Removing a flash induced shadow

[marinewife515]

Hi, I am very very new to photo editing and would like some step by step help to remove the shadow on this image and fill in with the background to make it look real.
I tried on my own with the cloning stamp and couldn't get the stars to look right.
I am using PSE 7 and waiting anxiously on my key for CS5.
I would love the steps so I can try it myself as well.
Thanks

[John Wheeler]

There was a thread on this in just the last few days at this link.
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/image-help/34689-removing-flash-induced-wall-shadow.html?highlight=flash+induced+shadow
Hope that is helpful

[marinewife515]

Originally Posted by John Wheeler

There was a thread on this in just the last few days at this link.
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/image-help/34689-removing-flash-induced-wall-shadow.html?highlight=flash+induced+shadow
Hope that is helpful

Hi John - I did read that post however even in looking at the steps in the photo edit I have no idea how to make them occur. How does one nudge in PSE? Also the background is not smooth like the one used in that example it has stars on it, how would I make the stars come back?

[John Wheeler]

Hi marinewife

I do not have PSE so another forum member will have to give you details. I have CS5 so this could help when you get it as you indicated.

The image below shows the Layer Stack I used to duplicate what I believe was in the referenced post. Here is what I did

- Duplicate original layer
- Make bottom background Layer into regular Layer
- Selected right half of image (to right of child, up through top of head, and also down from child's left foot)
- Turned that selection into a layer mask
- Invert Layer Mask (so it preserves child and left side of image)
- Make Lower layer active and turn on Move tool
- Use left arrow to shift the lower background to the left until the shadow is behind the child.

This approach will carry the stars with them so you don't have to do anything special to bring the starts back. I chose the original selection so it did no cross through any stars and just though the common green background. This approach ends up narrowing the image and I left that area that shrunk showing as transparency on the right. It looked like this was OK for this image. The image would now need to be cropped.

A couple other suggestions

Reflecting the flash on the side or ceiling (even if done with a 3x5 card) would likely eliminate such shadows so you would not have to post process.

When posting images, it is a little easier for forum members to post in JPG instead of GIF. Photoshop does not like GIF as well.

Cute child and nice shot. Hope this is helpful.

Screen-shot-2011-12-10-at-10.01SWF.jpg

[marinewife515]

Thanks John that will work great once they get me my key.
The only thing I noticed is his hand was moved as well and looks like there are two of them now. would I just include that part in the left side selection?

[John Wheeler]

HI marinewife
That's a really good catch. I did not notice that. Just working too quick at too low a magnification.

All I changed was the Layer Mask a bit so that it did not include the space between the child's left arm and its body. Then just just an extra layer and cloned a little bit of the background over the shadow on the left leg in that area. Here is the updated image. Of course there are many ways to do this.

Screen shot 2011-12-10 at 4.41.26 PM.png

The other thing to note is that there is a harsh shadow on the child's left ear that needs to be lightened up. It looks unnatural because it is a harsh shadow yet there are not other harsh shadows on the background. Makes it out of place. I will leave that as an exercise or another post with a question. Again good catch.