How to deal with this problem...

[Ricardo]

Hi all,

Any suggestions on how to deal with this sort of problem (from a retouching point of view.lol.).

Cheers for any suggestions.

R.

[Artistic Touch]

Clone from the other side. do a horizontal flip. and touch up

[Ricardo]

Thanks AT. I see where you are coming from. Only problem is that as I lit the shot with umbrellas either side of him (Like copy lighting) then there is a similar reflection on the left hand side of the left hand lens so flipping from that lens to the RH (the one shown) lens is a problem.

Also, if the shot wasn't symmetrical (I've had this problem before) I wouldn't be able to flip anyway.

So, I guess I'm trying to find a solution when there is not option of flipping from the other lens.

Hope that makes sense.

R.

[mistermonday]

Ricardo, Duplicate the background layer and apply the Red channel to that layer (normal blend mode), then change the blend mode of the resulting grayscale layer to Luminosity. You can now Alt+Click to sample good adjacent color and paint over the green area. The slightly darker spider like mark will need a bit of the clone tool. You cropped off the other corner of the eye but if it were there I would have selected that corner and flipped it and pasted it on top of the repaired corner. I did the attached image in 1 minute. You can probably do a neater job with a bit of patience.
Regards, Murray

[Ricardo]

Hi Murray,

Thanks for taking the time to explain this. I've tried what you are saying but it doesn't seem to be working. You might have to explain it in a little more detail as I'm not the world's most accomplished retoucher.

I've duplicated the layer no problem. Then going into channels I'm selecting thr red channel for that layer only. I then get a resultant monochrome image for that layer. Then I change the mode to luminosity. All good so far.

I'm on a mac so I'm not sure what the equivalent "Alt+click" is so this is where I may be going wrong. Any suggestions !!

(the second half of your explanation abour cloning etc is no problem)

[mistermonday]

Ricardo, sorry I went a little to quickly on the explanation. See the attached image.
- After you have applied the R to the copy layer and change the blend to luminosity you have, for the most part, evened out the luminance of the damaged area.
- Next you add a new blank layer and set its blend mode to Color. You now sample adjacent good colors and paint over the damaged area. I think the Option + Click is the equivalent on a Mac but that is just a shortcut that temporarily allows you to switch the Brush to an eyedropper on the fly and therefore speeds up your work significantly. The long way of switching tools, sampling and switching back to the brush also works.
-When done painting, you will still have that spider like darker spot. Add another layer and use the Clone tool to stamp over it. However, you can also use the patch tool or copy and flip the other corner of the eye. The rest is up to you as there are many ways to approach the rest of the touch up.
Regards, Murray

[chillin]

Thanks mistermonday, your method works well.

[Ricardo]

I seem to be falling at the first hurdle here for some reason. In fact I think I've got my shoe stuck in the starting block.

For some reason I don't seem to be able to select the R channel for the duplicate layer.

I assume you switch to channels for that layer. Deselect G & B. Switch back to layers. Then switch to luminosity. When I try this the layer keeps returning back to a colour image.

Am I doing something completely wrong?

(If you feel this elementary question doesn’t warrant a reply I fully understand.lol)

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by Ricardo

I seem to be falling at the first hurdle here for some reason.

The key word you may have missed is "Apply" the red channel~ ~ then change mode to luminosity

[Ricardo]

Nailed it. Thanks guys.

much appreciated.

[Ricardo]

just one last thing that I've noticed though is that I now a have very bright image. How would I get back to overall colour of my original?

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by Ricardo

just one last thing that I've noticed though is that I now a have very bright image. How would I get back to overall colour of my original?

You might try changing that "Luminosity" layer to "Darken"

[mistermonday]

As OlBaldy suggests or just add a layer mask to the Apply Image layer and with a soft black brush at reduced opacity, brush over the areas which have become too light.
Regards, Murray

[Ricardo]

Got it, Thanks guys.

Ricardo.

[Artistic Touch]

For future refrence. Anytime you photograph someone with glass always have them remove there glasses for one or two of the photos this will give you extra photos to workout problems like these I to learned this the hard way. When we didn't have digital retouching something like that was extremly frustrating Thank you Digital!!! Other things you can do during the session is move your lights up just a bit and get your subject to slightly tilt his glass down it doesn't take much to make a hugh difference in the reflection.

[Ricardo]

Thanks for the tips. Makes a lot of sense.