Damien Symonds

Download the PSD First, a chunk of hair from a bit further along, to cover that tricky black bar. Then a Solid Color layer on Multiply mode. Then a gradient layer for the whole background (I forgot the noise layer).

So sorry about the delay. I'm taking a look at this now, I'll get back to you shortly.

Oh gosh! How awful! I'm sure we can improve this to a degree, at least. Go ahead and do your raw processing, then post a 100% crop like this for me.

And did you lower the exposure before posting these for us? Is there any more detail to be found?

First, can you tell me about your light?

Gosh, you must have a heck of a camera. Sorry, my bad. 700px won't be enough. Could you take a 1500x1500 piece for me?

It's excellent, well done. It's implausible because of the absence of sun in the photo, not because of your Photoshop work.

It's fabulous. All that remains is a very slight gradient mask from the bottom up.

May I have a 100% crop of Dad's hair where the dark section meets the light section of background?

Sorry, it can't be done. You'd have to replace it all with the dark colour from the middle section of the background. Even that would be a bit dodgy, but should be passable.

That looks fabulous! But you shouldn't have blurred the sky. Can you turn off the blur and show me?

Terrific.

Excellent. Add a Channel Mixer layer, and enter these values: Red channel: 0, +100, 0 Green channel: 0, +35, +65 Blue channel: +100, 0, 0 Then mask on. Around the bulk of the handle, you shouldn't need to be precise - the CM layer shouldn't affect the wall colour. But around the fingers, you'll need to be VERY precise, of course. IMPORTANT: After masking around the fingers very carefully, then lower the brush opacity a lot, eg 5%, and paint gently onto the skin to replace the pink cast with blue cast. This step is really important. Here, I've done the top half to show you:

Sure, try this: Add a Channel Mixer layer, and go to the Blue Output Channel. Change the sliders from 0, 0, +100, 0 to 0, +100, 0, -10. Then mask to the foot.

Sure, I reckon we can manage that. Could you show me a 100% crop of the spoon, including the hand?

Look at the smaller thumbnail version, you should be able to see it.

I just noticed the top left-hand corner - there are some repeated patterns there.

It's great! I would never have known.

May I see your attempt?

Ok, in that case, could you do this for me?

Crap, another Mac. Do you have access to any other computers?

Better try "Reset Panels", eh?

First, can you maximise your window (click the little box next to the X in the very top right corner of screen. Then, can you click on the Window menu to open it, and take another screenshot for me.

Yes, that was going to be my suggestion too. We need to bring another monitor into the equation now.

I agree.