Re: Maria, Yes or No?

Tina,

I don't know how you do your dodges and burns in photoshop and I'm not sure
if the shadow is too opaque for this to work but I think there might be
information there for you to at least try this:

First, for all my adjustments I make a new layer. In this case I would make
a new curve adjustment layer and name it something like "DoorwayShadowCrv"
so that it doesn't get confused with all my other adjustment layers. Then I
would bend the curve (while looking only at the shadow and not the rest of
the picture) so that it lightens the shadow to the desired degree or
greater. Also, make sure that this is the topmost layer. (I'm sure you knew
that already but others who don't work in layers may not). Now you have a
properly lightened shadow and the rest of the photo looks horrible and way
too light. You'll also have an empty mask on the curve layer you just
created. Next make sure you set white as the foreground color and black as
the background color. Click the mask so it's active, go to "edit/fill" on
the menu bar and when you get the fill dialogue use the background color as
fill at 100%. This will fill the mask with black and obscure all the
adjustments made by the curve. Now use the brush tool with your white
foreground color (maybe at 50% opacity on the brush) and paint away the
black on the mask until you have the desired degree of dodging. Do this on
the shadow on the actual main picture and it will remove it from the mask.
You can turn the mask on and off by clickin on it while holding the shift
key to see the effect with and without mask. You can also (on a mac) hold
the "option" key and click on the mask to see where you've painted away the
mask. Or paint over your mistakes with black and start again. Sometimes I'll
vary the opacity of the brush while working an area so that it transitions
better rather than being all the same burn. I might also adjust the hardness
of the brush edge. On the mac I do this mostly with keyboard commands ( [
and ] for larger and smaller brush; control key for brush hardness; numbers
0-9 for brush opacity. Then I never have to move the cursor/brush away from
the area I'm working on. I also immediately when I start to work on a
picture hit the "F" key so that the picture occupies the screen with a grey
background which not only eliminates distractions but allows me to move it
around to get where I need to work by simply pressing the space bar and
clicking and dragging with the mouse. Most of my Mexico pictures I work this
way going into each highlight and shadow and lightening and darkening them.
I usuall make several curve layers such as "MidtoneLightenCrv" or
"MidtoneDarkenCrv"; "BlacksCrv"; "HighlightsCrv". Then I can use them and
paint the masks with brushes of varying opacity to get the desired degree of
dodge or burn. Also, they're all adjustable after the fact. If I want to
lighten or darken them later I can just click on the layer and reshape the
curve. If you want to make it even lighter you can select "screen" for the
layer mode and this will lighten it even more. Although I think yo might get
into trouble on this picture due to the contrast range. Anyway, with your
experience, I suspect you knew most of this already but I thought it might
be helpful to those who are looking at your picture and wondering how to
approach this problem. Best regards.

Carl Sander Socolow

p.s. Sorry to go on for so long.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tina Manley" <images@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <digitalusersgroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <leica@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Leica Users
Group" <lug@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <MUGers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <paw@xxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<seephoto@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 9:36 PM
Subject: Maria, Yes or No?


> PESO:
>
> This one I don't know about.  The shadow of the doorway on the right
> is very distracting, but if I crop it out, I also crop out Jesus and
> I like that as a part of the photo.  I haven't been able to lighten
> the shadow convincingly.  Forget it or keep trying?
>
> http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/image/63619863
>
> Thanks!
>
> Tina
>
> Tina Manley, ASMP, NPPA
> http://www.tinamanley.com
>
>
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