removing a shadow...

[mikbau]

Hello all

First post here... I'm a photographer, and not a super advanced Photoshop user. I recently did a model shoot in my home studio, and I've come across some facial shadows I've not had to deal with before.

If you look up and to the left of her eye, there is a dark shadow area - it looks like it's caused by her hair, but her hair is so thin, that it's not a complete shadow. I've tried and tried cloning, brushes, layers with all of the above with a blur, and for the life of me I can't get it to look natural. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks much in advance
Michael

www.michaelbauerphotography.com

[learninlady]

wasnt completely sure of what you were looking for but heres a couple to look at.

[crazyfly1]

select shadow, jump to layer, screen mode, soften edge with soft brush on mask, lower opacity.

[mikbau]

Thanks for the replies - LearninLady - how did you do the first one?

CrazyFly1 - you lost me after adding a layer mask...for some reason, when I use the brush on the mask, it does not show up in the layers box the way yours does...am I missing a step?

thanks!
Michael

[chillin]

I used 2 targeted curves & D&B

[crazyfly1]

Hmmm, Make sure you click on the mask icon at the bottom of the layers pallet so that you have a mask. Make sure you click on the mask icon in the layers pallet so that you are painting on the mask and not the layer. Make sure your foreground color is set to black and that the brush opacity is set to 100%.

[mikbau]

crazy

I've followed your steps to the letter, but I'm obviously missing something - see attached - my brush strokes are not showing up on the mask...is there a PS setting I am missing somewhere? Sorry for the remedial PS questions...

[amica999]

Mik, if you are painting with white on a white mask you will not see anything...invert the mask and paint with white/light grey...

[mikbau]

amicaa999 - I tried setting the foreground color to black, and I still get the same result - in my layers window, I still get no fill or stroke indication on the vector mask - is there any other setting I could be missing?

[amica999]

Are you sure that the mask is selected? Opacity/Flow of brush set to 100%?

[mikbau]

yup - confirmed both of those...and my layers palette looks nothing like Crazy's does

[amica999]

Foreground color black on white mask/ white on black mask?

[mikbau]

As far as I can tell
Foreground color on black mask
Opacity set to 100%, flow set to 100%
No indication on the layer vector mast of any brush stroke

[amica999]

Looks like your a painting on the layer. Click on the mask...

[mikbau]

amica999 - unless I'm missing something, please see attached - the vector mask is highlighted, not the layer - I"m the first to admit I'm a total newbie to doing anything aside from curve adjustments in PS , but I just don't see what I'm missing

[amica999]

Mik, must be something rather simple, but your attached screenshots are really small. If you want please have a look here, there is some in depth masking tutorial...http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=468

Hope that helps some..if not, come back :-)

[amica999]

P.S. I see something is happening to your pic...as CF suggested you should put that layers blending mode to screen, it's still set to normal, so there will be no change when you toggle the visibility of the below layers...

[Quantum3Studio]

You may be painting with the brush in some blend mode instead normal. Check that out, it happens from time to time.

[learninlady]

Originally Posted by mikbau

Thanks for the replies - LearninLady - how did you do the first one?

CrazyFly1 - you lost me after adding a layer mask...for some reason, when I use the brush on the mask, it does not show up in the layers box the way yours does...am I missing a step?

thanks!
Michael

I cloned at a 23 opacity. using the closest reference to the shadow.

[crazyfly1]

hey mikbau, sorry I missed all this conversation, I'm in the us and I slept through it.
The only way I could duplicate what your screenshot shows is by painting on the layer and not the mask. Click on the layer mask that you have circled in red and you should solve the issue.
BTW, you will want to have the layer underneath active so you can see the effect as you paint.

[mikbau]

All - thanks for your help - I really appreciate it

Learninlady - I guess - I need to get better with the clone tool - I made several attempts, but was not able to get it to look as good as yours

Crazyfly1 - I discovered the issue - *forehead smack* - the image I posted here was a crop, and much smaller than the image of the model I was working on - on my image, when I create the new layer from copy, then the vector mask - then paint - it shows up as a tiny dot - because the percentage of the image size is so much smaller....I'm still yet to replicate your results, but at least now I know I was attempting it correctly

Oh - btw - I'm in the US as well, I was just up late fighting with Photoshop ;o)

[crazyfly1]

there are layer pallet options in the layers pallet where you can make your layer and mask icons larger, if that helps. BTW the mask you're working on is just a layer mask not a vector mask, if you added a mask on top of your mask the second one would be a vector mask .

[mikbau]

oops - sorry - yes, layer mask - I think I need a little more sleep ;o)