Damien Symonds

Bother! Is it an iMac?

Anyway, how about this?

Great! Now go to Window>Workspace>Reset Essentials.

Add a Levels layer ... Red channel 0/1.00/215 and 0/255 Green channel 0/1.00/225 and 0/255 Blue channel 0/1.00/255 and 0/160 Then mask on to the background. You'll find you can allow it to encroach onto the hair a bit, without harm.

I think you need to go a bit closer to them than that, with the lasso selection. This happens if you click too quickly. If it thinks you've double-clicked, it will close it. Take your time.

Have you tried clicking on the little yellow (-) and green (+) buttons under the Apple menu?

Yes, it was the same when I began. Not much being affected by the gradient. That's fine.

At its heart it's this method. This is an insanely hard edit. It took me half an hour, working on this web-sized file. Allow yourself 2-3 frustrating hours, working on the full-sized file. Download the PSD file

Do you want to keep the pattern and shadowing that's there? Just change the colour? Can you show me roughly what colour you want?

Ok, how's this?

Next question. The mat the dog is sitting on - is that to stay or go?

There's one more very serious problem we have to address. This one is free. http://www.damiensymonds.net/art_tscs000.html

I know it must think we're labouring this point very painfully, but a good black-and-white conversion really relies on a nice raw edit. Once you have your calibration done and confirmed against prints, let me know and we'll talk about the editing. Also - VERY IMPORTANT - do this.

Sadly, I have no magic fixes for this. Just plain old (very patient) cloning. Not on any fancy blend modes, either, just normal cloning.

Hi Erica, when saving files for web, always make sure the "Embed Color Profile" checkbox is checked. It might also be called "ICC Profile".

I think you should keep going a bit more.

Use ReCAL. CheckCAL is kinda silly, because if you go through it and it says you need to ReCAL, then you have to do it again, and you could have just ReCALed in the first place, you know? ReCAL is the time-sensible option.

Great. Now warm bub's right arm and both hands a bit. See how the skintone is a bit different?

I think this: http://www.damiensymonds.net/2015/04/the-handyman-method.html

Oh, that's great news!

Great! I made you something ... Hope it helps.

Let me know how it goes.

Sorry Sandra, you know this is legally questionable. I'm not touching it.

Is it a scan of a print? There's a weird lightness down one edge.

Yes, keep painting on that D&B layer, with a 5% opacity brush. Patience is the key.