First post for maternity retouch..

[kerl]

Hello all, the is my first retouch post in this forum. I'm a long time browser and I have to say I love this site. Lot's of helpful people on here. This is my first paying retouch and I've attached a before and after. Comments and crits are welcome.

The only question I have is, my client want's to remove the tattoo of the skull on tummy of the girl. I've tried alot of different techniques to try to accomplish this but I'm struggling with the left edge of the tummy and getting the shading right in the shadow area. Any comments on how you would go about to accomplish this to point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Jason

[JavierT]

Hi Kerl, and Welcoming to the forum.

Here is my try and how I did it.

Using paths, I have create one for all the tummy area, convert to selection and begin to clone (in a new blank layer, of course). After that, I draw another path, only where the shadow have to be and, in a new blank layer (blend mode to multiply) I had stroke the path getting the shadow (you can match or pick the color from a dark area of the skin). Play with gaussian blur and layer opacity to get better results in your shadow. And thats all.

This pic is too little, but in yours, you can apply a little bit of noise in the shadow layer for more realistic result, or better, in a 50% grey layer over the shadow one.

Hope it helps.....Javier

[Muni]

Originally Posted by JavierT

Hi Kerl, and Welcoming to the forum.

Here is my try and how I did it.

Using paths, I have create one for all the tummy area, convert to selection and begin to clone (in a new blank layer, of course). After that, I draw another path, only where the shadow have to be and, in a new blank layer (blend mode to multiply) I had stroke the path getting the shadow (you can match or pick the color from a dark area of the skin). Play with gaussian blur and layer opacity to get better results in your shadow. And thats all.

This pic is too little, but in yours, you can apply a little bit of noise in the shadow layer for more realistic result, or better, in a 50% grey layer over the shadow one.

Hope it helps.....Javier

Pretty nice. My tip to both of you is to path the tummy, clone and then go crazy with the patch tool. I think that is faster, and then darken it to look good in the shadow area.

[JavierT]

Originally Posted by Muni

Pretty nice. My tip to both of you is to path the tummy, clone and then go crazy with the patch tool. I think that is faster, and then darken it to look good in the shadow area.

Hi Muni.

Does your site work?

I am trying see it and have no posibility to enter.

[kerl]

Thanks Javier and Muni. I'll this out.

[DCobb]

This is my try.

dc

[kerl]

That's pretty good DC. Care to share how you did it? Did you use the path tool for the selection and then clone?

Thanks

Jason

[Muni]

Originally Posted by JavierT

Hi Muni.

Does your site work?

I am trying see it and have no posibility to enter.

Not yet. Please give it a few days or maximum a week.

Best regards
muni.se

[DCobb]

Hi Jason,

I use CS3 and a Wacom graphics tablet. I am a hobbyist and not a professional, so what I explain may not be the most effective way to achieve results--I often just fiddle until I like what I see. First duplicated the image and then on the duplicated image I started with a duplicate layer. What I did was first made a selection of the tattoo using the Quick Select tool. Having the area selected protected the surrounding keeping lines sharp. You mentioned having problems with the left side. Lightened that with levels and then cloned the area using a low opacity brush 10-25%. Then deleted the selected Added skin texture using the healing brush and blending the edges. To finish I used a blank layer set to soft light and using a low opacity brush -10-15% painted the area (alt.clicking and constantly sampling the area for matching skin color) and then used the Gaussian Blur to blur the blank layer. To enhance or lighten shadow areas you can use the burn and dodge tool set again to a low opacity perhaps as low as 10%. Used the clone tool, healing brush, and paint technique to remove the white areas left by the halter top. Just remembered, I also enhanced the colors. I hope I have answered your questions.

dc

[asims28]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...etouchcopy.jpg

i use photoshop 7. im pretty new at this but i get the basics. i did a quick select of the skull and then used the patch tool and took the sample from the top of the tummy. then used some cloning around the edges and a little brush to smooth it up.

[Sweetlight]

Kerl,
First let me say NICE SHOT. Several juxtapositons withing the image ie: tender, sweet, mom-to-be sporting tattoos adding a bit of rough edge. The pose is nice, could use a tweak here and there but overall, very nice. Not long after I started my firs ad studio and had sank tons of moolah into making it work, USA dropped the first bombs on Iraq to start the first war. In business the first expense to be spared is advertising so I took a heavy hit at a very vulnerable time so I had to find a money maker business until the economy found itself again. With alread quite a bit of experience with shooting for Playboy I was asked by a friend to documenet her pregnancy from day one all the way to the birth. Word of mouth took over and I soon had a heap of these clients. The irony of photographing these beatuiful, pround and glowing pregnant women as the studio radio played and broke in often about the death and destruction we were laying upon Iraq. I was humbled but honored to be part of this process. To this day those somen call for photos of their growing children. Enough of me, nice shot, I just did some artsty-fartsy tweaking. Enjoy,

c

[GoMango]

Any replies?

[RokcetScientist]

Originally Posted by GoMango

Any replies?

Not if you don't pose any questions...

[GoMango]

RS - I thought th purpose of my post was obvious, my mistake - but for the more pragmatic folks, I will take a direct approach. What do you think of this retouching?

[igot2pman]

Originally Posted by GoMango

RS - I thought th purpose of my post was obvious, my mistake - but for the more pragmatic folks, I will take a direct approach. What do you think of this retouching?

Start your own thread in the Critiques section. maybe then people will reply.

[Aleksman71]

And optimize your picture to optimal size.yours is to smal.
Both images are 100kb,just yours is too small to see any detail.