What's the best technique to deal with this img ?

[buso23]

I have shot some images for a client brochure and everything went fine until this morning when he calls me and asks me to remove all the wrinkles in the leather as in the image posted.

I was wondering what would be the best way to get rid of all the wrinkles and irregularities in the leather ? As there are so many images, I need something quick and efficient.

[jama]

Hi,

I am not sure if the healing brush is the best tool/technique, but it works. I have done very rough and quick job with the mentioned tool and the result could be acceptable, see the attachment.

Working with uncompressed file would be useful.

Have a nice day

Martin

[mistermonday]

The best way would take the longest. One option would be to frequemcy split the image using a very low radius to isolate the fine texture of the leather. Then heal or degrunge the low frequency layer. Sample attached.
There are other methods but this is one that is relatively fast and still maintains a reasonable texture.
Regards, Murray

[SilvaFox]

Fix one and drop it in the others?

[buso23]

Originally Posted by SilvaFox

Fix one and drop it in the others?

I can't do that as very few of them are shot at the same angle and most of them are different colors. Anyway, I'd like to try out the technique mistermonday mentioned, care to explain ?

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.

[Der_W]

Murray was referring to the method mentioned here: http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=439098

There are also numerous videos and actions in the thread (beginning and end) that'll provide you with the most important information. But I'd suggest to read its entirety.

[gene_spark]

I have tried it as Der W explained....frequenz seperation than blurred The LP even Further to get rif of the wirnkels. To get even rid of the irregularities of the Leather copy a part of a good leather of The HF layer to the clipboard and use the Patternmakerto prozess your OWn...on a new Layer clipped in Normal mode to the HF Layer...
I used an action from the model-mayhem thread....and so the whole Thing worked very fast...

lg.
Gene

[julianmarsalis]

Originally Posted by MP Retouch

I love this technique for digitally pressing clothes. During the initial separation, make sure all the detail/pattern on the clothes is on the HF layer. Clone/paint/d&b on the LF layer to remove the larger tonal values of the wrinkles, then clone on the HP layer to remove left over HF wrinkle data.

http://a7.vox.com/6a0110184cd071860f0123dde0c0df860d-pi

A very cool example of FS on wrinkles from the thread on MM

[buso23]

First of all thanks for the help guys. The frequency technique looks like it gives great results. I tried the action but couldn't find anywhere on the page the amount of blur I need to add in the blur box. The action also resulted in two layers which if transferred to PS make no difference.

Can any of you that tried the technique please help me with the specifics ?

I have also uploaded the full-rez image on my web page for anyone that wants to try playing with it.


http://www.ljsphotographyonline.com/Forums/Forum

Password for the gallery is: retouching

Thanks

[mistermonday]

OK, got the Hi Res. I need to run to a mtg but I will upload the flow in a couple of hours.
Rgds, Murray

[Der_W]

The amount of blur is easily defined by what parts of the image you want to protect.
If you want to protect the pattern, use an amount that completely DESTROYS it (the reason is that this is going to be on the high pass layer and therefore whatever you do to the low pass, blur, paint, clone, heal, isn't going to affect it).
On the other hand you shouldn't use a higher radius than needed because otherwise you'll have less opportunity to fix flaws.

In this case I used a radius of 5px, used various blurs on the low pass layer and cloned on the high layer to get rid of the remaining patches (sample should be set to "Current layer").

http://www.abload.de/img/sepxrb8.jpg

[mistermonday]

Buso, for this particular image I used a combination of Frequency Separation and a Degrunge layer. It may appear more complicated than it is because for each of the two High Pass layers I created I used the Accurate High Pass as described in the Model Mayhem thread. You can simplify things a bit by using the conventional Filter>Other>High Pass. Given that your image does not have a lot of fine highlights, you may not notice a difference visually.
Anyway here goes the flow which you can follow by looking at the Layer Palette attachment. The final image is low resolution. I can give you the high res psd file if you like.
The first thing you want to do is to create a HF layer which will contain the fine leather grain but not the wrinkles. Choosing the correct radius here is critical. For this image that radius is 1.2 px. So duplicate the BG twice, gaussian blur the lower copy 1.2 px (named LF-1.2) and then apply image to the upper copy and set blend to Linear Light (named HF-1.2). For this image you can work in 8 bit as you won't see any difference. Now you can delete that LF1.2 layer - you won't need it any more. The remaining HF-1.2 will be used at the end to restore the texture, so turn its visibility off for the moment.
OK, now go back to the BG and duplicate it twice. This time you want to make another split but you use a radius of 45 px. This is the radius for this image at which all of the wrinkles are blurred away. after you have completed the split delete the low frequency GB layer as it will not be used. So effectively what you have left is a high frequency layer which is equivalent to an accurate high pass with a radius of 45 px.
You are now going to turn that HF-45 layer into a Degrunge layer. If you are not familiar with a Degrunge layer, there is an excellent tutorial here at RP created by member ByRo. You can find it at this link: http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=213
The concept of a Degrunge layer is to isolate in an image a group of edges that contain grunge / blemishes / stuff you want to remove. All of the edges below and above that band or range are protected. The tutorial will be valuable for you to go thru.
So now with the HF45 layer active, perform a Gaussian Blur with a radius of 1.2 on that layer. Now invert the layer and you will see it look strangely blurred. Hold the Alt key down while clicking the Mask Icon at the bottom of the layers palette to add a Hide-All Mask to that degrunge layer to restore your view. Now with the mask active draw a rectangular marquee stretching across the back of the couch but inside leaving a border that excludes the dark black border around the backs where there is no texture. Feather that selection about 20 px. With your foreground swatch white, hit the delete key to fill the mask with white where selected. That area of the couch should now be weirdly blurred and smooth with no texture but the light reflections will still be there.
OK now for the finishing touches. Go up to the HF-1.2 layer and turn it on. You will see the texture return. Add a Contrast/Brightness Adj layer above and clip it to the HF-1.2 layer. Increase the contrast to boost the texture to where it matches the rest of the couch. Alt+Drag the layer mask from the Degrunge layer to the Brightness/Contrast layer and click yes when asked to replace the mask. This will limit the intensification of the texture on to the area you have degrunged.
Now you are done. It's actually pretty quick to do, there's no hand painting. And you can create actions to speed up the generation of the splits. You can also just try the old fashioned Filter > Other > High Pass.
Regards, Murray

[julianmarsalis]

MM very nice work...

[mistermonday]

Julian, thank you.
Regards, Murray

[dkcoats]

Murray, that's brilliant.

[mistermonday]

DC, thank you,
Regards, Murray

[buso23]

Mister Monday, thanks for your enourmous help and thanks for taking the time to elaborate the technique. I was able to retouch the images in no time and the results are great. Again, thanks again as you saved me a lot of time

Regards, Ljupco

P. S. What other uses is this technique helpful for ?

[mistermonday]

Ljupco, you are very welcome.
Frequency Separation has a number of uses in retouching as pointed out in the ModelMayhem thread. It's great where you need to work on fine detail separately from large detail and color / tone.
Degrunge is useful for cleaning up rough skin, wrinkles, and blemishes. In high end retouching it is useful to reduce the harsh transitions / high contrast while still preserving texture. It is still a form of blurring but when it is applied sparingly and at the correct radii it softens skin without making it appear to have been blurred. It can save a lot of time by reducing the amount of Dodging and Burning one needs to do.
Regards, Murray

[buso23]

Ok, Thanks Murry. I'll read more about it from the links in this thread. Thanks again and regards. Ljupco

[pixelzombie]

Originally Posted by mistermonday

I can give you the high res psd file if you like.

Regards, Murray

i would appreciate it if you could post the psd file, thanks.

[mistermonday]

Pixelzombie, the original hi res file itself was pretty large and with the layers I have added, the file size is 68 MB. Do you have an ftp site to which I can upload?
Regards, Murray

[pixelzombie]

no, i'm afraid i don't but yousendit.com is free for files under 100MB.

[mistermonday]

PixelZombie. I loaded it on another server and sent you a link.
Regards, Murray

[pixelzombie]

thank you so very much!!!

[buso23]

Since you already have the file online Murray, can you send me a link to the PSD file as well ? Thanks