Maria S

All sorted, thanks so much as always!!

I swear I answered this but it's not showing up for me now. I apparently misunderstood/ incorrectly perceived that changing the mask on the copied layer also impacted the prior layer. Thanks very much and I'll try again!

Yep. Wretched prophoto. I'll start over from raw again, it was ok there. Do you want me to re-do the work and re-show the layers?

Ok finally on new machine and trying again. I'm still having the same problem. There are two separate issues: - If I use dust/scratches, then try to clone, I can't clone anything that wasn't already in the mask/touched by dust/scratches. - I also cannot figure out how to handle multiple sections of the image that require different amounts of dust and scratches - this guy's forehead is significantly worse than his lip/chin/neck area. I tried duplicating the layer, which is obviously not a good idea, as it brings along the existing layer mask; however if I remove the mask, it leaves the full layer at the full dust and scratches filter. Attached are images of - my layers - his chin after dust/scratches and some cloning - his forehead after the dust/scratches has been used on his chin (not enough dust/scratches for the forehead when I did what looked to me to be the right amount of fix for his chin.

Thank you! Follow-up question - would you try to fix all the color issues first, or how would you handle that? I used dust and scratches, then found areas that I wanted to heal color-wise, but it seems like I need to have that all completed first (or I'm missing something) as some of it won't let me fix it after the filter. The only way I can think of to resolve this without going back to try to fix all the reddish spots first and then re-applying the filter would be to flatten the layer which obviously is not a good choice.

Hi Damien, I have been trying to find a realistic looking way to fix moderate to bad acne. I have tried the method in your post http://www.damiensymonds.net/tut_acne.html but I think after reading a few times (and trying to replicate what you're doing) that basically that would mean about 80000 healing brush strokes, which I have tried and makes a huge mess, particularly when the healing brush decides that there should be hair on an otherwise hair-free section of skin. I have tried various methods over multiple days and many hours and this poor guy's forehead just looks like a mess. I'm also concerned as I have a young friend who wants senior photos with fall foliage (probably this coming weekend) and her face has erupted into just layers and layers of acne. I saw her Sunday and I really don't think there is a decent patch of skin to even copy from. Is this a place and time for dust and scratches? Particularly on a guy, I don't want to make his skin stop looking like skin.

Somehow I missed your response. Thanks so much!!

Thanks for responding! I shall look around in prior answers a bit later, I did a quick poke and didn't find anything, sorry if this is all duplication of something you already answered. Regarding your points: 1) green scared me. =) But I thought perhaps since it would be three copies in rotation, it wasn't a big issue since in theory they wouldn't all go at the same time. 2) I'm actually a hobbyist although I have been taking some paid sessions. I'm the official documenter for my extended family so if I lose images, it's going to negatively impact a lot of people that are dear to me. So this is really for me, but I don't want to be stupid with my stuff anymore than someone else's (I also don't want to give my husband a heart attack with price). We had purchased a couple of MyBook external drives (currently have three, one of the newer ones says it's corrupt and I haven't tried to recover yet but as it was a back-up, all should be fine elsewhere) that are full. I really worry about two things: hard drive issues and house fires, so I want to always have at least two back-ups, one off site. Currently, I'm not backing up because I don't have enough drive space and the worry is killing me. 3) don't need anything fancy, I was hoping for a few hundred budget but not sure if this is realistic. If it's better to keep buying external drives, I'm ok with that but I feel like it's clunky (and I really don't like the seemingly high failure rate on those drives) and in theory after start-up costs it seems like this would be both more space and cost effective.

Hi! I really need to get a RAID system in place for my personal peace of mind (and no, cloud is not a good alternative as we have abysmal internet speeds and I would still want my own back-ups). I received what seemed to be the perfect e-mail with recommendations from a successful wedding photography team, but the drive they recommend is not available on Amazon, and it looks like it might be discontinued - and I have no idea of their technical knowledge so it may not even be a good set-up. I would like to keep this quality but without going all crazy on cost (I will be switching out probably three hard drives - one off site, two on site, monthly and then replacing as needed). Do you have suggestions? Also, do you think it makes more sense to have a separate/dedicated editing drive? I've never heard of doing this unless it was someone with a Mac/no space. I'm still waiting on my brother to order the components for my new machine that you helped me spec, so this would be an actual possibility if you recommend it. Pros/cons? For reference, here was the recommended set-up for working/backing up from the photographer's e-mail. I trust you a lot more than them. =) editing drive: https://www.amazon.com/G-Technology-High-Performance-External-Interfaces-0G02484/dp/B009PK6VWM?ie=UTF8&inf_contact_key=376e405a0886c662d0db699f2058de5d165283aa95b31b5d2e6d2370b9edf4a5&keywords=g-tech 0 raid drive&qid=1431399186&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3 back-up: https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-BlacX-Drive-Docking-Station/dp/B0051U1XMS?ie=UTF8&inf_contact_key=fa834d32caf561ac2dddaf6537780b30dad0b2764d62a7d599386bd9b9b7f248&keywords=black x&qid=1431399404&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 drives for RAID: http://www.adorama.com/RecommendFor/wd30ezrx.html (no longer available - closest I could find was this one at least on Amazon: http://www.adorama.com/wdrd8tb.html) Thanks for any help!

I think I got them set up properly now, thank you! I actually read the set-up/getting started at least twice but I have been sick for a long time so perhaps I am just thick. =) Thanks!

So sorry I thought I would be notified when there was a response; I decided to toss the photo since there is also a focus issue due to the too small DOF.

Hi Damien, I'm trying to decide if I should edit and provide this photo as is (which will bother me and there are plenty of others, but not looking at the camera on the sofa) or if there is a way to easily "shrink" the woman in the photo so she makes sense with her husband, who was sitting further back on the sofa. I'm inclined to just toss it, but it was a free session for them with their elderly dog, so I'm just torn about tossing something that could be precious to them once she passes. Just a print screen for now since I suspect you're going to tell me to toss it. Thanks!