Damien Symonds

Hi Ashley, yes, that is always an interesting conversation. They're like computers, in a way. You certainly expect that they'll last three or four years, and you'd be disappointed if they don't make it that long. But you also expect that they will need to be replaced eventually. Some of them literally stop working, because of some kind of fault. Others become obsolete, because of technology or software changes. In my time, I have had to replace several devices for both of those reasons.

Yes, I think that would be possible. But you'd need to make sure you placed the new main picture at EXACTLY the correct size.

Download PSD

How did you go with the real one?

Couldn't resist a play with fake beams.

Can't wait to see!

Well ... I assume you'd have to double-process the raw file. Once as normal Once for the sky only, with REALLY aggressive contrast, so the beam stands out. Then combine them as layers in PS. But the trouble is, such aggressive contrast would almost certainly bring out some pretty nasty noise. A dark blue sky will usually harbour noise, and the risk of exaggerating it would be great. So try it, but you might find that the "faking it" route is better.

Yes, use these modes. And then yes, change the colour of your text layers until it looks like a match.

Yep, exactly this. Another difficulty will be finding a suitable font.

Yay!

I'm not aware of one, no

1) For painting directly onto a layer? Almost never. Painting is for masks. 2) Avoid doing so if possible, or if unavoidable, use multiple radial gradients.

Don't you understand? This is perfectly normal. This is why you must never paint to try to fix backgrounds.

Great! This is very normal. Nothing to worry about. Wait, can you show me this?

Are you saying it doesn't do that if you apply exactly the same 1 click using your mouse? The rings, I mean?

I've deleted your other thread, because it is likely related to this one. Did you turn the pressure nonsense off?

That's a lab issue. If you're ever testing a new lab, make sure that is one of the files you send.

Thanks. I finally understand what you mean about the halo. Sorry about my denseness. But it's no biggie. I just used a little bit of burning on a D&B layer. Download PSD

Ok, may I see the swapped one at full size, then? Not cropped?

Please Meris, I can't stress this enough: You must never crop during editing.

Let's go back a further step. May I see the SOOR?

I need to see the whole photo. Before and after your background fix. And no, there's definitely no banding there. It must be your screen. What screen do you have?

May I see?

Looks excellent to me, well done.

Oh, the high-res would be great, thanks! Could you send it to me here? No, I really won't need to show faces, thanks.