Removing shadow

[jayk]

Hi,
New to the group. I've been using Photoshop for about 3 years. I use it a lot to create invitations, save the dates, etc. I have much more expereience and confidence with Illustrator and Draw. I have a photo of a person where about half of the photo is in a shadow. Are there any short cut ways to remove it?
Thanks,
Jay

[RokcetScientist]

You use Photoshop "a lot to create invitations"?

Do you also cook your meals with a lawnmower?

Please post that photo so that we can SEE what the problem is.

[jayk]

Hi,
New to the group. Any easier ways to get rid of the shadow or is it a lot of cloning. I've been working in Photoshop for about 3 years. My work experience is more in Illustrator. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jay

[grannysdc]

This is the way Granny would do it using PS7...
1: If Layers Pallet/Flyout is not showing press F7 (to bring up Layers flyout)
2: Ctrl+J (Layer via Copy)
3: Ctrl+J (Layer via Copy)
4: Click the eyeball on Background layer so the eyeball is not showing
5: In the layers flyout where it says "Normal" Click and change to "Screen" (Blending Change)
6: If the shadows are not light enough repeat Ctrl+J till the "shadow" is how you like it..
7: If there are more layers showing other than your Background (with eyeball turned off)and Layer 1 and Layer 2.. click the eyeball on Layer 1 so that eyeball is not showing (If you only have 1 screen layer then proceed to step 11..)
8: Shift+Ctrl+E (Merge Visible)
9: In the layers flyout where it says "Normal" Click and change to "Screen" (Blending Change)
10: Click the eyeball on layer 1 so the eyeball is showing
11: Click the Mask Icon at the bottom of the Layers Flyout ...it is the 5th from the right {Square with a hole in it}) OR... use the Menu at top... Layer> layer mask> Reveal All (This should bring up a white (mask) area in the top layer)
12: select a soft brush of the proper size using Black as the Foreground color.. Paint over all the tooo bright areas to bring them back to normal... If you paint over the shadow area and it gets to dark then change the Foreground color to White to correct (Judicious control of the Brush size, Opacity and Flow Controls located at the top menu, and painting close and slow will help with blending the light and dark areas of your picture)
13: Clone, Heal, History Brush, Blend Layers, Sharpen, Etc., to clean everything up..

This is how I would save this project:
1: When the picture is the way I want it..I go to the bottom of the History Pallet... Right click the last item.. select "New Document"
2: Shift+Ctrl+S (Save As)
3: Change "Format" to JPG... Change name to what I want (Different from the Original) Save with the new name so as not to change the original..

You should never save changes on the original.. SOOO, if you do not want to save a PSD to preserve your layers then just close the original and choose "NO" to the "Save Changes" dialog..

Hope this "Shortcut" helps..

A Superquick uncleaned sample follows:

[philbach]

Well I took Granny's original photo and used Image/Adjustments/Shadow hightlights at the default settings to correct it.

[grannysdc]

Done using the proceedure I outlined in your previous post @:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...tml#post170264

Where "philbach" has a Quick "shortcut" also.

[grannysdc]

Dang, If I had Shadow/Highlights in PS7 I think I would have used it tooo!
Guess it's time to look into an upgrade!!

Looks good Phil