HELP needed

[tjohnson]

Hello, I have an image that I could use some direction on....the light on his head is to bright and I try to clone but it just dosen't look good. Also, I want to make her dress not see through. There is a lot of red and purple in the image so I tried to take some out but I feel like I am lost...can anyone tell me what steps does a beginner take to fix something like this?
Thanks so much for any words of wisdom.

[roger_ele]

Hi,

This is a sweet photo, I can see why you are trying to improve it.

The quality of it at 23K is pretty low, you might want to compress your jpeg's so they end up around 80K or 90K ...

I would be glad to run through the steps that I used. There are a lot of little things done that might take seperate explanations and I don't want to go to fast. So let me know what is the most important correction for you and I will explain that first (if this is what you are looking for).

Roger

[tjohnson]

Thanks Roger, I hate to ask how to compress...let me try-
I opened the file then, saved it as a medium size. Also, I want to repair it so the dress dosen't look see through. Then, I tried to make his hair brown instead of purple looking. Then just jazz it up a bit so it dosen't look so damaged. Her dress is suppose to be white. Step by step would be good b/c I am so new at this still.

[Imhotep]

Here one done with the low res version

[roger_ele]

Hi, please don't be offended if this is spelled out in too much detail - I just want to be on the safe side and make sure we are on the same page ...

I would like to start with saving images for this forum. This is not the only way/steps to do this, but it is what I do:

1) Since I don't want to overright my higher res file by accident and I want to be sure the image displays at an appropriate size on the monitor, I start by duplicating the photo; Image > Duplicate. I name the duplicate whatever I want it to be named when it gets here so that I won't have to rename it later.

2) I then resize the image to the size I want it to display; Image > Image Size. Set dpi to 72, make sure resample is checked and constain proportions is checked. Change document size (width or height) to what you think will look the best (the other direction will change automatically since you have constrain proportions checked (means keep the same shape)). Click OK

Note: At 100% each image pixel maps to a monitor pixel. 72dpi is the monitor dots per inch. So the size listed in the image size dialog makes more sense that way.

3)Change the zoom of the image to 100% . That is what other people will see on their monitors. If it isn't the right size; control/command Z to undo and redo step 2.

4) Now do menu command File > Safe for Web.

5)I use the 2-up tab accross the top. At the bottom of the optimized image is the size of the commpressed image after saving to jpeg format. Change the quality setting found on the right size until the saved jpeg size is 80 to 90K.

6) Click Save, and navigate to where you want to save it. You won't need to change the name since you already set that.

Hope I didn't go overboard with detail,
Roger

[roger_ele]

To fix the dress I used the clone tool, used a soft brush and varied the size and opacity. The first thing I asked is what makes it appear translucent? The darker leg area and the lighter area next to the leg. So those are the only two areas we need to adjust. But we don't want the dress to look flat and empty so we want to keep some of its shape, so we want to just tone down those two areas until we lose the translucent feel.

- cloned the light area from the middle of the dress.

- cloned the dark area from below the dark area (I think thats where I got it from)

I tend to move around, a little from here and a little from there. The important thing is to look for the spots that foster the illusion, and hit only those spots until the illusion of translucency is gone.

Related note: When you are retouching a line through detail, you don't need to paint over the whole line, just the spots that make the line the most visiible, when enough of those dots are altered your mind will no longer 'draw the line' and it will appear more natural.

Hope this helps,
Roger

PS Let me know if this makes sense, then if you want we can go further ...

[DannyRaphael]

In addition to implementing Roger's excellent suggestions (great writeup, Roger), while you're at it you might consider losing the post coming out of the top of the bride's head (new layer, clone over it) and zapping the 1/4 of a person on the right. Removing these distractions = complete focus on the couple.

I also used a hue/saturation adjustment layer (sat = -85) selectively applied by airbrushing black where I didn't want the effect (over the the couple). This took out a lot of the yellowish-ness of the original background.

[Flora]

Hi,

just couldn't resist working on this lovely picture ... So ... in addition to the excellent tips you already received, here is my try ... (I work with PS7)

1) Duplicated the Background Layer, opened the Channels dialog, activated (highlighted) the Blue Channel, slightly blurred it and added a little noise.

2) Still working on the Blue Channel but clicking on "~" to view the full colour image, I loosely selected (feather Radius=4) the areas showing a yellowish cast (everything but the bride and groom's heads)then, working on the individual Channels (Green and Blue), I used Apply Image as follows:

Source = Red Channel
Target = Blue Channel
Blending = Lighten
Opacity = 40%

....and repeated the same procedure (same values)targeting the Green Channel. This brightened up the whole picture and minimized the colour cast and stains.

3) Applied a Contrast mask (you can find the Tutorial here) to balance lights and shadows. Created a New Layer and keeping the 'ALT' key pressed, I clicked on 'Merge Visible' (this procedure enables you to merge your work without losing the underlying Layers).

4) I created New Layers (Blending set to Overlay and Soft Light)and painted on them with a 'fuzzy' either black or white brush (Opacity 5-15%) to darken the white spot on the groom's hair and enhance individual parts of the picture.

5) I created New Layers (Blending set to Color)and with a 'fuzzy' brush (set to Color, Opacity 20-40%)I corrected the colour of the bride and goorm's hair and faces.

6) To whiten the bride's dress, I created 2 new Layers (set to Screen and Soft Light) and with a 'fuzzy' white brush (Opacity 5-10%), I painted on the dress.

7) Loosely selected bride and groom and used the High Pass Filter to slightly sharpen the selction.

[Imhotep]

Hello Roger
I am not sure if the size reply was intended for me
but I don't change the size I just download it fix it and post it
If that causes a problem please let me know

I know it was not your intention but way too much information
Just curious what other people think of my work since I am self taught no books no classes just a computer me and photoshop


THX

[roger_ele]

Imhotep, size was not directed to you. It just looked that way because of the order we posted in. tjohnson had commented on compressing and the original file was I think 24K so I thought I would cover all bases.

I focused on what was requested intead of going on past that to make it even better ...

Flora, you knocked my socks off!

[tjohnson]

Roger, thanks for spelling it out...that's what I need b/c of the lack of experience w/retouching. I don't think you could go too slow for me.
I have printed out your instructions and am ready for the next step.
Flora-that is amazing....! I am trying to recreate...

[Flora]

Roger

Thank you so much for your great comment....

tjohnson

Thanks for your kind words .... so glad you liked it!!

[TwinbNJ]

Flora -- once again take the imposible and make it like new!!


You are the best!!!!!