Damien Symonds

Granddad's, yes. Grandma's, no.

Ok ... so ... just follow the troubleshooting part of my instructions.

I don't know what you expect me to say. GET IT RIGHT IN RAW. DO NOT MOVE TO PHOTOSHOP UNTIL IT IS PERFECT. IF IT IS NOT PERFECT, START OVER. DO NOT USE THAT SHITTY CAMERA RAW FUNCTION IN PHOTOSHOP.

No, I really need you to spell it out for me. What background?

Because you now have the layer selected, not the mask. Click on the mask, so it has the little border around it. PLEASE take the Layers & Masks Class. For only a few dollars, it will make everything a lot easier for you.

Your post seems to indicate you tried calibrating using my instructions, THEN got prints later. But that can't be so. My instructions clearly state you must have prints BEFORE calibrating.

You forgot to turn off the Blur Copy layer, I think?

PLEASE read module 5 again and again and again and again and again until it sticks.

No, the white balance is still wrong.

Weird. May I see a 100% crop of the area?

Oh, if only you could! I hope that you will jump at the chance to upgrade to Deluxe when it arises.

Yes, and yes. But it should be pretty darn blurred at the bottom, all the same.

Gosh no, worse!!!!!!!! Please read Modules 5 and 6 again.

Yes, but can I see your clean raw edit first?

No, not even close. The links you gave me have MUCH more blurred backgrounds than that. Don't skimp on this. The background blur is crucial to the style.

Well, I don't know anything about NIK, I'm afraid, but I'm quite sure you should start with proper clean raw processing as usual.

If you have NIK, don't worry about anything else. Have you played with it yet?

Did you get it? How did you go? A little, yes, but much more in the Levels one.

Yep!

It looks easily passable. Nobody will know.

I dunno, it seems a bit flat to me.

It's just rotten luck that it was worst in that little area of shadow, right?

How did you go?

I think you've done an excellent job so far. Now it's a slow and painstaking matter of handyman method.

Great. Now, obviously the next step is the background blur. It will be MUCH better if you can achieve it in camera in future, but for now, do this then post for me.