12 Replies Latest reply: Oct 12, 2010 8:19 PM by George Austin RSS

    Help with shadow

    tmoore323@neo.rr.com Community Member

      Deb-BrianPose-1888Fix.jpg

       

      Shadow under her chin, would like to fix it, any suggestions welcome.

       

      Thanks!

        • 1. Re: Help with shadow
          Noel Carboni Community Member

          Try Image - Adjust - Shadows/Highlights.  A bit of advice:  Try to be conservative with this too, too much of it can make an image look flat and unnatural.

           

          Possibly also a little bit of Image - Adjust - Curves to bring up the midtones.

           

          SH.jpg

           

          -Noel

          • 2. Re: Help with shadow
            tmoore323@neo.rr.com Community Member

            Thanks, but what your showing there Noel already is looking un-natural to me and you really didn't do anyting for the shadow under the chin... I want to target that area specifically I like the tones in the rest of the picture and just want to affect that part if possible. I know it is possible have found some ways to do it with layers and adjustment masks but very time consuming. Looking for a reasonable work flow....

             

            Thanks!

            • 3. Re: Help with shadow
              Noel Carboni Community Member

              I know you know what you want, but to be honest in the bright sun that shadow looks pretty natural.

               

              I agree that the Shadows/Highlights tool can be overdone easily, and you're right, I kind of overdid it.  Another tool that could help overall is the Image - Adjust - HDR Toning in CS5.

               

              You could try to lighten the shadow spot with the Dodge tool.

               

              -Noel

              • 4. Re: Help with shadow
                tmoore323@neo.rr.com Community Member

                Thanks, dodging helped a lot, but again tedious....

                 

                Any other suggestons really appreciated!

                • 5. Re: Help with shadow
                  Gyno-jiz Community Member

                  Clone stamp or better yet healing brush, on a reduced-opacity layer. You can use a selection or a hard-edged brush to help constrain the healing effects from bleeding too far. You can also mask in the effect of a lightening adjustment layer (or s/h) under her chin before attempting to blend out the shadow. You might give some attention to her eyes, as they will seem squintier and squintier as you reduce the shadow.

                   

                  I would also be very interested in a non-tedious workflow for image problems like this.

                  • 6. Re: Help with shadow
                    Noel Carboni Community Member

                    Well, you're either saddled with careful painting of effects on the image, or use of the various tools.

                     

                    The Dodge tool set to Shadows does a pretty nice job, and it's not all that tedious.  Set up the image in 16 bits per channel and you can do a lot of editing on it without visible degradation.

                     

                    Are you expecting to have to do more than one of these like this, or is this a one-off?  I sense more the former than the latter.

                     

                    For future shoots I recommend fill flash, possibly with a slight warming gel on the camera.

                     

                    -Noel

                     

                    P.S., I used HDR Toning to bring in the extremes some, then mixed the result back with the original to retain a lot of the nice color contrasts and depth, then I Dodged the shadow under her chin some, with the tool set to Shadows, and Protect Tones.  Not really all that tedious.  Is this more along the lines of what you were shooting for?

                     

                    WS2.jpg

                    • 7. Re: Help with shadow
                      George Austin Community Member

                      image_pjpeg2.jpg

                       

                             Yes, the original shadow is somehow distracting. Reforming it helps.

                      • 8. Re: Help with shadow
                        tmoore323@neo.rr.com Community Member

                        I like what you did George, can you elaborate on how you did it?

                        • 9. Re: Help with shadow
                          George Austin Community Member

                          I don't remember exactly what I did but here are the essentials:

                           

                          (1) Using Quick Select tool, selected shadowed part of white dress and cloned it from adjacent unshadowed part to left of shadow

                           

                          (2) Using Pen tool, selected shadowed skin area I wanted to be likewise cloned from unshadowed skin

                           

                          (3) Using Healing Brush, smeared out interface lines which were introduced by the above steps

                           

                          (4 ) Using Clone tool with tiny cursor, replicated shadow from lower skin/dress interface along new upper skin/dress interface

                           

                          (5) Applied Shadows & Highlights feature

                           

                          (6) I think I got the edge gradient on the resulting under-chin shadow via the healing brush

                           

                          Since I'm using CS4, I couldn't try Puppet Warp, but I'm thinking that might be useful in reshaping the shadow.

                          • 10. Re: Help with shadow
                            Noel Carboni Community Member

                            Nice job for what you did, George, but frankly I think it makes the image look kind of unnatural.

                             

                            Once you can see into the shadow somewhat it's no longer a problem, IMO.

                             

                            -Noel

                            • 11. Re: Help with shadow
                              emil emil Community Member

                              amoore323 wrote:

                               

                              I like what you did George, ...?

                               

                               

                              IMHO, It is not the shadow that you don't like but how the reflection under the chin makes it look like a double chin and emphasizes a wrinkle that may not be how the girl looks like in real life. This is where photography cannot beat an artist. With his paint over, George smoothed the shading under the chin and now the details that bothered you are not there but he also removed entirely the cast shadow on the shoulder which makes the photo looks fake and badly Photoshoped. I believe that this will be noticed from many people - image professionals will see it immediately and ordinary people my not tell what's wrong but will feel something is not quite right there.

                               

                              You need an artist to fix that.

                              • 12. Re: Help with shadow
                                George Austin Community Member

                                Noel and emil,

                                 

                                I agree. I'm not overjoyed with my artistry. More time, artistic talent, and loving attention are needed.