Damien Symonds

No, no, just post it here. Once you've done your raw processing properly, I'll show you how you can fix the bright area.

Ok, what about a dark hair one? I'm not sure about this maybe I've got the saturation too high?

Glad you like it! It was a mix of Channel Mixer, Levels, and a few other things. So, can you go ahead and process your raw file as normal (without any highlight clipping in his face, this is really important), then post your photo again, and a close crop similar to mine. Then I'll see what I can do.

How about this?

I just had a look back through all the links you'd provided. Yes, the last photo you posted has a dark enough background, but it also has "panda eyes". None of the examples have those eye socket shadows. You need to look more closely at the photos you're finding. How they're lit.

No, you buy a Mac because you naively believe that crap.

Right. And it's no coincidence that that is the least punchy one you've posted. The dark background is CRITICAL to this look.

I think you must have given me the wrong link? That's definitely not a bright background.

Oh, the colour one is interesting! We can definitely discuss that here. Do you have one with a bright background, like your photo? Or alternatively, a photo of your own with a dark background?

And in Camera Raw Preferences, you should be able to change the colour of the interface, I assume.

Well, If I have already got one photo open in Photoshop, and then I want to edit a raw photo which needs to match the one in Photoshop, I open the raw file with Bridge, so I can flick between them. Does that make sense? Otherwise, no, it doesn't matter a bit.

Right, but there needs to be SOME freckles there to begin with. And don't worry, you'll learn all you want, and more, about punchy black-and-whites in the Levels Class.

Are you saying that you think the freckles were added artificially in those images?

Well, then you DIDN'T use my instructions. Why wouldn't it let you use advanced? Was that button greyed out?

This is the best I can manage. Would it be acceptable?

Ah, too bad. Never mind, we'll have to try it the hard way. Do you mind sending me the raw file?

Please post this photo in the Raw Class Posting Area so we can discuss.

Hi Lee, just to check, are you calibrating with my instructions here?

Ok. So when you're holding the brush over your image, you should be seeing the outline of the brush shape, yes? And when you use the square bracket keys to resize the brush, while you've got your brush cursor over the image, you should see it change size in real time?

Other people have reported this too. When you double-click, it opens ACR via Photoshop. When you "Open in raw" it opens ACR via Bridge. Make sure you go to both programs (Bridge and Photoshop) and choose "Updates" from both Help menus, to make sure everything is current.

Nick, are you still there?

Ok, do you mind if I use your photo to do a tutorial? If that's ok, could you send me the full-sized jpeg of your edited photo?

Ok, yeah, I think I know how this is done. I think I made the sparkles a bit too dense, but is this roughly in the ballpark?

Before we explore more complex fixes, let's not ignore the easy solution that might exist - do you have another photo of his head, at the correct size and angle, that might be suitable for a swap?