Damien Symonds

Then you probably don't have any choice but to increase the blur?

Oh? You don't have your camera? Or don't have a blanket?

Well, the alternative is to take a plain photo of the blanket (or any blanket of similar texture, doesn't need to be the same colour) and put that in there.

So ... to clarify, would you rather have nice texture in the blanket if you could?

I'm really sorry about this. If I'd known there was texture in the rug I would never have sent you down this path. In the first photo you gave me (I just went back and checked) it looked like the rug was smooth; that's why I thought all this copying and masking business would work. What is it about the blur option that you don't like?

And please don't wait too long to join the Bridge Class. It's so cheap and SO handy.

Yay!

Add a new blank layer at the top of the layer stack. Then hit Ctrl Alt Shift E to make a stamped version of the whole image. Then yes, convert that layer to a smart object. Then apply Gaussian Blur. Then add a mask.

PLEASE post some more photos in class, Trudy!

There's no way to do it natively, and I've never heard of a plug-in for it.

https://www.damiensymonds.net/simple-dodge-and-burn-tutorial.html

In what way is it not working? May I see a screenshot?

Oh! In the Options Bar, your clone tool must be set to "Sample: Current and below"

Take a look at my file again. See how it really was just two big rectangular chunks of the photo that I copied, then moved and rotated into place? I can see from your layers that you must be trying to carefully select some blanket before copying it. That's wholly unnecessary.

In your screenshot, I can't see a D&B layer or a cloning layer. Are there more layers than could fit in your screenshot?

What wasn't working, exactly? What went wrong?

Hi Danielle, there are some print lab reviews here. Well, for your first prints for calibration, you don't need to worry about the technicalities too much. The most important thing is to confirm your file is in the correct colour space. To do that, follow these instructions. Let me know when you've done that. I urge you not to worry about anything at all for a few hours. Concentrate on reading the Bridge Class. Nothing else matters too much for now.

Gosh, I think it's looking really good! Now it's time to add the cloning layer and clone those corners.

Out of interest, did you also see this tutorial?

One year.

You're welcome. I'm so glad it's sufficient. Yes.

When you use the white eyedropper in Levels, it adjusts each of the three individual channels. Take a look and you'll see what I mean. Pull down the little "RGB" dropdown menu at the top of the Levels window, and examine each of the three channels.

As I said, I hope you will take the Raw Class so I can improve your work, but this will do for now. Obviously the hair is the only tricky part here. So you'd select each little area (don't attempt this until you've read the Levels Class) then add a Levels layer and use the white eyedropper on the background just beside the hair to drop it to white. Download PSD After that, it's a simple matter of adding a white Solid Color layer and masking it around the rest of him. Of course this will take a little time, but as long as you use the Shift Key in the correct manner, it won't be burdensome. The only fiddly part is at the end of the tassles. Unfortunately there's no shortcut for that, it'll just have to be painstaking masking.

The tutorial is specifically written for photos which are taken against a white backdrop. The first paragraph of the tutorial: It doesn't apply to this outdoor photo, sorry.

Yes, as I said, I'm happy to discuss that one. I just need you to do the raw editing first (of course we must never do Photoshop work until the raw work is done) and post it for me.