It's really not that bad if you're familiar with some basic PhotoShop
operations. I tried to use lots of explanatory text since I don't know
what level of knowledge Ian has re PhotoShop. Probably not much here
since most of the steps involve layers and masks which he says he
doesn't know.
To simplify the description of what's going on:
The image is sharpenend and then all of the sharpened image is hidden.
Then, using the paint brush selectively, only the desired parts of the
sharpened image are revealed which accentuates the eyes, lips, etc. The
unpainted parts retain their original sharpness level.
In the next part a similar process if followed except that blurring is
used to obscure or soften wrinkles and other skin blemishes. The entire
image is blurred, the blurred image is hidden and then the paintbrush is
used again to reveal only the desired parts of the blurred image. The
unpainted parts retain their original unblurred appearance.
Does that work without making your head spin. :-)
Chuck Norcutt
On 2/23/2012 11:19 AM, Charles Geilfuss wrote:
> Sorry Chuck but that hurts my head just to read it.
>
> Charlie
>
> On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 10:31 AM, Chuck Norcutt<
> chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Try this for a very simple initial practice procedure. It's what I
>> typically do for quickly handling small portraits of the senior citizens
>> around here who have plenty of wrinkles. The posted images are small
>> (about 3-1/2" square) so don't need much touch-up nor will I do any
>> except in extreme cases. The procedure is designed to sharpen only what
>> should be sharpened (eyes, eyebrows, teeth& lips, nostrils, jewelry if
>> worn, etc) without exaggerating what shouldn't be sharpened.
>>
>> Starting from the initial image (already cropped and resized for
>> printing) as the background layer.
>> 1) create a duplicate layer.
>> 2) Sharpen the entire image however you normally do it. Of course,
>> this exaggerates all those crow's feet and other wrinkles.
>> 3) Click on the mask icon to create a mask on the duplicated layer.
>> Note that focus is changed to the mask from the image and that
>> the mask is initially white (opaque). Clicking on the image or
>> the mask will move the focus from one to the other
>> 4) Select black paint and then choose the paintbucket tool.
>> 5) Move the paintbucket over the image and press the mouse button.
>> The paintbucket will dump the black paint all over the mask and
>> turn it black (transparent) instead of white (opaque)
>> 6) Now the duplicate layer has been rendered totally transparent
>> and all you see is the original, unsharpened image underneath.
>> The next step is to paint with white (on the mask) to render
>> opaque just those parts that we want to see sharpened.
>> 7) Select white paint and the paintbrush tool making sure that the
>> mask has focus on the layer and not the image itself. If the
>> image icon on the layer has the focus then we'll end up painting
>> on the image rather than the mask. Don't want to do that here.
>> 8) Blow the image up to a such a size as to give you comfortable
>> control of paining of small parts of the image such as eyebrows,
>> eyes, nostrils, teeth and lips, etc. Paint with white paint to
>> reveal the sharpened parts of the duplicate layer that you want
>> to reveal. If you make a mistake change to black and go over it.
>> You can use a soft brush and low flow it you want to approach the
>> final result slowly. Also, changing layer opacity will allow you
>> to blend the upper and lower layers if desired. It's usually not
>> necessary to be terribly precise about the painting.
>> 9) When done select "flatten image" from the layer menu tab at
>> upper right of the layers panel (next to "PATHS"). This merges
>> the two layers into a single layer with changes included.
>>
>> 10)In the event you want to soften the wrinkles as well then add
>> another layer which will be handled much the same as above
>> except that rather than sharpening the layer you will blur the
>> layer such as with the Gaussian blur tool. Perform the same steps
>> of adding a mask and painting it black. Then use the white paint
>> brush to reveal the blurred parts of the image you want blurred
>> which is where the crows feet and other wrinkles are. You may
>> find it easier to do this if you are fairly aggressive in blurring
>> and then use layer opacity to control the blending of the layers.
>>
>> 11)Flatten the layers again before saving as a JPEG or other format.
>> Save as a PSD without flattening if you want to preserve the layers
>> for later editing.
>>
>> Chuck Norcutt
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2/23/2012 9:10 AM, SwissPace wrote:
>>> I must apologise, it was not viveza 2 I meant but rather silver efex pro
>>> 2, my most used plugin. I will let you know if my mother likes it, but
>>> it may be a while before she gets it.
>>>
>>> I will however try and find some study time to get to grips with masks
>>> and layers, probably not too difficult once I find time to concentrate.
>>>
>>> Thanks IanW
>>>
>>>
>>> 02/2012 11:12, Moose wrote:
>>>> On 2/22/2012 5:57 AM, SwissPace wrote:
>>>> I tried the original Viveza, and quite disliked it. I seem to recall
>>>> posting some examples at the time. The problem was that all effects
>>>> had a strong center with a wide 'skirt'. Everything I tried with it
>>>> bled over into other parts of the image. Even some of their own
>>>> examples showed unintentional effects. It was also impossible, as far
>>>> as I could see, to have an even effect across a broad area. Certainly
>>>> not suited for this image. Sort of like using a hammer to drive a
>>>> screw. Ah yes, here's my 2008 test.
>>>> <http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/Process/Viveza/Viv_386.htm>
>>>> V2 may be much better, of course.
>>>>> - Thanks a lot I hope my mother likes the print.
>>>> As do I!
>>>>
>>>> Masked Moose
>>>>
>>>
>> --
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