Damien Symonds

Interesting ... that one isn't true black-and-white either. That's very poor practice on your part, but in this case, it might be good news, because it should rule that out as a cause of this particular problem. I think this is a lab cock-up.

No, not at all. It's still every bit as good.

Your file isn't quite truly neutral. As you run your mouse around it in Photoshop, and watch the R, G and B numbers in the Info Panel, you'll see they're not always equal. That's BAD. However, even though it might partially contribute to a problem like this, it shouldn't make it this bad. Have you had good black-and-white prints from this lab in the past? If so, do you still have any of them in your possession?

Can you steer them towards canvas? It's a bit more forgiving. I think you could get away with it, as long as you make it very clear to your client that their image isn't very good, and they have to be content to live with it. Make this communication very clear with them. Do not print it until you've taken the Sharpening Class.

I've moved this into the correct section.

The floor is the problem, yes? It has reflections of wall corners which no longer exist.

These two are excellent, well done.

So far so good, but didn't you want to chop off some of the flyaways? Do that with the mask of the top Color Fill layer. Also, take a closer look at the mask of the bottom Color Fill layer on my edit. You'll see I've gently allowed it to come into your hair more, giving a smoother blend. Your edge is too abrupt.

@Brian, can you advise on this?

Hi Jackie, I've moved this into Brian's section, he'll set you right.

Click on the "askquestions" logo at the top of the page. Then scroll down. Just before the "Ask Brian" section, you should see the "Angel Babies" section.

Have you noticed any change in any other programs?

Ok, I'm going to move this into Brian's section. He knows much more about ... pretty much everything ... than me.

You've restarted, I trust?

Eww! No! http://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/07/raw-noise-removal.html http://www.damiensymonds.net/2015/10/noise-reduction-and-sharpening-leap-of.html

Hell no. Post in the Raw Class please.

PLEASE don't wait too long to take my Raw Class, I beg you.

Great. The focus is fine, but this troubles me, big time: Can you figure out where (in your workflow) this happened?

So is everything ok?

Hmmm ... did you shoot raw?

It won't be easy, I expect. White to black is the longest trip on the editing map, after all. But we'll see what we can do. Go ahead and do your raw processing, then post the photo again and we'll discuss the numbers.

I think you need to try being a bit more clever, and borrowing pieces (or wholes) of other people's shoes.

Hmmm ... can you save these files?

Can you do this for me?

Can you show me a screenshot? Make sure the entire screen is in the screenshot, and make sure you have the lasso tool selected.