[Cephas]

I'm using Photoshop 7 and would like to know how to remove this shadow and also be the best way to make this picture look smoother and sharper. Thanks.
Cephas

[0lBaldy]

Cephas, welcome to RetouchPRO hope you enjoy your visits here..

There are many ways to do what you are asking and the following is just one way to get you started:

Ctrl+J (copy Background) UN-check the eyeball on the background layer (bottom layer) in the layers pallet
Ctrl+J (copy the copy) set mode to "Multiply"
At the bottom of the layers pallet there is an icon that is square with a white spot in the middle of it click on the icon (creates a mask, the white square in the layer you just created)..
Paint black with soft brush on the shadows at 20% opacity and 30% flow till shadows look OK (Adjust opacity as needed)(hold button down while painting to eliminate layering the paint,unless needed.. To correct mistakes paint with white)
Ctrl+A (select all), Shift+Ctrl+C (copy merged), Ctrl+V (Paste)
at bottom of levels pallet click the circle that is half black and half white.. select levels
Pull left slider till it is in the black of the histogram, move the center slider to the left till the picture looks OK
Shft+Ctrl+E (Merge Visible layers)
I Reduced size (Image>Image size) to 1024 at the largest dimension so "Neat Image" (found here )would work
I used Neat Image at default to smooth the picture
I also used "Polaroid Dust and Scratch Remover" (found here )Tile size(Minimum), Detect level 40, Mask size(minimum), feathering (centered)... Ran it TWICE.. Once with the Light dust Checked and once with it UN-checked (this reduces Light specks then reduces dark specks)
Enlarged image till just eyes showed selected just the Iris on both eyes using the polygonal lasso tool
selected the Dodge tool set at highlights and 100% with a brush size just larger than the selections clicked on each selection once
selected the Burn tool set at shadows and 80% clicked each Iris once

The picture should now be ready for further fine tunning like healing, cloning, levels, curves, coloring and sharpening

Hope this helps some

[lurch]

I'll add my welcome, Cephas. You'll find this forum a great place.

Here's how I approached your image, sticking to things I know are in (or go with) my old friend, Photoshop 7. First step, as Baldy says, is to duplicate the background layer and work on that, leaving the original alone. Next I ran Polaroid Dust and Scratches to take out the dark spots. PD&S is free, and works as a Photoshop plugin with Windows and Power PC Macs. It also comes as a standalone program - the version I use on my Intel iMac to avoid re-launching Photoshop in Rosetta. Picked the settings sort of by trial and error, left the light specks to deal with later.

Next step was a curves adjustment layer to extend the tonal range and add a little contrast to taste. The composite (RGB) channel worked for this because the image was already nicely neutral - no need to adjust colors separately. To lighten the shadow I used a dodge layer; add a new blank layer, set its blend mode to soft light, and fill it with 50% gray which is neutral to soft light (i.e. you won't see it). With that layer active paint with a very soft, low opacity (I used 10%) white brush over the shadows you want lightened until you like what you see.

A little cloning and healing took care of the few light spots. Last step was a high radius (14) low amount (80) unsharp mask.

Not being sure what you meant by smoother and sharper, I let the image itself tell me how far to go. The focus is soft, so making it razor sharp just isn't going to happen. Too smooth and it would lose its 'mature' feel. Hope this gives you something to go on.

<C>

[DCobb]

Gave this a quick try for practice. Healing brush, clone tool and painted on blank layers. Hi Pass for sharpen.

dc

[Nan]

I used several levels adjustments, digital noise removal, then the makeover tool to smooth the harsh edges of the shadows. Also did some cloning and some dodge and burn around the eyes.
Nan

[philbach]

I used a Curves adjustment layer and used the black eyedropper tool and held the option/alt key and moved it to the right to find the black point. On the mask I painted the dark shadow areas with a light black.

I copied the layer and used a median blur filter with a layer mask on that layer to selectively blur the worst areas.