What’s Your Preference?

surelybwh · #11 (**permalink**) 08-05-2007, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wulf

Excellent - it is a good idea to try things out yourself because that is how you develop your skills. Have you got other scans that need similar work? If so, that will be a good opportunity to reinforce and develop what you have learned.

Wulf

Thanks, Wulf. I do believe in doing things myself so that I can learn. I do have some more scans I can work on, too.

Thanks a lot for your tips & help!

surelybwh

jiminyClickit · #12 (**permalink**) 08-05-2007, 02:00 AM

surelybwh,

If you experiment with adding a negative layer that has a low contrast, you can get a better skin tone and deeper background:

surelybwh · #13 (**permalink**) 08-05-2007, 02:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiminyClickit

surelybwh,

If you experiment with adding a negative layer that has a low contrast, you can get a better skin tone and deeper background:

Wow! Double Wow! That is absolutely the best version yet. I would love to experiment w/ adding a negative layer that has low contrast! Unfortunately, I have positively NO idea how to do that. Can you give a hint?

Thanks, JiminyClickit!

porterd2nz · #14 (**permalink**) 08-05-2007, 03:11 AM

that last one looks great, jiminyClickit! I did something similar, but got rid of the colour alltogether.

It still looks a bit grainy, but I'm not up to speed with Photoshop yet.

jiminyClickit · #15 (**permalink**) 08-05-2007, 04:33 AM

surelybwh, You're welcome

... and Thanks. Remember the Wizard in " . . . Oz" and the disbelief of D and TM and CL? If you saw the simple methods I used to do some things that sometimes I didn't believe could be done, you might laugh and wonder why PhotoShop is such a big seller. My edit program is a few steps above high quality bristol paper and Prismacolor pencils, and nearly as intuitive.

If you think of "layers" as physical pieces of acetate, on which different versions of a photograph are placed and worked on to achieve effects individually, then reassembled (merged, flattened) afterward, it will make more sense.

The negative of "Conni" gave me a mask I used to get definition out of the faint image. The layer is applied as "Difference" and "Color" (two separate layers, yes), at 40% Opacity. Wherever you are in your edit experience, this will make sense when you do it in your own way. I tried it one day because nothing else was giving the results I wanted.

At one point the shadows became very sharp, so I blended in a transitional midtone between that light/dark division. Catchlights in the eyes, smoothing the skin highlights, trimming the hair, and repositioning the subject helped in their own ways. Something else in PhotoShop probably could get even closer to skintone and better lighting.

I hope you can see this on Flickr (at a larger size, you'll see what I saw while working on it). It could become an excellent pencil drawing, but you can see there's just not enough good detail left to go much further as a photograph. There's a challenge for you, though. Good experience comes from the really tough ones. Thanks for bringing this one!

porterd2nz, Welcome

It nearly was going to be a b/w for me too. That negative thing works well for that too. You got good detail out of the photo. The highlights going white just made me keep after something different.

surelybwh · #16 (**permalink**) 08-06-2007, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiminyClickit

surelybwh, You're welcome

... and Thanks. Remember the Wizard in " . . . Oz" and the disbelief of D and TM and CL? If you saw the simple methods I used to do some things that sometimes I didn't believe could be done, you might laugh and wonder why PhotoShop is such a big seller. My edit program is a few steps above high quality bristol paper and Prismacolor pencils, and nearly as intuitive.

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

So, are you sharing what your edit program is?

I played with Difference and Color layers in PhotoShop. I understand what you mean about the different layers. It's just getting familiar with all of it.

Thanks for your tips. Below is my latest version. I really like the way it looks. It captures Conni for me.

porterd2nz · #17 (**permalink**) 08-06-2007, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiminyClickit

surelybwh, You're welcome

It nearly was going to be a b/w for me too. That negative thing works well for that too. You got good detail out of the photo. The highlights going white just made me keep after something different.

The problem is that little patch of forehead. I don't know enough Photoshop to fix that. I did have the idea of using the orig image and creating two others and using the 'Merge to HDR' command. This is what I got out of that.

I don't think there is any real difference from my previous b&w attempt. The forehead is still blown-out. There also seems to be more noise in this one.

jiminyClickit · #18 (**permalink**) 08-06-2007, 10:39 PM

surelybwh,

Signature line: Adobe PhotoDeluxe (It is no longer supported by Adobe, and is about 8 years old. Still . . .)

porterd2nz,

Find your best "forehead" layer, add the best "eyes and below" layer over it, and erase away the blown area. Noise is another matter; I have Despeckle, Soften, Reduce Dust and Scratches, etc, none really act as legitimate noise eliminators.