Damien Symonds

Yes, that's what a lot of people used to do.

Yay!

It doesn't matter. Just get those damn prints, fast. It doesn't matter if they're good or bad.

Skin is very close, yes. A few weeks, I hope.

Well, I duplicated the Background layer, lowered its opacity by half, then nudged it across to where the bits and bobs were just hidden. Then increase the opacity to 100% again, added a hide-all mask, then started painting on gently. Did you read the L&M Class while you were in it?

Since you haven't shown me the whole photo, I'm not entire sure what we're working with. My instinct would be to move the whole baby in a bit:

8GB is the bare minimum of RAM that Adobe recommends to run CC. So if you are in the habit of having a lot of files open at once (I can see five in your screenshot) that might play into the problem. I urge you to pay attention, over the next few days, to the number of files you have open whenever this crash occurs. Also, run Glary immediately, and monthly thereafter.

Number 6

Looks good.

Oh? Can you update your profile? It still says "Elements".

If you had Photoshop, this might have been one for the Patch Tool. But just plain ol' Dodge and Burn will do fine.

Just click "Home" or the "askquestions" logo at the top of the page, then scroll down to the "Classes" section.

Ignore the "Brightness: 120" part. That's madness. I don't know why labs insist on saying that. Gamma 2.2 and Temp 6500 are good guides. As long as you follow my instructions here, you'll be fine. Have you got your ProDPI prints yet?

I'm not concerned about that at the moment. Can you show me the two black-and-white photos, properly edited?

Sorry, cloning it has to be. Pour yourself a stiff drink, put on some music, and settle in for a good long time. Don't rush it.

Well, I can't explain it any better than that.

You've read this, haven't you?

Download the PSD

I'll upload my PSD, stand by ...

High-end inkjet printers do approach Adobe RGB, yes. But yes, sRGB is still the only space to use.

I wonder if it would be sufficient to just use Levels to shift it from black to dark/shadowed skin colour?

Then take better damn photos.

What fun stuff? It's already golden, we established that.

Then, the remaining cloning should be fairly simple.

Yep, I don't see how you could do much more. Good job.