Double Chin

[sthernbelle]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this site. I have been trying to get myself acquainted to Photoshop version 6 ( never used photoshop before) I have several books from the library but am still not finding the technique I am look for in the photoshop version I have.

I have a photo my subject has a double chin and she has asked me to make it go away. Can anyone please give me some advice.

Thank you.

[mistermonday]

Welcome to RP! There are double chins and then there are DOUBLE CHINS.
It is difficult to tell without seeing the image. Sometimes it can be removed with the clone tool, sometimes liquify, sometimes a selective blurring, and many more. Try attaching a sample, if not the entire face, just post the chin section.
Regards, Murray

[sthernbelle]

Thank you, here is the pic attached

[edgework]

Been awhile since I used Photoshop 6. I don't recall exactly, but you may be missing the two tools that are most helpful in a situation like this: the Liquify filter and the healing brush.

However, you can accomplish a lot without them simply by reworking your shadows and highlights. Notice the band of skin just under the chin, how much lighter it is. That's because it's much more vertical, due to the unwanted contour of the double chin; it's getting the light directly, whereas a thinner contour would curve back from the chin and fall into shadow right away.

Here's a sample using a dodge/burn layer with some judicious cloning to smooth out the edges. The actual edges of the neck and chin have not been deformed; I only made the shadow begin directly under the chin and extended the bright area of the neck up farther.

http://edgework.tripod.com/samples/chin_db_clone.jpg

In this version, I used liquify to push the sides in some and used the healing brush to blend the light and dark regions after dodging and burning.

http://edgework.tripod.com/samples/liquify_db_heal.jpg

In both version, shifting the highlights and shadows is the primary move and can be easily done with Version 6.

[sthernbelle]

Thank you for the reply. I do not have the heal tool in my version unfortunately. However I do have the liquify tool and clone tool. Your pictures look great. I guess I am needing a step by step to fix my pic since I am so new to photoshop.

[edgework]

Originally Posted by sthernbelle

Thank you for the reply. I do not have the heal tool in my version unfortunately. However I do have the liquify tool and clone tool. Your pictures look great. I guess I am needing a step by step to fix my pic since I am so new to photoshop.

A great place to start would be any of a number of threads here on various Dodging/Burning techniques (none of which use the Dodge and Burn tools, by the way). I did a search on "dodge and burn" and turned up six pages of theads. There are many approaches, all of which aim at lightening and darkening selected pixels in a non-destructive way. Some people like to use two different curve adjustment layers, one for lightening, one for darkening, both masked out completely, and then selectively paint white into the masks to achieve the result. My own preference is to use a Hard Light layer, a brush at 4% or 5% opacity and set to pressure sensitive (I use a tablet) with a size slightly smaller than the area I want to change, and I paint white or black into the layer to achieve the results. The benefit with this approach is you don't need to switch back and forth between layers and you don't get odd overlaps where both layers are trying to act on the same pixels. Simply hitting the "X" key switches from dodging to burning. Any saved steps are desirable in a process that can go on forever. Sometimes, rather than using white and black, I'll sample a bright highlight and darker shadow region for my colors. You have to play around a bit, and do some research. Like I said, everyone has their own preference. If you scan the search threads, you'll find many approaches, all with the same intention: lighten areas that are too dark, and darken areas that are too light.

With the liquify tool, make sure your brush size is appropriate to the area being modified. Too small and you'll get irregular lines in your edges, too large and you'll suck in too much of the surrounding pixels that you'd rather leave alone. I like to leave my Density and Pressure settings around 30 - 40. Pressure is the force that the brush applies to the pixels being shifted: higher densities push pixels farther with each stroke. Density is the tendency of each stroke to spread out from the brush center and drag along adjacent pixels. There are no "correct" settings, and you'll have to play around a bit to get a feel for what works.

Without a healing brsuh, you're stuck with cloning which was always an imperfect solution. Your images are not sufficiently high-res for texture degradtion to be a problem so you can get away with cloning and not worry about losing detail. If you have a tablet set your pen to pressure sensitive, and lower your opacity to somewhere between 40% and 60%. If you don't have a tablet, I'd lower the opacity even more, the idea being that you want to build up your moves gradually, with no single stroke standing out (with it's obvious clone edges). Low opacity strokes can work desired transitions without obvious edges, but, in the case of high focus skin texture, each stroke splits the different in texture between sample and target and after a while you're left with smooth transitions in textureless mud. That's why the healing tool was such a leap forward when it was introduced: it avoids that completely. It brings its own quirks along with it, but they're easily overcome. Think about upgrading at some point. If you're going to be using Photoshop, it's worth it.

[cainam]

This is done with 3 adj layers (brightness/contrast), and a color corr. layer.
I used the cloning tool to determine the shape of the neck.

[Cassidy]

This is really rough but more for concept. I copied the chin and then widened it to fit the shape of the face better, erased the bits that were excess to what I wanted. Then using curves darkened around the neck to give the impression of neck rather than chin and slightly lightened the line created by the chin which looked like a bit of overhang.

[philbach]

I used the liquify tool to reshape the neck. One wonders how much thinner the neck should be without being too obvious. In addition I decreased some of the red spots and also decreased the red color itself using a selective color layer mask.

[Bernardinaus]

I cloned from the outside to reduce the neck width and used the smudge tool to reshape the chin line.
Lassoed and then darkened the under-chin area with curves, that also let me adjust the colour to suit. Added some noise to correct the too-smooth texture.
Then I used the dodger to simulate the muscles that would be holding the head up right

[toxicastrid]

the best thing in the world to do when shooting a subject with chin issues is to shoot from above

[TimelessBarbara]

Originally Posted by toxicastrid

the best thing in the world to do when shooting a subject with chin issues is to shoot from above

SO true!

I always have my photos & videos shot "down" from above,
even tho I don't have a double chin, if I am not holding it right, UGH!
LOL.
Barbara

[superkoax]

welcome to RP, Timelessbarbara


gerry

[TimelessBarbara]

Originally Posted by superkoax

welcome to RetouchPRO, Timelessbarbara


gerry

Hi !!

Thanks so much, I am puttering around in the threads, and that was my first post, LOL, about "double chins", how lovely!
This is a great place, and I know I will just love it!

Barbara

[toxicastrid]

I'm the webmistress for ToxicCherry.com/we specialize in turning the average beauty into a Pinup Girl :-)..I shoot ladies from size 0-24, so I've gotten in the habit of shooting from above :-)