Damien Symonds

Only just. What size brush were you using to mask around the handles; and at what zoom were you viewing when doing so? (Hint: The answers should be (1) No bigger than 6px, and (2) No less than 400%.)

Your masking around the handles is completely terrible.

It doesn't matter a bit, don't worry. Your calibrated profile will override it anyway.

Just you wait. In the Levels Class you'll learn amazing stuff with gradients and masks.

Yes, using the gradient tool.

That's wonderful. You won't regret it.

You're welcome. It's great fun, isn't it?

Download PSD I experimented with lots of blend modes before deciding that Linear Light looked best. https://www.damiensymonds.net/2011/06/sometimes-you-get-lucky.html The "Levels 1" layer isn't part of the edit, it's just the layer I used to check that I'd completely blackened the silhouette. The Pattern Fill Layer is some noise to prevent banding: https://www.damiensymonds.net/tut_noise.html

No, on the mask. Hold on, I'll upload the file.

How about this?

Can you post this file by itself, so I can see what the best approach might be?

Gee, that's unnecessarily dark, isn't it? Your son is pretty much lost from view because the sky is so dark. May I see the overlay file you used?

Great.

Well, you're welcome to look for free ones, but they're always risky. For this low price, yes, I'd buy it.

Yeah, I reckon the second one looks very promising!

No, it doesn't matter a damn. It's a completely meaningless number. https://www.damiensymonds.net/2011/11/why-ppi-doesnt-matter-yet-another.html https://www.damiensymonds.net/art_resolution.html 4944x3296 is sixteen megapixels. That's plenty big enough to print as big as a truck, as long as your focus is good.

I see that you found those links on istockphoto. Did you actually search there for some starry night sky photos that you could buy and use for this?

The photo looks all kinds of bad to me, not just his skin tone.

If it looks ok to you, then that's super, because if you know that your prints will turn out exactly the same as the screen, you know you will be happy with the prints. Conversely, if it DOESN'T look ok to you, and you know what your prints will turn out exactly the same as your screen, you can adjust it until you like it, and then you know you will be happy with the prints.

It doesn't matter whether it looks ok to me or not. Thankfully, personal taste doesn't play any role here.

If your screen matches your prints, everything is right in the world Once you take the Skin Class, you won't have any worries.

Yes.

They do match after adding magenta? In that case, they must also match without adding it?

Great. So have you talked to them about the collage?

Gosh, adding magenta in editing is REALLY bad. You've gotta get your calibration right. Are these the instructions you're following? https://www.damiensymonds.net/cal_CMD_pc.html Also, can you confirm you're working in the right colour space? https://www.damiensymonds.net/art_tscs000.html