Hair removal help...

[kwcphoto]

I'm having some troubles. I took the below photo 2 nights ago and I love it. However, the hairs that I have circled are bothering me and I want to learn how to remove it. I dont want anyone to do it for me, just walk me through it or give me a few free tutorials on how to correct this? Its really bothering me terribly. lol. Thanks ahead of time.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...1/KWCP/074.png

[grannysdc]

A quickie on this small sample..

I used the Patch tool set as source and moved a bit at a time to a good piece of skin till hair gone .. then used the healing tool and clone tool at a low percent to smooth/blend and put skin texture back

[kwcphoto]

HOLY COW! Ok. I just tried your method and I'm just not as good. haha. Do you have msn messenger so you can walk me through this step by step? If I didnt want to learn this so bad I'd send you a bigger file. lol. You did awesome work to it.

[grannysdc]

what program are you using? MSN Messenger will not help others reading this thread or those who visit RetouchPro... Sorry

[kwcphoto]

I'm using CS3.

[kwcphoto]

And thats understandable. I'm just thankful for your help and expertise.

[grannysdc]

Submit a sample of what you have done and we can critique it and maybe help you along

[kwcphoto]

This is what I did with the clone and the healing tools. Ive never used the patch tool so I dont know how to do it.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...at_retouch.png

[grannysdc]

You have a good start there.. it just needs cleaned up a little... It looks like you did the clone at 100% and had your brush size to large and not soft enough.. pick an area of skin that looks the same color as where you want to put it.. Try baby steps.. I still use them and I am OLD .. Take your time and do not get frustrated it takes awhile to get the hang of it... U can DO IT!!

First thing I would do is resize your image.. Image>size.. make it at least 10" high...
Make a copy of your background layer and uncheck the eyeball on the original background that way you are working on a copy of the original and when you save.. change the name so the original stays the same and is unchanged..

Slow and a little at a time is the way to go when retouching.. when using the clone tool (Which could be used for this whole repair) On a 10" picture I think I used a size 40, 0%Hardness(soft) brush.. use a small soft brush set at about 12% and make several short stroke passes till the repair looks ok next to the good skin then select a new source/color area and do another section.. slow and steady are the key paying attention to detail.. there is no substitute for practice.. with it things come easier..

After you finish the retouch... File>Save For Web.. check the box Optimized.. above that there are some arrows pointing to the right.. click these.. on the menu that pops up select... Optimize to file size .. In the next popup type in 98.9 as file size click OK.. check at the bottom of the pictures showing and make sure the file size you are saving is less than 100K if it is then select save and use a new name to post here ... if not then make the image a little smaller and save for web again till it saves at less than 100K then post it here

[grannysdc]

Anyone else want to help teach.. feel free to jump right in... I am off to bed..

[kwcphoto]

Thanks. I'm headed to bed too. Its 6:44am and I've worked on two other photos all night and attempted this one. lol. I'm tired and the hubby is off today so I need some sleep so when he gets up he doesnt say "u dont spend no time with me" hahahaha.

Thanks a ton for your help. I will try this when I get back on the computer later. Anyone else feel free to jump in too. I'm gonna need all the help I can get on this one. lol.