Highlights

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:22:13 -0400, rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

You should try the clone tool cloning with the source from different places on her face. The clone tool would be a much better option for the shadows etc. If you do know how to use the painting brush, a very interesting affect(s) is possible.

Dave

"rdoc" wrote in message

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

It might be helpful if you could give us a link to the photo.

Waterspider wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

It might be helpful if you could give us a link to the photo.

I would be more than happy to do that but where do I upload it to?

"rdoc" wrote in message

Waterspider wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

It might be helpful if you could give us a link to the photo.

I would be more than happy to do that but where do I upload it to?

There are many free sites, i.e. flickr and Photobucket. If you’re worried about opportunistic internet surfer scooping the photo, be sure not to upload full resolution image, or deface the image with text saying it’s copyrighted.

Dave wrote:

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:22:13 -0400, rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

You should try the clone tool cloning with the source from different places on her face. The clone tool would be a much better option for the shadows etc. If you do know how to use the painting brush, a very interesting affect(s) is possible.

Dave

Perhaps not the most elegant or simple solution.
That will get you into the realms of trying to reconstruct areas of the image, which will give very patchy and messy results unless you’re very carefull.

In fact, Photoshop has a tool designed exactly for this job. It’s called the Burn tool.
Use it like a brush over the highlights and it will gradually darken them.

Similarly, if you have shadows that you want to lighten, there’s another tool called the Dodge tool, which works in the exact same way, but lightens instead of darkening.

—
http://www.norfolklupus.co.uk
http://www.thebooknook.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40919519@N00/

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:53:04 -0400, rdoc wrote:

Waterspider wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

It might be helpful if you could give us a link to the photo.

I would be more than happy to do that but where do I upload it to?

Why? You asked how to do it, and we adv iced you. Sam and I had different ideas, (read my post to him why I said clone tool). You did not ask us to do it, but asked how to do it. First try it, and then come back if you do not succeed.

Dave

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 22:41:10 GMT, "Fat Sam"
wrote:

Dave wrote:

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:22:13 -0400, rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

You should try the clone tool cloning with the source from different places on her face. The clone tool would be a much better option for the shadows etc. If you do know how to use the painting brush, a very interesting affect(s) is possible.

Dave

Perhaps not the most elegant or simple solution.
That will get you into the realms of trying to reconstruct areas of the image, which will give very patchy and messy results unless you’re very carefull.

I still prefer the clone tool for the sake of texture.
Carefully cloning with different size brushes, can clone texture back. And the highlights to be repaired are most probably not large.

Dave

Waterspider wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message

Waterspider wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

It might be helpful if you could give us a link to the photo.

I would be more than happy to do that but where do I upload it to?

There are many free sites, i.e. flickr and Photobucket. If you’re worried about opportunistic internet surfer scooping the photo, be sure not to upload full resolution image, or deface the image with text saying it’s copyrighted.

Ok here is the link of the untouched image with the bad highlights. http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/?mediafilter=images

Fat Sam wrote:

In fact, Photoshop has a tool designed exactly for this job. It’s called the Burn tool.
Use it like a brush over the highlights and it will gradually darken them.

When I use the Burn tool, it makes the area a neutral gray, not a flesh color like the rest of the face. Is it possible to darken with a color using the burn tool?

(I generally use the clone tool at low opacity to remove a highlight.)

– Max

"rdoc" wrote in message

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

not much to clone from
normally I fix hot spots with large soft edge clone on about 25% opacity but
you can try this
use clone on color only (option in the drop down)
or a very large soft edge brush very sheer like 6-8% opacity sample nearby color

there was a tutorial posted here the other day for doing large areas by select the highlight areas and very good amount of feather

you could do that and adjust the curves on a separate layer for just those areas

MisterMax wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

In fact, Photoshop has a tool designed exactly for this job. It’s called the Burn tool.
Use it like a brush over the highlights and it will gradually darken them.

When I use the Burn tool, it makes the area a neutral gray, not a flesh color like the rest of the face.

Don’t know why it’s doing that. Sounds a bit weird to me. For me, the burn tool simply works by darkening the area while keeping the colour. A bit like an ND filter would on your camera, only the effect is localised and selective.
In fact, I’ve usd it in the past when sperimposing someone into another scene, where the direction of light in the two photos were coming from different directions. Using carefull use of the dodge and burn tools, I was able to succesfully move the shadows and highlights on the person to simulate liht coming from the other direction.
Have you tried playing wih the strength of the tool?
You have to go very lightly with it. Best to do many light applications than one strong application.

—
http://www.norfolklupus.co.uk
http://www.thebooknook.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40919519@N00/

rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

Many different ways but sometime it just need the right technique to solve the problem. Here are few for you to try

– Clone Tool at low opacity.

– Healing Patch/Brush may work if doing it right, or combination with other’s

– Using layer either to paint, blend etc..

– Using layer, making a dupe of the original and adjust one darker or whatever technique to blend the hi-lite (meaning doesn’t have to be 100% perfect), then using MASK with opacity’s to blend/combine 2 layers together.

This is the same technique to deal with overexposured, or shadow causes by either the sun or flash.

MisterMax </max> wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

In fact, Photoshop has a tool designed exactly for this job. It’s called the Burn tool.
Use it like a brush over the highlights and it will gradually darken them.

When I use the Burn tool, it makes the area a neutral gray, not a flesh color like the rest of the face. Is it possible to darken with a color using the burn tool?

(I generally use the clone tool at low opacity to remove a highlight.)
– Max

There are free actions that you can Burn/Dodge with COLOR’s. They are called Paint_With_Light I and II that you can find at CentralAction site.

In article ,
rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face.

Image->Adjust->Curves. The most versatile command for color and tonal range correction.

—
Photography, kink, polyamory, shareware, and more: all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

Joel wrote:

rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

Many different ways but sometime it just need the right technique to solve the problem. Here are few for you to try

– Clone Tool at low opacity.

– Healing Patch/Brush may work if doing it right, or combination with other’s

– Using layer either to paint, blend etc..

– Using layer, making a dupe of the original and adjust one darker or whatever technique to blend the hi-lite (meaning doesn’t have to be 100% perfect), then using MASK with opacity’s to blend/combine 2 layers together.
This is the same technique to deal with overexposured, or shadow causes by either the sun or flash.

The clone tool left me with a very blotchy result.
Healing Patch Brush was a complete loser for me.
The burn tool gave me the best results which I feel it is ok but not great. I worked on it for over 4 hours. Open for suggestions and criticisms please.

tacit wrote:

In article ,
rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face.

Image->Adjust->Curves. The most versatile command for color and tonal range correction.

I tried the curves and didn’t find it helpful.
I have posted the corrected copy so everyone check it out and give me your criticisms and suggestions. Thanks

tacit wrote:

In article ,
rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face.

Image->Adjust->Curves. The most versatile command for color and tonal range correction.

I tried the curves and didn’t find it helpful.
I have posted the corrected copy so everyone check it out and give me your criticisms and suggestions. Thanks

http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/?mediafilter=images to see the before and after images.

"Dave" wrote in message

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:53:04 -0400, rdoc wrote:

Waterspider wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I
have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool
and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the
highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also
tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but
not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue
and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

It might be helpful if you could give us a link to the photo.

I would be more than happy to do that but where do I upload it to?

Why? You asked how to do it, and we adv iced you. Sam and I had different ideas, (read my post to him why I said clone tool). You did not ask us to do it, but asked how to do it. First try it, and then come back if you do not succeed.
Dave

The beauty of Photoshop is that there are often several different options in technique that will result in the same result. That said, there are also situations where only one technique will produce the desired result. I suggested that a link to the photo would be helpful, because an enquiry regarding how to, "darken a highlight on (her) face" is not specific enough to provide a definitive response. Thus, I requested a link to the photo.

Dave– is your assumption that your suggestion is the best, the only, solution? You sounded offended that one might be interested in ideas other than your own (and Sam’s).

Back to the photo, IMHO, the background doesn’t lend itself to flattering the subject. Perhaps a less busy image overall, a plain background with a gaussian blur. Not sure what the final use of the portrait is, but I would even try black and white, or a desaturation to soften the whole thing. In Levels, you might try sliding the middle to lighten or darken the image overall (decrease the contrast, which is not overly kind to the subject).

It’s a tough one to work on; good luck.

Waterspider

rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

I’ll try a copy of the main layer placed at the top and set to multiply and then add a layer mark and paint it black all over
the areas that don’t need to be darken.
Then add a curves or levels layer.
This is what I try when everything has failed, it’s not working all the times
but may worth a try.
but still removable unlike dodge and burn tool.

—
Infinitech

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm
—
Mike Russell – www.curvemeister.com

rdoc wrote:

Joel wrote:

rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

Many different ways but sometime it just need the right technique to solve the problem. Here are few for you to try

– Clone Tool at low opacity.

– Healing Patch/Brush may work if doing it right, or combination with other’s

– Using layer either to paint, blend etc..

– Using layer, making a dupe of the original and adjust one darker or whatever technique to blend the hi-lite (meaning doesn’t have to be 100% perfect), then using MASK with opacity’s to blend/combine 2 layers together. This is the same technique to deal with overexposured, or shadow
causes by either the sun or flash.

The clone tool left me with a very blotchy result.
Healing Patch Brush was a complete loser for me.
The burn tool gave me the best results

That’s because the burn tool is the right one for the job. The others aren’t.
It replicates in a digital medium, a technique that photographers have used in darkrooms since the birth of photography.

—
http://www.norfolklupus.co.uk
http://www.thebooknook.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40919519@N00/

rdoc wrote:

Joel wrote:

rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

Many different ways but sometime it just need the right technique to solve the problem. Here are few for you to try

– Clone Tool at low opacity.

– Healing Patch/Brush may work if doing it right, or combination with other’s

– Using layer either to paint, blend etc..

– Using layer, making a dupe of the original and adjust one darker or whatever technique to blend the hi-lite (meaning doesn’t have to be 100% perfect), then using MASK with opacity’s to blend/combine 2 layers together. This is the same technique to deal with overexposured, or shadow
causes by either the sun or flash.

The clone tool left me with a very blotchy result.
Healing Patch Brush was a complete loser for me.
The burn tool gave me the best results which I feel it is ok but not great. I worked on it for over 4 hours. Open for suggestions and criticisms please.

If you’re not entirely happy with the results you’re getting. There’s one other thing you could try.
It sounds like you’ve maybe found a job that’s asking the burn tool to push itself beyond its own limits.
So the solution is to move those limits.
In effect, we’ll reduce the actual amount of change the burn tool needs to perform, by utilising another tool to bridge the gap.

So before you use the burn tool, do this.

Images>Adjustments>Shadow and Highlight.
Play with the sliders until you get a balance you like.
The idea behind this is to flatten the tonal range a bit, so that th edifferences between the highlights and shadows aren’t quite so dramatic. Don’t worry if your image takes a slightly washed out look at this stage. We’re only halfway through.

Now, gently use the burn tool to darken the highlights, and do the same with the dodge tool to bring the shadows up to meet the highlights.

Now you need to do something about that washed out look. So go to Images>Adjustments>Levels.
Now gradually and slowly bring up the black and grey sliders to bring life and depth back into the photo. Go carefully as it’s very easy to overcook the effect and ruin the photo.

And lastly, doing all this can have a funny effect on a photograph. It can dramatically increase the saturation, making the colours appear a lot more artificially vibrant than you would want them. This is easily fixed. Go to Images>Adjust>Hue & Saturation.
Now just gradually slide the saturation slider to the left until the image settles down again.

***IMPORTANT***
It’s vital that you realise the imprtance of going lightly with tweaks and changes.
Because you’re stacking a couple of techniques, the knock on effect of anything you do tends to get multiplied in the end result, so it’s best to set the strength or exposure of your tools quite low, and go as gently as possible. Make lots of small tweaks instead of one big tweak. That way you can use your history pallette to better effect.

Good luck.

—
http://www.norfolklupus.co.uk
http://www.thebooknook.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40919519@N00/

Waterspider wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message

On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:53:04 -0400, rdoc wrote:

Waterspider wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I
have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool
and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the
highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also
tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but
not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue
and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

It might be helpful if you could give us a link to the photo.

I would be more than happy to do that but where do I upload it to?

Why? You asked how to do it, and we adv iced you. Sam and I had different ideas, (read my post to him why I said clone tool). You did not ask us to do it, but asked how to do it. First try it, and then come back if you do not succeed.
Dave

The beauty of Photoshop is that there are often several different options in technique that will result in the same result. That said, there are also situations where only one technique will produce the desired result. I suggested that a link to the photo would be helpful, because an enquiry regarding how to, "darken a highlight on (her) face" is not specific enough to provide a definitive response. Thus, I requested a link to the photo.
Dave– is your assumption that your suggestion is the best, the only, solution? You sounded offended that one might be interested in ideas other than your own (and Sam’s).

Back to the photo, IMHO, the background doesn’t lend itself to flattering the subject. Perhaps a less busy image overall, a plain background with a gaussian blur. Not sure what the final use of the portrait is, but I would even try black and white, or a desaturation to soften the whole thing. In Levels, you might try sliding the middle to lighten or darken the image overall (decrease the contrast, which is not overly kind to the subject).
It’s a tough one to work on; good luck.

Waterspider

I have posted the corrected copy so everyone check it out and give me your criticisms and suggestions. Thanks

http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/?mediafilter=images to see the before and after images.

rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

The image is posted and it is a before and after image there. I am not happy with my results but I guess it is the best I can do with it. It would be great if anyone would give a try at it to see if more can be done with it. That would be a great learning experience. I have played with this image for over a week which I enjoyed doing but I tried everything I could think of and would learn a lot if someone can do more to make it a better image. Thanks and I really appreciate all the help that you all gave me

http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/?mediafilter=images to see the before and after images.

rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

The image is posted and it is a before and after image there. I am not happy with my results but I guess it is the best I can do with it. It would be great if anyone would give a try at it to see if more can be done with it. That would be a great learning experience. I have played with this image for over a week which I enjoyed doing but I tried everything I could think of and would learn a lot if someone can do more to make it a better image. Thanks and I really appreciate all the help that you all gave me

http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/?mediafilter=images to see the before and after images.

I just posted a third image with a layer at top set at multiply. I think that made a nice improvement. Check it out.

"Waterspider"

Why? You asked how to do it, and we adv iced you. Sam and I had different ideas, (read my post to him why I said clone tool). You did not ask us to do it, but asked how to do it. First try it, and then come back if you do not succeed.
Dave

Dave– is your assumption that your suggestion is the best, the only, solution? You sounded offended that one might be interested in ideas other than your own (and Sam’s).

Waterspider

Your question surprises me Waterspider, after I said in the best English I could master ‘First try it, and then come back if you do not succeed’. Most people here will agree that is fair.

1. People are not supposed to simply dump photos here and ask us to do the work for them. When asking for advise, the get swamped with help. In later post it sounded as if he did work on it, but that was not said initially.

2. How could I have felt offended that some one else was interested in other ideas if Sam’s and mine was the only ideas by then? You only asked a link with very clear intentions of being helpful, but still, the only ideas on the table by then was those of Sam and myself.

3. I may not feel offended because here is pro’s on this newsgroup that have already forgotten what I still must learn. In addition to it, my strength is maybe more in Corel Painter than in Photoshop.

4. I keep by what I said – clone tool and brush.

Keep well

Dave

rdoc wrote:

<snip>

Many different ways but sometime it just need the right technique to solve the problem. Here are few for you to try

– Clone Tool at low opacity.

– Healing Patch/Brush may work if doing it right, or combination with other’s

– Using layer either to paint, blend etc..

– Using layer, making a dupe of the original and adjust one darker or whatever technique to blend the hi-lite (meaning doesn’t have to be 100% perfect), then using MASK with opacity’s to blend/combine 2 layers together.
This is the same technique to deal with overexposured, or shadow causes by either the sun or flash.

The clone tool left me with a very blotchy result.
Healing Patch Brush was a complete loser for me.
The burn tool gave me the best results which I feel it is ok but not great. I worked on it for over 4 hours. Open for suggestions and criticisms please.

Clone Tool and others are just the tools, to get the good result will need your SKILL. And as I mentioned Low_Opacity like 5-6% instead of 50-100%

– And cloning 5-10 times of 5% instead of one 25% or 50%.

If you do it right (or having lot of experience) then it may not take more than few minutes if not seconds. And there are 1001 different ways to do, and each should be done with great care.

rdoc wrote:

tacit wrote:

In article ,
rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face.

Image->Adjust->Curves. The most versatile command for color and tonal range correction.

I tried the curves and didn’t find it helpful.
I have posted the corrected copy so everyone check it out and give me your criticisms and suggestions. Thanks

Level, Curve, Selective Color and so one can be helpful, but they they not work alone but you may need to use with combination of Layer, Masking etc..

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

Joel wrote:

MisterMax </max> wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

In fact, Photoshop has a tool designed exactly for this job. It’s called the Burn tool.
Use it like a brush over the highlights and it will gradually darken them.

When I use the Burn tool, it makes the area a neutral gray, not a flesh color like the rest of the face. Is it possible to darken with a color using the burn tool?

(I generally use the clone tool at low opacity to remove a highlight.)
– Max

There are free actions that you can Burn/Dodge with COLOR’s. They are called Paint_With_Light I and II that you can find at CentralAction site.

Thanks Joel I will check that out.

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the brightness on your monitor turned up too high?

—
http://www.norfolklupus.co.uk
http://www.thebooknook.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40919519@N00/

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the brightness on your monitor turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the brightness on your monitor turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

—
http://www.norfolklupus.co.uk
http://www.thebooknook.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40919519@N00/

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the brightness on your monitor turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad
highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the brightness on your monitor
turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

There’s so many ways.
Curves is probably the best way, but you need to take care as it’s easy to mess up that way, especially if you’re not used to working in curves. Channel mixer is also good, but a tad complicated.
If you want a quick’n’easy solution, you could use Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation, then move the hue slider about until you lose the cast. You don’t have anywhere near as much control with this method, but it’s harder to mess up the image if you’re new to Photoshop.

As you’re making your adjustments, keep an eye on areas that should be white. These are your best indication as to whether or not the colour cast has been removed.
Again, be carefull, as it’s easy to remove one colour cast and replace it with a different one without realising.

—
http://www.norfolklupus.co.uk
http://www.thebooknook.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40919519@N00/

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad
highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the brightness on your monitor
turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

There’s so many ways.
Curves is probably the best way, but you need to take care as it’s easy to mess up that way, especially if you’re not used to working in curves. Channel mixer is also good, but a tad complicated.
If you want a quick’n’easy solution, you could use Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation, then move the hue slider about until you lose the cast. You don’t have anywhere near as much control with this method, but it’s harder to mess up the image if you’re new to Photoshop.

As you’re making your adjustments, keep an eye on areas that should be white. These are your best indication as to whether or not the colour cast has been removed.
Again, be carefull, as it’s easy to remove one colour cast and replace it with a different one without realising.

I did a Google search on Color Casts and got a lot of tutorials. Now after watching them I can easily see where your coming from and I agreed with you. I really want to thank you guys for all the help and I will post the final corrected version and would like your opinion. I will let you know when I get it posted.

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad
highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the
brightness on your monitor
turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

There’s so many ways.
Curves is probably the best way, but you need to take care as it’s easy to mess up that way, especially if you’re not used to working in curves. Channel mixer is also good, but a tad complicated. If you want a quick’n’easy solution, you could use
Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation, then move the hue slider about until you lose the cast. You don’t have anywhere near as much control with this method, but it’s harder to mess up the image if you’re new to Photoshop. As you’re making your adjustments, keep an eye on areas that should
be white. These are your best indication as to whether or not the colour cast has been removed.
Again, be carefull, as it’s easy to remove one colour cast and replace it with a different one without realising.

I did a Google search on Color Casts and got a lot of tutorials. Now after watching them I can easily see where your coming from and I agreed with you. I really want to thank you guys for all the help and I will post the final corrected version and would like your opinion. I will let you know when I get it posted.

Look forward to seeing it.
Good luck 🙂

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad
highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the
brightness on your monitor
turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

There’s so many ways.
Curves is probably the best way, but you need to take care as it’s easy to mess up that way, especially if you’re not used to working in curves. Channel mixer is also good, but a tad complicated. If you want a quick’n’easy solution, you could use
Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation, then move the hue slider about until you lose the cast. You don’t have anywhere near as much control with this method, but it’s harder to mess up the image if you’re new to Photoshop. As you’re making your adjustments, keep an eye on areas that should
be white. These are your best indication as to whether or not the colour cast has been removed.
Again, be carefull, as it’s easy to remove one colour cast and replace it with a different one without realising.

I did a Google search on Color Casts and got a lot of tutorials. Now after watching them I can easily see where your coming from and I agreed with you. I really want to thank you guys for all the help and I will post the final corrected version and would like your opinion. I will let you know when I get it posted.

Look forward to seeing it.
Good luck 🙂

Ok it is posted as the Final Image. I wanted to sharpen the jewelry but I did a few other things like blurring and I can’t get it to let me sharpen the jewelry. Is this better now?

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad
highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the
brightness on your monitor
turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

There’s so many ways.
Curves is probably the best way, but you need to take care as it’s easy to mess up that way, especially if you’re not used to working in curves. Channel mixer is also good, but a tad complicated. If you want a quick’n’easy solution, you could use
Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation, then move the hue slider about until you lose the cast. You don’t have anywhere near as much control with this method, but it’s harder to mess up the image if you’re new to Photoshop. As you’re making your adjustments, keep an eye on areas that should
be white. These are your best indication as to whether or not the colour cast has been removed.
Again, be carefull, as it’s easy to remove one colour cast and replace it with a different one without realising.

I did a Google search on Color Casts and got a lot of tutorials. Now after watching them I can easily see where your coming from and I agreed with you. I really want to thank you guys for all the help and I will post the final corrected version and would like your opinion. I will let you know when I get it posted.

Look forward to seeing it.
Good luck 🙂

Ok it is posted as the Final Image. I wanted to sharpen the jewelry but I did a few other things like blurring and I can’t get it to let me sharpen the jewelry. Is this better now? I believe it is and the cast is gone.
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/

"rdoc" wrote in message …

Ok it is posted as the Final Image. I wanted to sharpen the jewelry but I did a few other things like blurring and I can’t get it to let me sharpen the jewelry. Is this better now? I believe it is and the cast is gone. http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/

Very, very nice. Congratulations!
—
Mike Russell – www.curvemeister.com

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the
highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the
brightness on your monitor
turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

There’s so many ways.
Curves is probably the best way, but you need to take care as it’s easy to mess up that way, especially if you’re not used to working in curves. Channel mixer is also good, but a tad complicated. If you want a quick’n’easy solution, you could use
Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation, then move the hue slider about until you lose the cast. You don’t have anywhere near as much control with this method, but it’s harder to mess up the image if you’re new to Photoshop. As you’re making your adjustments, keep an eye on areas that should
be white. These are your best indication as to whether or not the colour cast has been removed.
Again, be carefull, as it’s easy to remove one colour cast and replace it with a different one without realising.

I did a Google search on Color Casts and got a lot of tutorials. Now after watching them I can easily see where your coming from and I agreed with you. I really want to thank you guys for all the help and I will post the final corrected version and would like your opinion. I will let you know when I get it posted.

Look forward to seeing it.
Good luck 🙂

Ok it is posted as the Final Image. I wanted to sharpen the jewelry but I did a few other things like blurring and I can’t get it to let me sharpen the jewelry. Is this better now? I believe it is and the cast is gone.
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/

Great job 🙂

—
http://www.norfolklupus.co.uk
http://www.thebooknook.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40919519@N00/

Mike Russell wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message …

Ok it is posted as the Final Image. I wanted to sharpen the jewelry but I did a few other things like blurring and I can’t get it to let me sharpen the jewelry. Is this better now? I believe it is and the cast is gone. http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/

Very, very nice. Congratulations!

Thanks Mike I really appreciate that you made my month.

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the
highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the
brightness on your monitor
turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

There’s so many ways.
Curves is probably the best way, but you need to take care as it’s easy to mess up that way, especially if you’re not used to working in curves. Channel mixer is also good, but a tad complicated. If you want a quick’n’easy solution, you could use
Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation, then move the hue slider about until you lose the cast. You don’t have anywhere near as much control with this method, but it’s harder to mess up the image if you’re new to Photoshop. As you’re making your adjustments, keep an eye on areas that should
be white. These are your best indication as to whether or not the colour cast has been removed.
Again, be carefull, as it’s easy to remove one colour cast and replace it with a different one without realising.

I did a Google search on Color Casts and got a lot of tutorials. Now after watching them I can easily see where your coming from and I agreed with you. I really want to thank you guys for all the help and I will post the final corrected version and would like your opinion. I will let you know when I get it posted.

Look forward to seeing it.
Good luck 🙂

Ok it is posted as the Final Image. I wanted to sharpen the jewelry but I did a few other things like blurring and I can’t get it to let me sharpen the jewelry. Is this better now? I believe it is and the cast is gone.
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/

Great job 🙂

Thanks that made my month and I really appreciate that.

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t know what the original looks like, but I just saw 3 modified version and I see.

– Color casting

– Lighting, many people call FLAT because there is no shade/shadow. Too bright for my taste

– And you may have to work on each skin-tone, hair color, eyes, cloth etc. separately to make them pop, more contrast, Right now they all have same color

rdoc wrote:

<snip>

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

As long as you haven’t destroyed the color channel, you may have some chance to recover, change, or boost up the color using many different methods (whatever works best), and often the conmbination of multiple commands.

– Curve, Hue/Sat, Color Balance, Selective Color etc.. you go to the Sub-selection to adjust the specific color’s. Example you have orange casting then you may look at the orange, yellow, red etc..

And try the action I mentioned to you in earlier message (it may need some practicing).

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the
highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the
brightness on your monitor
turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

There’s so many ways.
Curves is probably the best way, but you need to take care as it’s easy to mess up that way, especially if you’re not used to working in curves. Channel mixer is also good, but a tad complicated. If you want a quick’n’easy solution, you could use
Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation, then move the hue slider about until you lose the cast. You don’t have anywhere near as much control with this method, but it’s harder to mess up the image if you’re new to Photoshop. As you’re making your adjustments, keep an eye on areas that should
be white. These are your best indication as to whether or not the colour cast has been removed.
Again, be carefull, as it’s easy to remove one colour cast and replace it with a different one without realising.

I did a Google search on Color Casts and got a lot of tutorials. Now after watching them I can easily see where your coming from and I agreed with you. I really want to thank you guys for all the help and I will post the final corrected version and would like your opinion. I will let you know when I get it posted.

Look forward to seeing it.
Good luck 🙂

Ok it is posted as the Final Image. I wanted to sharpen the jewelry but I did a few other things like blurring and I can’t get it to let me sharpen the jewelry. Is this better now? I believe it is and the cast is gone.
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/

Great job 🙂

Thanks that made my month and I really appreciate that.

I have become a photoshop addict so I went to the photo and played and sharpened the jewelry and the dress. Now I believe it is complete.

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Fat Sam wrote:

rdoc wrote:

Mike Russell wrote:

The big problem with this image is not so much the
highlights, but the orange cast. Here’s a take that uses curves and several other Photoshop tools.

http://mike.russell-home.net/tmp/syd/index.htm

Hi,
Your help is appreciated so let me say thanks. I agree that this photo had an orange color to it and you corrected that very nicely. My question to you is doesn’t it still have bad highlights? Thanks again.

I don’t think it does.
To be honest, I didn’t see much problem with the highlights in the original either.
You need a certain amount of shadows and highlights in a photograph. Otherwise it just looks dull and flat like those overcooked HDR shots. Are you sure you haven’t got the
brightness on your monitor
turned up too high?

I don’t think my brightness is to high. However in about 10 days I will have access to another computer so I will check it than. If you look at my corrected photos do you consider them over done?

To be honest, and I don’t mean any offence by this, I think you’ve made it worse.
The areas where you’ve removed the highlights now look and feel flat and featureless.
Images need highlights and shadows to give them depth and make them feel real.
The original picture only needed 3 ammendments.

1. Colour correction to remove the cast.
2. Repair the damaged bits and scratches.
3. Selectively sharpen the image.

If it needs anything else (and I don’t think it does), you could run it through a package like Noise Ninja to reduce the film grain effect, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much, as grain is a natural element of film, and you run the risk of losing detail by doing this.

Thanks for your comments it is appreciated. In your opinion what is the best and easiest way to remove color casts?

There’s so many ways.
Curves is probably the best way, but you need to take care as it’s easy to mess up that way, especially if you’re not used to working in curves. Channel mixer is also good, but a tad complicated. If you want a quick’n’easy solution, you could use
Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation, then move the hue slider about until you lose the cast. You don’t have anywhere near as much control with this method, but it’s harder to mess up the image if you’re new to Photoshop. As you’re making your adjustments, keep an eye on areas that should
be white. These are your best indication as to whether or not the colour cast has been removed.
Again, be carefull, as it’s easy to remove one colour cast and replace it with a different one without realising.

I did a Google search on Color Casts and got a lot of tutorials. Now after watching them I can easily see where your coming from and I agreed with you. I really want to thank you guys for all the help and I will post the final corrected version and would like your opinion. I will let you know when I get it posted.

Look forward to seeing it.
Good luck 🙂

Ok it is posted as the Final Image. I wanted to sharpen the jewelry but I did a few other things like blurring and I can’t get it to let me sharpen the jewelry. Is this better now? I believe it is and the cast is gone.
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/

Great job 🙂

Thanks that made my month and I really appreciate that.

I have become a photoshop addict so I went to the photo and played and sharpened the jewelry and the dress. Now I believe it is complete. http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/ check the photo with more sharpening. Thanks to all again.

rdoc wrote:

<snip>

Thanks that made my month and I really appreciate that.

I have become a photoshop addict so I went to the photo and played and sharpened the jewelry and the dress. Now I believe it is complete.

It would be nice if you guys trim off the tail of long_message a little … I usually skip the overquoted msg, but just want to lets you guys know that overquoting may not get many viewer.

rdoc

<snip>
<snip>
<snip>
<snip>
<snip>
<snip> X 100

Joel
It would be nice if you guys trim off the tail of long_message a little .. I usually skip the overquoted msg, but just want to lets you guys know that overquoting may not get many viewer.

100% agreed

Dave

"rdoc" wrote in message
….

I have become a photoshop addict so I went to the photo and played and sharpened the jewelry and the dress. Now I believe it is complete. http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/ check the photo with more sharpening. Thanks to all again.

Looks even better – try sharpening just the eyes and I think it will look even better.
—
Mike Russell – www.curvemeister.com

Mike Russell wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message
…

I have become a photoshop addict so I went to the photo and played and sharpened the jewelry and the dress. Now I believe it is complete. http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa312/rdoc_photos/Highlig ht/ check the photo with more sharpening. Thanks to all again.

Looks even better – try sharpening just the eyes and I think it will look even better.

Thanks Mike but I did those at over 150 so I am afraid to push it anymore but I will try that. I used the unsharp mask.

"rdoc" wrote in message

Thanks Mike but I did those at over 150 so I am afraid to push it anymore but I will try that. I used the unsharp mask.

I find a radius of .5 or so, with a percent of about 125, threshold zero, does a good job without making things too harsh. Use the lasso with a feather of 5 or 10 pixels to select just the eyes.

You’re doing very well with this photo though – I imagine it’s an important one for your family. (Family comes to mind because I just got ranted at by a rather persnickety aunt who is on the outs with my side of the family, ouch!).
—
Mike Russell – www.curvemeister.com

Mike Russell wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message

Thanks Mike but I did those at over 150 so I am afraid to push it anymore but I will try that. I used the unsharp mask.

I find a radius of .5 or so, with a percent of about 125, threshold zero, does a good job without making things too harsh. Use the lasso with a feather of 5 or 10 pixels to select just the eyes.

You’re doing very well with this photo though – I imagine it’s an important one for your family. (Family comes to mind because I just got ranted at by a rather persnickety aunt who is on the outs with my side of the family, ouch!).

Thanks Mike the photo is my mother who isn’t with us anymore. I will try to sharpen the eyes more. When I do this should I create a new layer to do it on? If so I will copy the background layer that is a virgin layer. Now where is the best place to put it in the stack of layers?

"rdoc" wrote in message
[re sharpening]

Thanks Mike the photo is my mother who isn’t with us anymore. I will try to sharpen the eyes more. When I do this should I create a new layer to do it on? If so I will copy the background layer that is a virgin layer. Now where is the best place to put it in the stack of layers?

Layers are a good technique for this, though there’s nothing wrong with sharpening directly, provided you have saved your previous work. I would put the layer immediately above the background layer, so that any other existing layers are on top of it. Here are a couple of techniques you might find useful.

1) dup the background layer, sharpen it in the usual way,
2) create a layer mask for that layer, specifying "Hide All".
3) click on the layer mask, and use the paint brush to paint white where you want the sharpening (good rule of thumb, always paint in the opposite color of the layer mask)

Another interesting method of sharpening is this:
1) dup the background layer
2) run High Pass, specifying the same radius and as you would for USM – in this case about .5
3) set the mode of the new layer to "Overlay". Voila, you have a sharpened image. Use a layer mask on *that* layer to restrict the sharpening (BTW, hair, eyes, and mouth line also benefit generally from sharpening.

Here’s another tutorial that discusses using other layer modes – hard light, etc – for sharpening:
http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/sharpen-an-image/p hoto-sharpening.html —
Mike Russell – www.curvemeister.com

rdoc wrote:

<snip>

Thanks Mike the photo is my mother who isn’t with us anymore. I will try to sharpen the eyes more. When I do this should I create a new layer to do it on? If so I will copy the background layer that is a virgin layer. Now where is the best place to put it in the stack of layers?

Sharpen? no, you do no need to create another layer (but won’t hurt to protect the original image), or you can apply sharpen directly to the eyes.

Working on "the eyes", "hair", "cloth" etc. sure, you can use separate layer
then Mask (or similar) to blend to the original (or lower layer). Same if you wanna whitten the eyes’ area

1. Create a blank layer

2. Using paint brush to paint some white color at low opacity

3. Using Erase Tool at low opacity to soften and fine-tuning

4. Merge the layers and you will have a darker, sharper, and sprakling looking eyes etc..

Mike Russell wrote:

"rdoc" wrote in message
[re sharpening]

Thanks Mike the photo is my mother who isn’t with us anymore. I will try to sharpen the eyes more. When I do this should I create a new layer to do it on? If so I will copy the background layer that is a virgin layer. Now where is the best place to put it in the stack of layers?

Layers are a good technique for this, though there’s nothing wrong with sharpening directly, provided you have saved your previous work. I would put the layer immediately above the background layer, so that any other existing layers are on top of it. Here are a couple of techniques you might find useful.

1) dup the background layer, sharpen it in the usual way,
2) create a layer mask for that layer, specifying "Hide All".
3) click on the layer mask, and use the paint brush to paint white where you want the sharpening (good rule of thumb, always paint in the opposite color of the layer mask)

Another interesting method of sharpening is this:
1) dup the background layer
2) run High Pass, specifying the same radius and as you would for USM – in this case about .5
3) set the mode of the new layer to "Overlay". Voila, you have a sharpened image. Use a layer mask on *that* layer to restrict the sharpening (BTW, hair, eyes, and mouth line also benefit generally from sharpening.
Here’s another tutorial that discusses using other layer modes – hard light, etc – for sharpening:
http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/sharpen-an-image/p hoto-sharpening.html

Mike you are a gem, thanks for your help. It is really appreciated.

Joel wrote:

rdoc wrote:

<snip>

Thanks Mike the photo is my mother who isn’t with us anymore. I will try to sharpen the eyes more. When I do this should I create a new layer to do it on? If so I will copy the background layer that is a virgin layer. Now where is the best place to put it in the stack of layers?

Sharpen? no, you do no need to create another layer (but won’t hurt to protect the original image), or you can apply sharpen directly to the eyes.
Working on "the eyes", "hair", "cloth" etc. sure, you can use separate layer
then Mask (or similar) to blend to the original (or lower layer). Same if you wanna whitten the eyes’ area

1. Create a blank layer

2. Using paint brush to paint some white color at low opacity
3. Using Erase Tool at low opacity to soften and fine-tuning
4. Merge the layers and you will have a darker, sharper, and sprakling looking eyes etc..

Joel your help is really appreciated and I will put it to work. This is really advanced stuff in photoshop for me but I will get it. Thanks ever so much.

rdoc wrote:

Joel wrote:

rdoc wrote:

<snip>

Thanks Mike the photo is my mother who isn’t with us anymore. I will try to sharpen the eyes more. When I do this should I create a new layer to do it on? If so I will copy the background layer that is a virgin layer. Now where is the best place to put it in the stack of layers?

Sharpen? no, you do no need to create another layer (but won’t hurt to protect the original image), or you can apply sharpen directly to the eyes.
Working on "the eyes", "hair", "cloth" etc. sure, you can use separate layer
then Mask (or similar) to blend to the original (or lower layer). Same if you wanna whitten the eyes’ area

1. Create a blank layer

2. Using paint brush to paint some white color at low opacity
3. Using Erase Tool at low opacity to soften and fine-tuning
4. Merge the layers and you will have a darker, sharper, and sprakling looking eyes etc..

Joel your help is really appreciated and I will put it to work. This is really advanced stuff in photoshop for me but I will get it. Thanks ever so much.

Those are all very basics, but may require some practicing to put them in good use. IOW, we just need to learn on technique then adapt it to other to create another technique/style. Or

– Painting is an advanced but good control of paint brush may take some practicing.

– Layer isn’t an advanaced, but how to take advatage of multiple layer will require some knowlege of other basic’s.

– Masking isn’t an advanaced, but mastering the masking technique may require lot of skill of other’s and months of practicing. But just use Mask as an erase tool (similar to History brush) doesn’t require lot of skill.

rdoc wrote:

I have a portrait of a female and her face has a large highlight on it. I have tried to cover it and remove the highlight with the spot healing tool and I am not having any luck. Can you suggest a way that I can darken the highlight on her face. I am using Photoshop CS2 and Windows XP. I have also tried selecting it and using levels to darken it which works a little but not good. I also tried while it was selected to improve the area with Hue and Saturation and that works a little but not well.
Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks

Open the image.

Look at the image. Find an area, probably near the highlight, where the skin tone is appropriate for filling in to the highlight. Make a note of this position, and maybe even put a Color Sampler Tool sampler there.

Convert to LAB mode. (Image -> Mode -> LAB)

Open the Channels palette.

Click on the Lightness channel. You see a lovely black and white image.

LAB mode has three channels: Lightness, and then A and B, so LAB. A and B represent only the color of a given pixel, not its lightness. The Lightness channel contains no color information, obviously. One of the benefits of this color model is that you can create colors not possible within the RGB model. And that’s what you’re about to do.

Click on the A channel. A funky grey version of the image will appear. Hold down shift and click on the B channel. The image will change into a color image, but look quite strange.

Note that the highlight area appears as a grey spot. You’re going to color in this spot with the surrounding color. (It’s grey because it’s a blowout, and the blowout doesn’t have any color information.)

Use the Eyedropper tool to pick up the color from the area in the picture you found before. It won’t look like it did before you selected the A and B channels, but it actually *is* the same color.

Now, with the A and B channels still selected, paint over the area of the highlight. The image will still look strange, but trust me. 🙂

When you’ve painted over the highlight area, click on the LAB channel. The highlighted area is now filled with color. If it looks unnatural, find another color to use, or perhaps use a gradient. You can also steal a nice selection off the Lightness channel (Selection -> Color Range) so you’re not painting over too many details.

The real advantage here is that once you’ve done this, you can then go back and use contrast and brightness and so forth, not something you want to do after using the burn tool or cloning.

HTH.

—
http://www.xoverboard.com/cartoons/2007/070416_argument.html