Jewellery retouching methods

[digipainter]

I often shoot jewellery & do minor retouching as required, usually cloning or apply a blured layer mask to smoothen the surface.

Recently got some rings which were too bad for shooting but had to shoot & needed a better retouching skills which I dont have.

Need some help in retouching such images. I am not sure if this is ever discussed as I could not find any thread via search.

Thanks.

[MBChamberlain]

I spent about half an hour on this using motion blur and median for the band. I didn't play much with the stone. If this is what you are looking for I'll type up a better decription when I have more time.

Michael

[barry_uk]

This is what I did in 10 mins simply coloured it and enhanced it,

Regards Barry

[digipainter]

Originally Posted by MBChamberlain

I'll type up a better decription when I have more time.
Michael

Thanks Michael, for your effort.
Please post in detail when you have time.

Our retoucher as of now use 3 different methods.

1. Airbrushing on a new layer with the colors matching & then reduce the opacity.

2. On a new layer apply G blur & then use a layer mask & paint the area where we want to retouch.

3. If the surface permitts then we clone it on a new layer & then adjust the opacity of that layer as per the requirements.

All the above methods make the jewellery look artificial due to the fact that the natural surface is no more the same.

In your effort, you too use the Motion blur (we used G blur) that reduces the blemishes but also give a "Retouched look"

Mind you that these shots are to be used as 2 feet in-shop posters, so they will be looked at close distance.
I am posting another image for you to work with.

[digipainter]

Originally Posted by barry_uk

This is what I did in 10 mins simply coloured it and enhanced it,

Regards Barry

Thanks Barry but that does'nt work.

[MBChamberlain]

If they will be used that large, they are usually 1-2 foot metal rings, gold or silver plated, with stones made of colored glass. Unfortunately that is the best way and it requires a good craftsman to do it. Other than that you have to choose between the "retouched look" or deal with the imperfections.

Michael

[byRo]

The ring is different from a "normal" one in that it has, for the most part, a matte finish. Thus GBlurs and motion blurs won't work well because they will destroy the surface texture.

Instead of trying to conserve the original texture, I did the normal clean-up work but then mixed in some new texture (soft grain, in fact) to mimmick the original surface.
Cleaned background, adjusted levels and contrast.

..nice change from fixing faces!

Rô

[Duv]

Rather than mix in grain, I tried the following:

Duplicate background
Filters: Noise: Dust & Scratches: 10/1
Edit: Define Pattern: Name it ring or whatever
Undo Dust & Scatches
Healing Brush: Set to Pattern, access ring pattern. Set blend mode to Darken and paint over ring. Set blend mode to Lighten and paint over ring.
Change layer blend to Luminosity and adjust opacity to suit.

Dave

[digipainter]

Originally Posted by MBChamberlain

If they will be used that large, they are usually 1-2 foot metal rings, gold or silver plated, with stones made of colored glass. Unfortunately that is the best way and it requires a good craftsman to do it. Other than that you have to choose between the "retouched look" or deal with the imperfections.

Michael

You are spot on the idea, I feel the same that the images I have seen in those glossy magazines of rings, watches, liquore & perfume bottles are too perfect to be acheived with such small size products.

For now I have to live with retouched look only, so need to find out better options.

Thanks.

[philbach]

Well I removed the gum holding the ring up. Blurred using lighten some of the parts of the gold bands. I used a blue filter on the diamonds. I increased the contrast and sharpened some of the diamonds.

[byRo]

Originally Posted by digipainter

I am posting another image for you to work with.

To get this one the way you want, would need a whole workover, not just simple retouching.
The screws are out of centre, the white / yellow lines are all crooked - up close, things get pretty ugly.
Pretty much have to dismount / mount the whole thing.

Rô

[creeduk]

Never retouched jewely so thought I would have a shot. Needs a bit more work on the masking around the bottom, cleaner gum would create less color on the bottom of the ring in the original shot maybe.

[digipainter]

Many members have posted their results & based on these results one thing is clear that the results which I want are not going to be acheived by mere retouching, it actually requires recreating the highlight shadows & the surface texture with the help of airbrushing & making it look real.........................quite a challange but surely skilled airbrush artist used to do that in old times manually.

Hope the same can be done in digital inviroment. I am going to try Painter lX with a intous 6x8 pen & see if I can do a better job on this.

Do we have any member with airbrushing skills on this forum??

Thanks

[creeduk]

I would imagine some one could do it a skilled artist, would have to basically redraw this thing. I would have thought the rings themselves could be physically restored a little at least to give a better shot, the original image is not great, also the focus should be softened afterwards if retouching is known about in advance.

[WilliamD]

Originally Posted by digipainter

the results which I want are not going to be acheived by mere retouching,
[snip]
quite a challange but surely skilled airbrush artist used to do that in old times manually.

Hope the same can be done in digital inviroment.

As has already been mentioned, photographing oversized models of small objects is a popular technique for producing perfect enlargements (think of cigarette packets on billboards). Unfortunately, it's probably not practical here. So you need to start with an object as perfect as possible, then photograph it to minimise any imperfections, as a main priority, (e.g. the dark reflection in the first picture is causing problems, lose it - even if the image loses something too). Finally, if there is still a lot to put right, a skilled retoucher will be able to put it right, but for a fee - simply using a blur to destroy the imperfections isn't really the solution if you want a photographic appearence AND a perfect object. (Meaning no disrespect to anyone who used blur - it's a quick fix, not a perfect one)

It may be contentious to say this, but I'd suggest this retouch might really be easier in the digital age - (many old images look seriously airbrushed when you look at them today). But it still needs skill, thankfully for retouchers, that still costs money