Damien Symonds

This is a question for the Levels Class - please post it there.

How happy are you with the accuracy of the scans? The second and fourth photos have a lot of black areas with very little visible detail - is that an accurate representation of the prints?

Yes, it's a real blight on the profession. I can't think of any other profession where people start a business and accumulate clients first, then gradually learn the craft later. I'm not meaning to offend you personally, just making an observation about the industry as a whole.

All of this is explained in the Print Sharpening Class, I promise.

Yes, that's right, I figured this would be an output issue, not a camera or editing one. Did you prepare the 6x4 print for the client, or did s/he get it printed themselves? If the latter, do you know which lab they used? Could it have been a crappy one?

No, I literally mean this is a question I can only discuss in the Raw Class.

Hi Erin, may I see a 100% crop from the SOOR? Thanks.

I'm sorry, this is a raw class matter, I can't discuss it here.

Add a Levels layer, and move the black slider on each of the three channels thusly: Red 45 Green 30 Blue 20 Then mask very carefully to the area.

Hi mate, do you have a sky you intend to use? Actually, the first question should be: Did you shoot raw?

16-bit files take up twice as much space on your hard drive. Hardly any photos need 16-bit. The only time you need 16-bit is when you are doing really significant editing in Photoshop. Like, changing areas from really dark to really bright, for example. Because exporting is a stupid Lightroom thing. The concept of exporting stems from the concept that software controls your files. No. YOU control your files. The sooner you ditch Lightroom, the better. That's right. You choose Jpeg for the format, and yes, of course you always keep the colour profile embedded. Then, when you press the "Save" button, another little window will pop up, where you choose the quality level.

In most cases, and certainly for this photo, 16-bit is overkill. 8-bit is fine. You didn't mention saving after this. Make sure you have your layered master file saved safely before you proceed to the cropping etc for output. Perfect. After flattening, sharpen. NO. No exporting. Use plain old "File>Save As". Jpeg, Quality 7 (on the 0-12 slider) Correct.

Yeah, Lightroom plays no role here. You MUST only prepare print files in Photoshop, where you have proper control over cropping and sharpening. It's vitally important to crop to the exact size and resolution you require. Read about cropping: http://www.damiensymonds.net/2011/09/cropping-tutorial.html Learn about sharpening and blow your mind: http://www.damiensymonds.net/trainingsharp.html Get rid of Lightroom and change your life: http://www.damiensymonds.net/bridge-30-day-challenge

Yes, that's right. Just do exactly what I said. It's not bad at all, it's just the layer thumbnail size.

This usually means that your black swatch is dark grey, not black. Press D to reset the swatches to default, then X to flip them around again.

If you're talking about the size of everything in the Layers panel, just right-click on the brush icon, and choose a larger thumbnail size.

That means you must have actually changed the defaults, and that's bad! Open one (just one) photo in ACR, then go to the submenu and choose "Reset Camera Raw Defaults".

What about if you right-click and choose "Develop Settings > Camera Raw Defaults"? No joy either?

Did you see this?

Because of all the channel clipping, I assume. That kind of lighting is the WORST!

Just select them all, then right-click on one and choose "Develop Settings > Clear Settings".

Yes, cloning. Remember, don't try to clone accurately. The cloning is big and soft, the masking is what's done accurately. http://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/10/role-of-masks-when-cloning.html

It's not bad, but it's a bit blotchy, isn't it? The Handyman Method will help with that.

Yeah, I don't have any "tricks" for you. Just very careful cloning. The crease in the neck will be hardest. Maybe it might be necessary to copy and flip (and darken) the other side of the neck?

I'm so sorry, I've got nothing. Your only chance would be to swap the entire top of the head, if you had another suitable photo.