Tips on how to PP this photo.

[yulchick]

Hi there I wanted to post process this shot the same way I post processed the B&W version, but Its not working out in color. What I want to do is blend in the camera left arm into the black backround just like in the black and white version. For the black and white I used a burn tool, going over the adge of the arm with midtones and shadows at 20% opasity several times, until I got what I liked. When I do that with the colored version, the arm turns ugly orange color that just really pops and ruins everytihng...so how would I go about blending the arm in with the backround. I really want the same shot of my baby Sasha in color, so Im in real need of some tips!

here's the black and white version, I want the arm to be blanded in similar way as here.


I'm going to attach the colored version. Feel free to play with it and see what you can come up with.

[Rentham]

I think there should be a "Protect Tones" option there, make sure you have that checked. You can try a few different things as well. One is using the desaturate sponge that is grouped with the burn and dodge tools in the flyout menu. You could also try dodging and burning on a 50% grey layer set to Overlay or Soft Light blend mode. Just paint with black or white on this layer and it sometimes gives you the same effect without the tonal change.

[yulchick]

Originally Posted by Rentham

I think there should be a "Protect Tones" option there, make sure you have that checked. You can try a few different things as well. One is using the desaturate sponge that is grouped with the burn and dodge tools in the flyout menu. You could also try dodging and burning on a 50% grey layer set to Overlay or Soft Light blend mode. Just paint with black or white on this layer and it sometimes gives you the same effect without the tonal change.

thanks for the tips, will need to reaserch that a bit and maybe find some tutorials on that, as that sounds like alien talk to me I never use photoshop, just for that black and white shot to blend the arm in..lightroom works just fine for what I usually need. again thanks!

[Rentham]

The technique for dodge and burn on the 50% grey layer should be on Youtube. Search for pretty much any variation of "Non-destructive dodge and burn".

[edbayani]

another way is to select the portion of the arm up to the tip of the baby's finger and put this in another layer. use a big soft brush using the burn tool and darken the area. the color will change a bit. correct the saturated color by using hue and saturation. then with layer mask, erase the area near the tip of the fingers to blend with the arm. fine tune with levels. flatten.

[JFSanders]

Quickest way I found was to create a black mask and then go in and erase just the parts you want. Use a pretty soft brush and then fill out the edges.

Jim

[yulchick]

Thank you everyone for the tips! I'll be trying it out myself and see what I can come up with