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Can anyone make this shot POP !

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Hi Glenn,

I just loved what you did with the photo. Would you please explain to me just how you went about doing it.

Thank you,
Fred
 
Thanks for asking...

Forgive me for working from memory here... this is pretty close... try it yourself too.

Tip: I personally stay away from auto settings and often I will use the fade from the edit menu to see how changes look in varying degrees.
  • I adjust any obvious color issues. In this I slightly increased the green saturation just for a little pop..
  • Using the dropper I selected a color from just below the dark cirlces under the eyes and (set the flow to 25% and the opacity to 33%) brushed the circles to a more pleasing color.
  • Using the clone tool I took my new under eye area and cloned it over the bags under the eyes. If you look at the original and my copy you will see those bags are gone. This is one of the most significant things I do to improve a face when I want the glam look. Also blending colors from the corners of the eye can make a big difference.
  • Using the clone tool I go throughout the whole picture carefully removing blemishes, scratches etc. I just clone from something close by.
  • I grabbed a color from the red pallet and brushed it with a mild opacity over the lips to redden them a little.
  • I zoomed in on the eyes and at about a 11% opacity I whitened the whites of the eyes. Sometimes I go over them a couple times.
  • I grabbed a blue-ish color and at about the same level added just a tiny bit of blue to the eyes. Just a touch.
  • Using a larger selection tool I gave the face and the rest a quick brush using colors from the cooresponding areas. Be sure to keep the tool small enough not to remove too much shadow from places where the shadows add drama. With skin tones I almost never import a color.
  • Now I use the Bright/Contrast tool. I think it is a common mistake to do this first. I used to brighten and contrast first but by waiting I can see flaws in my brushing or other adjustments when I go to extremes in the preview window. I correct them and then the picture will look better on a variety of monitors.
  • I used an unsharp mask of about 187 .04Rad
  • Then I zoom in and carefully look for areas that pixilate under the unsharp mask. I use the blur tool to make those areas behave being careful to stay away from the eyes.
  • Then I use master Hue/Saturation to do a quick check that the colors look natural but pop enough to make me happy and I call it done.
Sounds like a lot but really takes me about 5 minutes after a huge amount of repeating this process. Of course every picture is a little different and require small changes. This particular technique wont work with all.

Tip: I like the diffuse glow tool for whites and I use it often. It did not come into play on this pic but if you have not used that, I strongly reccommend it. I use it often.
--
Regards,
Glenn Lyvers

http://michianatalent.com
http://NationalModelingDirectory.Com
 
steve w moore said:
Your modification really sings! Can you go into more detail about
your process?
--
steve moore
Click to expand...
Thank you! I duped the image once in multiply mode to darken the background. Duped it again in screen mode, masked it out, and painted back in selectively to brighten face etc. Some PWL on face, and some painting on a blank solft-light layer. Some work on the eyes to enhance details and color.
--
~ Peano
 
A little fill flash to remove some shadow on the face, some noise removal to smooth out the complection but not so much that you loose skin texture and then a little fade correction...





--
...Dennis
 
Glenn, Love what you did with my Pic. I tried to follw your instructions below but had no luck, Please forgive my lack of understanding but I'm only new to retouching. can you please tell me if this process was all done in Layers e.g did you start by Duplicating Layer.
Glenn Lyvers said:
Thanks for asking...
Click to expand...
Glenn Lyvers said:
  • I adjust any obvious color issues. In this I slightly increased
the green saturation just for a little pop..
Click to expand...
1st Understad this
Glenn Lyvers said:
  • Using the dropper I selected a color from just below the dark
cirlces under the eyes and (set the flow to 25% and the opacity to
33%) brushed the circles to a more pleasing color.
Click to expand...
Did you change the Blending mode, when I chose a colour under the eye and followed your instructions I got dark brush stokes.
Glenn Lyvers said:
  • Using the clone tool I took my new under eye area and cloned it
over the bags under the eyes. If you look at the original and my
copy you will see those bags are gone. This is one of the most
significant things I do to improve a face when I want the glam
look. Also blending colors from the corners of the eye can make a
big difference.
Click to expand...
Is this done with a new layer active or on the B/G layer.
Glenn Lyvers said:
  • Using the clone tool I go throughout the whole picture carefully
removing blemishes, scratches etc. I just clone from something
close by.
Click to expand...
Layers Again?
Glenn Lyvers said:
  • I grabbed a color from the red pallet and brushed it with a mild
opacity over the lips to redden them a little.
  • I zoomed in on the eyes and at about a 11% opacity I whitened the
whites of the eyes. Sometimes I go over them a couple times.
  • I grabbed a blue-ish color and at about the same level added just
a tiny bit of blue to the eyes. Just a touch.
Click to expand...
OK understand about eyes + lips.
Glenn Lyvers said:
  • Using a larger selection tool I gave the face and the rest a
quick brush using colors from the cooresponding areas. Be sure to
keep the tool small enough not to remove too much shadow from
places where the shadows add drama. With skin tones I almost never
import a color.
Click to expand...
Now this is the part I really like ( The Face ) I could not find a sutible colour for the face because of the shadows on the side. Can you please expain how you got the skin tones to blend like that.
Glenn Lyvers said:
  • Now I use the Bright/Contrast tool. I think it is a common
mistake to do this first. I used to brighten and contrast first but
by waiting I can see flaws in my brushing or other adjustments when
I go to extremes in the preview window. I correct them and then the
picture will look better on a variety of monitors.
  • I used an unsharp mask of about 187 .04Rad
  • Then I zoom in and carefully look for areas that pixilate under
the unsharp mask. I use the blur tool to make those areas behave
being careful to stay away from the eyes.
  • Then I use master Hue/Saturation to do a quick check that the
colors look natural but pop enough to make me happy and I call it
done.
Click to expand...
Ok I follow the rest. Really appreciate your help.
Ray
Glenn Lyvers said:
Sounds like a lot but really takes me about 5 minutes after a huge
amount of repeating this process. Of course every picture is a
little different and require small changes. This particular
technique wont work with all.

Tip: I like the diffuse glow tool for whites and I use it often. It
did not come into play on this pic but if you have not used that, I
strongly reccommend it. I use it often.
--
Regards,
Glenn Lyvers

http://michianatalent.com
http://NationalModelingDirectory.Com
Click to expand...
 
Here's my try. I played only with "selective colours"... and gave it a very very slight unsharp mask at the end, just a 20% 1,5px... I didn't want to make it too saturated, I prefered to keep things natural.

 
Your Origonal:



Here is my edit:



Now I have a few things fighting me.....This is using PS Elements...not my CS at home.

Very small image.

Changed the tonality of the picture using the eyedropper in levels clicking on grey in background.

Use Hue/Saturation adjustments to make minor tweaks.

Lassoed eyes to brighten them just a touch...and bring out their color and saturation.

Lassoed model and featherd it then selected inverse..and darkedned the background a touch using levels.

Thats it.

Could have done a lot better at home with PSCS2 and a larger shot....as any edits on this small 8bit file really introduces artfacts.

Roman
--
Schrodinger's cat is alive...no...dead...no...alive.....no, wait....
http://www.pbase.com/romansphotos/
 
No, for some projects I do dupe layers but this type of picture for me is pretty easy with a straightforward approach just using the tools as stated. It just takes practice. However, good results can also be achieved using the layer technique and PWL but I personally don't feel that yields the same quality.

My first few dozen tries did not go well so developing a freestyle technique is not something that comes on your first try but after you do it for a little while you develope a good eye for what things will look like and what works well. If you plan to keep trying you might start by getting a dozen different pictures and just working eyes... then just work blemishes/facial skin... liek that... pretty soon you will be great at it and you wont ever go back to the layers. heh... or maybe that's just me.

At first you will find your technique requires you to make smaller changes over and over but when you get the technique down you will make intuitive tool choices and make dramatic changes in larger swooping strokes. When you get to that point the process is so fast you will wonder why anyone uses the layers.

That being said, I know most people here don't have jobs that require them to sit and brush pictures over and over for days. Most people wont take the time to practice this and that is fine. If you can take a couple things from my technique, a couple from someone else and toss in a few tricks you learned yourself and soon you might get better results with your own personal style. Developing good technique by imitating others is only the start. Over time you will find your own style to get the same or better results. It is all a very personal experience. At least that is how I see it.

I am flattered you asked me. I'm still learning too. ;)

--
Regards,
Glenn Lyvers

http://michianatalent.com
http://NationalModelingDirectory.Com
 
Here's my try. I decided to make a closer portrait of the lovely model.

I changed the dress color, desaturated the background, added a flare effect, played with some saturations, removed some skin imprefections, added some blur, etc.

 
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