Graduate

[Mshake]

Looking for opinions on this one. I've taken it pretty far but this is the toughest one I've taken on so far. Any suggestions on how to improve it?


Thanks

Mike

[jesterjeni]

I think the nose is a little wider and the corner of the mouth is a little different, I played with it a little trying to see what I could come up with- your  colors are beautiful!! I also thought the face was slightly rounder? I overlaid the original and multiplied it on top of yours. this was my resulting image I don't know if it helps or not.

[Mshake]

Thanks Jesterjeni!

I like your result, it put more texture back in her face. I'll give that technique a try tomorrow. I appreciate your input.

[Mshake]

The revised version using JesterJeni's tip. I overlayed the original on a new layer, masked it so it was just the face and neck area then changed the blend mode to multiply. That by itself brought a lot of texture and tone back in. I lowered that layers opacity to 50%. It was too dark so I added a Levels adjustment layer clipped to it to brighten it up. Then on a new layer I cloned the hat down further on each side to match the original. A little more work on the whites of her eye on her left eye to match the right eye, again on a new layer. Then I added a hue saturation adjustment layer to reduce saturation on her face some. On a new layer I used the healing brush to blend in some damaged areas and paint with a soft brush set to color mode at 10% over a few areas to blend in skin tones.  I think that might be acceptable now?

Thanks
Mike

[Hannie]

There was so much damage, amazing repairs Mike!
I also like Jesterjeni's version with all the shading visible.  What if you combine a smoother version of Jesterjeni's version and use it as a luminosity layer over your work.  Then with a hide all layer mask bring back some of the detail in her face?  (also dodged dark areas in her face some)

[Mshake]

Hannie that looks great!  :up:

I'll try your suggestions. Your skin tone looks much better than mine.

Thanks!

Mike

[Candice]

What a toughie.  It's come so far!!  Lovely.........

[Shadow]

Mike, you are a brave fellow. Beautiful work so far. Jesterjeni and Hannie's input will put it over the top. Sure appreciate you sharing ... learning right along with you!  :)

[Mshake]

Thanks Candice and Shadow!

Using Hannie's tips I have a revised WIP.

Here's what I did. I went back to the layer I made where I superimposed the original photo over my version with layer blend mode set to Multiply, Jesterjeni's tip.  I converted it to a smart object and used a Gaussian blur filter at 1.6 pixels to soften the texture, Hannie's tip. Making it a Smart object allows me to go back and redo the amount of blur if I want.
At the top of my layer stack, I created a new empty layer for Dodge and Burn, Hannie's tip. I set the blend mode to Soft Light for this and used a soft tip brush with opacity at 100% and flow at 10%, colors set to default black and white. Painted white to brighten highlights and painted black to darken shadow areas. Very subtle uses to build up the effect.
It's not perfect but from where I started to this version I'm liking it now.



Thank you Jesterjeni and Hannie for your help!

Mike

[jesterjeni]

amazing!! team work helps!!
im sure the resulting image will be something the family will be pleased with!!!

[Mhayes]

Great job everyone!

[Shadow]

Really nice!!  :up: