surrounding areas, I blended the two parts ... ( my workflow > Attachment 3)

I created a second Hue&Saturation Adjustment Layer for the shoulder ... (values in Attachment 4)

B&A (Attachment 5)

Hope this helps.