Help with neck and cleavage

Canna W · #1 03-07-2009, 02:21 AM

I do a lot of low-end retouching, working with quite small images, and aiming for 'good enough' in an hour or so. I hope it's okay to bring such crude work to Retouch Pro.

Anyway, I got really stuck with this one. The girl wanted the hair removed from her neck and chest (quite understandable!) For this exercise the face was irrelevant.

I selected the skin area. Moved up her neck, repeatedly selecting colours with the brush tool from the skin, and painting them over the hairy areas. I ended up with a crude patchwork of skin colours, which I then blurred. I also picked up colours over the cleavage, and tried to introduce shading in that area.

I then introduced a grain texture over where I'd worked.

I finally ended up with doing a skin-enhancing action over the whole image

The result is pretty terrible

In the end I did a re-edit and brought her dress up to cover her cleavage. I'm also not sure about her neck etc. Maybe it really shouts out "photoshop"?

Any crits or advice or suggestions would be hugely appreciated.

Salomon · #2 03-07-2009, 04:28 AM

oh my... ok i guess here the goal is to achieve a correct work in a minimum amount of time right ? cause any technique like D&B wont be enough and stitching the pieces of skin together would take too long. If you have another shot of her chest it'd be great. but I guess you dont; you can grab a chest from any other pictures from the web, it should be easy as you work with small images, then composite the chest in and modify lighting, colors.

Canna W · #3 03-07-2009, 01:49 PM

Saloman: Wow, I never thought of doing that! It seems a really good solution to the problem. I will definitely try it when I find myself in a similar predicament another time.

Thank you for responding to such a dire attempt....I really appreciate it.

TommyO · #4 03-07-2009, 03:34 PM

Salomon's idea is certainly the fastest method in this case. This is often used in restoration work as well, when an image is badly damaged. I can't think of anything easier, given the hair is so prevalent in the skin area.

Daviskw · #5 03-07-2009, 08:30 PM

I just made a pen selection then filled with a skin color...added some shading and used the texturizer and noise to add back texture. Then I used curves to add variations in the tone.

If I had taken the time i would have added a few stray strands of hair with hair brushes.

Butch

igot2pman · #6 03-07-2009, 09:27 PM

Dont think this ones going to get any better then that. I tryed the same thing earlyer, but it looked like crap, couldnt get the breast to look right. Now that i see yours, i was missing the shading under the breast.

Great job here Daviskw,
-Keven

Canna W · #7 03-08-2009, 01:10 AM

TommyO

Quote:

Salomon's idea is certainly the fastest method in this case. This is often used in restoration work as well, when an image is badly damaged. I can't think of anything easier, given the hair is so prevalent in the skin area.

I came to this forum a while back having difficulties with a dog's eyes, and was told to paste in new ones. It worked really well. Now I've been told to do the same with this.... I think this quick fix method of repair is now beginning to sink into my mind as being part of the arsenal for dealing with problematic images.

Daviskw

Quote:

I just made a pen selection then filled with a skin color...added some shading and used the texturizer and noise to add back texture. Then I used curves to add variations in the tone.

I am totally knocked out! That is soooooo brilliant! The curve to her cleavage, and the shading you have given it, is so authentic. Using curves at the end is also a good idea. It's been really helpful to see your example.... A big thank you.