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lrand2012
lrand2012
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Getting Rid of A Shadow

Jun 21, 2012 7:59 AM

Hi!  I am new to the community and a novice at using photoshop aelements (I am using version 10).  I really hope that you can help me.  I took a picture and there is a shadow around the subject. Not all the way around, mostly on one side.  I have watched tutorials and read some of the messages in the forum, but it all seems like a foreign language to me!  I will admit that I am a little intimidated!  I was wondering, if by looking at the photo, you would be willing to walk me through the step by step process to get rid of the shadow.  I would really appreciate your help.  I just tried to attach the picture by clicking on the camera icon, but it told me that it was too large. Is there another way to get it on here so you can see it?  Thank you so much!

1302 Views   16 Replies   Latest reply: hatstead, Jul 13, 2012 11:23 AM
 
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  • 99jon
    10,084 posts
    Jan 6, 2010
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    1. 99jon,
    Jun 21, 2012 8:01 AM   in reply to lrand2012
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    You can upload it to Dropbox, Sendspace or similar free sites.

     

    Then post the link.

     
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  • lrand2012
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    2. lrand2012,
    Jun 21, 2012 8:28 AM   in reply to 99jon
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    OK, I think I got it.  Had to install everything first.  Here is the link.  https://www.dropbox.com/photos/ADOBE/

     
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  • hatstead
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    3. hatstead,
    Jun 21, 2012 9:02 AM   in reply to lrand2012
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    Link does not work.

     

    Please post picture at www.pixentral.com.

     

    Provide URL in your reply here so that we may open it.

     
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  • lrand2012
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    4. lrand2012,
    Jun 21, 2012 9:44 AM   in reply to hatstead
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    Ok, will try that now...

     
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  • lrand2012
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    5. lrand2012,
    Jun 21, 2012 9:51 AM   in reply to hatstead
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    Here is the new link...hope it works this time!  http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1TKgCxm6dgJJw1ZcTafUtrHgjqcv E0

     
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  • photodrawken
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    6. photodrawken,
    Jun 21, 2012 11:04 AM   in reply to lrand2012
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    One suggestion is to lighten the shadow without trying to eliminate it completely:

    shadow 01.png

     

    I used the Quick Selection tool to select the shadowed areas, and the Selection Brush tool to refine the selection.  Then Enhance...Adjust Lighting...Levels and moved the middle slider to the left to lighten the shadow area.

     

    Ken

     
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  • hatstead
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    7. hatstead,
    Jun 21, 2012 11:18 AM   in reply to lrand2012
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    I used the clone stamp tool to remove the shadow ;

     

    shadow_4.jpg

     
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  • 99jon
    10,084 posts
    Jan 6, 2010
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    8. 99jon,
    Jun 21, 2012 11:48 AM   in reply to lrand2012
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    I can’t do any better than Ken. This is a classic shot using flash where the subject is so close to the wall.

     
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  • photodrawken
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    9. photodrawken,
    Jun 21, 2012 2:25 PM   in reply to 99jon
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    I see that I forgot to lighten the shadow on the balloon behind the woman's head, as well as on the balloons behind the man's head....

     

    Ken

     
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  • Mark Sand
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    10. Mark Sand,
    Jun 22, 2012 6:32 AM   in reply to lrand2012
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    Here is a tip when using the Clone tool:

     

    1. Use the Magic Wand to select the shadow. Here I selected the top portion:

     

    sshot-1.jpg

     

    2. Now you can use a large clone size and clone over the selection. The selection edges protect you from cloning over the girl. Here you can see the clone size I used.

     

    sshot-2.jpg

    3. Deselect the selection. Depending on the accuracy of the Magic Wand there may be some excess shadow, as there was here. Clone over these.

     

    sshot-3.jpg

     

    The shadow on the star at the bottom was a bit trickier. Here is the result after the Magic Wand selection and cloning. We want to eliminate the cloned portion over the star.

     

    sshot-10.jpg

     

    I selected the left corner of the star using the Rectangular Marquee.

     

    sshot-11.jpg

     

    I copied this selection to a new layer, rotated the layer horizontally, and used the Move tool to position it over star's right corner:

     

    sshot-12.jpg

     

     

    Finally I added a blank layer at the top and created a snapshot of all the layers: Alt-Shift-Ctrl-E.

    Then applied a levels adjustment to brighten the picture a bit. I noticed there were some hard edges and jaggies on the girls' hair from the selection in step 1, so I used the Blur tool to soften these. Here is the final result. 

    I uploaded it to http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1bB3w0MuHpu9xAKQwe54ex28Z9gI Jf where you can fetch it.

     

    sshot-9.jpg

     
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  • photodrawken
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    11. photodrawken,
    Jun 22, 2012 10:03 AM   in reply to Mark Sand
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    Mark,

     

    That's a good tip about using a selection to limit the targetted area of the Clone tool.  That technique can also be used with the Spot Healing Brush in its "Content Aware" mode to help reduce the amount of streaking, etc.

     

    Ken

     
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  • lrand2012
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    12. lrand2012,
    Jul 12, 2012 4:08 PM   in reply to photodrawken
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    Thanks so much to everyone for all of your help!  Sorry it took me so long to get back to you guys.  I think that I managed to get it done.  Not as perfect as yours, but close enough.  I think.  Now, if you can help me with one more thing.  Can anyone give me a suggestion for sprucing the photo up a little?  The decorations that were there were nice, but the photo still doesn't "pop" for me.  Help please!

     
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  • 99jon
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    Jan 6, 2010
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    13. 99jon,
    Jul 12, 2012 4:51 PM   in reply to lrand2012
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    You could use the smart brush to change one or more colors.

     

    coupleimage_png.png

     
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  • lrand2012
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    14. lrand2012,
    Jul 12, 2012 4:58 PM   in reply to 99jon
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    That looks pretty cool! I might try that for some of the prints that I am going to give to the kids.  But her mom is older and more traditional, and she might not have our same sense of appreciation for that effect, so I would like to try something different for her.  A suggestion for that?

     
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  • lrand2012
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    15. lrand2012,
    Jul 13, 2012 10:50 AM   in reply to lrand2012
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    Like maybe something else should be in the background? Or a border or something?  it just doesn't have that "elegant" look, but that was all they had there, so that was all I had to work with.

     
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  • hatstead
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    16. hatstead,
    Jul 13, 2012 11:23 AM   in reply to lrand2012
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    Many possibilities.

     

    206870_310_462_cache_2.jpg

     
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