Meeting 20

Volere e' potere

Topics:  Stump the Chump, Quick restoration of a creased print, Smoothing skin in portraits, Multiple Selections using the Quick Mask tool, Creative #3

Stump the Chump
Toning steps for a picture.

A Quick Head-Start for Restoring a Creased Print
Sometimes a simple trick can provide a huge head-start on a restoration project. This is one such trick when you have a print with a crease through it.

Scan a creased print, then rotate it 180-degrees and scan it a second time. This reverses shadows on the creases between the two scans.

Save both files. (For this exercise, use restore_scan_1.png and restore_scan_2.png from Exercises 3).

In Photoshop, choose File>Scripts>Statistics. In the Image Statistics dialog box, Browse for both files. They should both appear in the window. the Stack Mode choice should show Mean, and check the "Attempt to Automatically Align Source" Images box.

Click OK.

Near the crease, the print's surface is three dimensional. The scanner light, coming from one direction, will make the print on one side of the crease lighter, and the other side darker. When you rotate the print 180-degrees and scan again, the light and dark areas change places. The Mean function will average out the light and dark areas, saving a lot of time when retouching the image further.

Quick Mask tool Review
Review using the quick mask mode for dodging and burning. Also show how setting the gradient fill tool to Foreground to Transparent can be used to choose multiple selection areas (i.e., corners) within one picture for further dodging or burning.

Multiple Selection Areas exercise

Open Dageur.jpg (Exercises 5) for demos.

Set Default colors in the Tool Box (press "D")

IMPORTANT NOTE: Check to be sure that Quick-Mask mode is set to Color Indicates: Selected Areas (double click on the Quick Mask icon to get the dialog box). Once this is set it should "stick" until Photoshop preferences are reset.

Choose the Gradient Fill tool to drag out a gradient from a corner inward. Don't drag completely to the center of the photo. Instead, drag enough to cover the transition area between the too light edges and the good tones toward the center of the picture.

First, try selecting one corner at a time, and tone each one individually. Tedious, eh? There's a faster way to select all the corners at once.

Now use the Gradient tool set to foreground to transparent on the Options bar (click the arrow next to the gradient preview on the Options bar, then change to the Foreground to Transparent gradient) - see below).

Now you can select all four corners of the picture simultaneously. You are adding additional areas to your eventual selection by the additional gradient tool drags.

Click back to Standard Mode (this step is a MUST - otherwise changes made in the quick mask mode affect the mask ONLY - not the picture itself).

Image>Adjustments>Levels to darken all selected areas simultaneously.

Combining Adjustment Layers with Multiple Selection Exercise

Still using Dageur.jpg (Exercises 5) from the previous exercise, Undo the Levels adjustment you just made.

Deselect the section to return the picture to its original state.

Enter Quick Mask mode again (Q).

Then use the Gradient tool with the foreground to transparent option (see the gradient preview area found on the Options Bar), and select all four corners individually and edges. All corner and edge selections become cumulative when using the foreground to transparent option.

Click back to Standard Mode to show the marching ants. (Changing back to Standard mode is NECESSARY - changes made in the quick mask mode will affect the mask ONLY.)

Now come the Adjustment Layer steps:

Click the b/w circle icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette to create a new adjustment layer.  Choose Levels as the type of adjustment layer you want.

Make adjustments to the levels histogram and click OK.

At this time, assess the evenness of the toning. If an area needs a little bit more of the toning that has been applied (assuming that it isn't already applied at 100%), you can paint on the Layer mask to adjust the toning. This sort of adjustment can be done subtly with the brush tool used at some partial Opacity set on the Options Bar.

Smoothing Skin in Portraits and Beauty Photos
Often a photographer faces a challenge when smoothing skin texture while retaining important details in pictures of people (eyes, hair, etc.). This may also work with certain product shots.

One way to tackle this is to duplicate the layer containing the image, run a High Pass filter in the duplicated layer, desaturate it, invert the tones and run Overlay mode in the Layers palette. Then add a Layer Mask to hide the overly-soft parts of the picture where desired (eyes, etc.). The exercise below utilizes a photo made by Talour Avdek to show how this process works:

Open the picture Avdek_4.psd from Exercises 6.

Duplicate the background layer by dragging the background layer to the upturned page icon at the bottom of the layers palette.

Desaturate the new layer  by choosing Image>Adjustments>Desaturate (or press Shift-Command-U)

Invert the tones of the new layer by choosing Image>Invert (Command-I).

In the Layers Palette, choose Overlay in the drop-down list of modes listed near the top of the palette.

Run Filter>Other>High Pass and adjust the pixel radius for the picture's skin texture desired. Do this by eye so that the skin imperfections are minimized without costing too much large-scale detail. For this picture, a 4-pixel High Pass filter is a reasonable compromise between the original and too-soft. High-res pictures may require choosing more pixels in the filter to achieve the same effect.

Add a layer mask choosing Reveal All, then IN THE LAYER MASK paint black over areas in which you wish to restore sharpness (eyes, teeth, hair, eyebrows, ...).

Done.

If you still have stubborn areas that show prominent pores, etc., try selecting just the troublesome part and redo the steps above. You may want to flatten the image before proceeding to subsequent steps to simplify.

This method can be used locally as well as on the entire picture. It can also be combined with other steps to give a contemporary "look" to beauty photos. Open Avdek_5.psd to see this picture taken a few steps further, including copying the red channel into a new layer in "Soft Light" mode to affect color saturation. It produces a look that is seen in current advertising photos. Examine the individual layers and their modes to understand how this photo was treated.

Another Method to Retouch Skin Blemishes
This method, using the Healing Brush tool in pattern mode, works like digital airbrushing of skin. Don't overdo it or your model/portrait will look almost plastic!

Open blemish-1.psd from Exercises 6

Create a new 64x64 pixel square file and fill it with 50% gray (Edit>Fill, Contents ->50%gray). If the picture you wish to retouch has some film grain or if you wish to suggest realistic skin pores, run the Filter>Noise>Add Noise filter to match the picture.

Select all of the 64-pixel square picture (Command-a) and choose Edit>Define Pattern.

Choose the Healing Brush tool. On the Options bar at the top, click on Pattern as the source, and choose the gray square pattern that you just made from the available patterns.

Now switch to the picture to be retouched.  Merely brush the tool over skin imperfections and they will be smoothed substantially. Be careful when retouching next to dark hair, etc. or the the tool will blend in some color sampled from these areas.

To provide varying degrees of retouching strength, paint on a copy of the original picture above the Background layer. You can then turn down opacity if needed to reduce the strength of this retouching. Layer masks on the retouched layers provide even more flexibility.

Another option is to use Screen mode for the Healing Brush tool in the Options bar. This appeared to be more subtle than Normal mode in my experiments, but that could be due to other factors..

Overuse of this method will eliminate all pores and imperfections from the face. Remember not to venture far into a "plastic" face.

Stand Alone Retouching Software
One retouching package that has caught my eye is Portrait Professional software. It comes in two levels, one at $70 for the Portrait Professional standard edition, and $100 for the Portrait Professional Studio edition. A short video is available online to showcase it's capabilities at http://www.portraitprofessional.com/photo_editing_software/

Notes: All digitized content (scans, digital photos, etc.) used in the making of your creative assignment must be submitted in a separate "assets" folder named "lastname_assets" (substituting your own name, of course.)  If you create some graphic components in Illustrator or other program, please include all of those files. If you create the illustration completely in software, include some partially-completed steps in the assets folder. This folder is due on the day that the assignment is due. Please don't place your completed assignment into the assets folder though.

If the assignments don't meet the specifications given above, they won't be considered for a grade. That means if a file is submitted in sRGB instead of AdobeRGB, it gets a failing grade. Not having a quality print, not having an assets folder with all contents, or not meeting the minimum picture size or resolution also results in a zero for the assignment. Please pay attention to the assignment specifications!

Community Event Publicity
Create a promotional illustration for a flyer or brochure advertising an upcoming community event in the SE Ohio area. Events are listed on the community calendar web site at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/woub/events.eventsmain. Do NOT place text within your Photoshop file! Create the illustration ONLY. You are the illustrator here, not the designer of the poster.

Pictures must be a minimum of 5" x 7" at 200 dpi minimum so that they will print well. Picture files must also be submitted in the AdobeRGB (1998) working space. If pictures do not meet the minimum size/resolution or working space requirements, they will be given a failing grade!

Do not resample pictures upward if you start with a low resolution scan or it will have inferior quality. If pictures do not meet the minimum size/resolution requirement or have been obviously "upsized", they will be given a failing grade!

Submit the file in JPEG format (Quality 7 or higher) to save server space, but be sure to also save the original layered file for your own future needs.

Place file into the Creative #3 folder plus submit a portfolio quality 8-1/2 x 11 inch Epson print of the assignment. (The Creative_03 folder will be closed until the day the assignment is due.) The quality of the print will be evaluated as part of the score for this assignment. Due at the beginning of class.

Tips for a better grade on creative assignments...

Prints are due at the beginning of class. The crit will be limited to only one class this time.

No student crit sheets are required for this critique.