Damien Symonds

If that's what it takes to get a print match, yes. But make sure you're considering the WHOLE prints, not just skin.

Anyway, alas, sorry, there's nothing we can do about this. The hair and wood are too similar in colour. Your only hope is to find another photo where the hair isn't against the wood, and do a hair swap.

Hmmm ... the word "closeup" should be a link in my previous comment. Is it not showing up as one for you? (We're still ironing out the kinks in this new site.)

May I see a closeup of the hair area?

Ok, here goes ... (Note: This method only works in Photoshop. If you had Elements, you'd be outta luck.) 1. Add a Channel Mixer layer and check the Monochrome box, and enter 0/100/0: 2. Add a Levels layer and bring the white slider in as far as you can to make the background pure white, but not lose too much hair detail. This is a delicate balancing act. It's a good idea to hold down the Alt key while sliding the slider, so you can have a good view of what's clipping. Then do the same with the black slider, to fill in as much hair detail as you can, but not so far that you fill in unwanted detail too. 3. Invert the mask on that layer, then paint it only around the edges where it's needed - the hair and the veil in this case. No need to be very precise with this painting step. Here's the mask view so you can see a bit more clearly: 4. Add a white Solid Color layer, then a black Solid Color layer. Invert the mask on both layers so they're hidden: 5. On the black layer, start painting to completely and carefully obscure the subject where she needs to be completely preserved. Leave the wisps of hair to be wispy, of course. I started with her head: It's not a bad idea to turn all the other layers off sometimes, while doing this, so you're painting black over the original colour photo. That's what I did while going around that tricky trophy thing she's holding: To save your sanity, for heaven's sake make sure you use this method around the dress and other simple edges. Eventually, the subject will be completely black: I want to say that it's not vital to be accurate. In fact, it's better if you allow a tiny bit of room inside the edge of the subject. See how I've left a thin line of dress visible here? 6. Then paint on the mask of the white Solid Color layer, to make the whole background perfectly white. This should be very quick, because around the hair it's already white, so no precision necessary, and around the dress, you can paint straight underneath the black layer you already did before. 7. Add a new blank layer (this might not be necessary in all versions, but this step can be a bit buggy, so do it anyway.) 8. Ctrl Alt Shift 2 (Mac: Cmd Opt Shift 2) to make a luminosity selection (gives you marching ants all around the white areas): 9. Turn off all the layers except for the Background layer. (You should still have the marching ants active). Go to the Select Menu and choose "Inverse". This will make the marching ants go around the subject, not the background: 10. Double-click the Background layer to turn it into "Layer 0", then immediately Ctrl G to put it into a layer group (remember, you should still have the marching ants while you do this): 11. Click the mask button in the Layers panel to add a mask to the group. The marching ants will disappear, and so will the background: 12. In the layer group, above Layer 0, add a new blank layer and call it "Colour Fix", and change its blend mode to "Color": 13. Temporarily close the layer group by clicking its little arrow. Then add another white Solid Color layer and move it to the very bottom of the layer stack, below the group: 14. Then open the group again, and return to the "Colour Fix" layer you just made. This layer will serve the same purpose as it does for fixing Chromatic Aberration. When you zoom in, you'll see traces of green everywhere: So you sample various nearby colours, and start painting over that green, like this: Even the veil still has a hint of green tinge to it: So you sample some purple colour and paint with low opacity to get rid of it: The bottom is the worst - look at that awful green cast! Sample and paint gently over it: 15. Finally, it should be done. All the edges should be their correct colour. You should be feeling proud of yourself right now The last thing to do is change the bottom white layer to medium grey, and check the edges again to make sure everything's ok: 16. Then you can turn that bottom layer off, to see the photo in its transparent glory. Then finally, go to the Image menu and choose Trim, and trim away the transparent pixels: Leaving you with this: Save that PSD for yourself. That's your master file if you need to come back to it. 17. Finally, click on Layer 0, then go to the Layer menu and choose "Merge Visible". Then delete all the layers which are turned off, leaving you with this: Save that as a different PSD file, that's the one you'll send to your client. Hope this helps.

Thanks. I have to bolt out and do the grocery shopping, because there's nothing in the house, and I'll write it up for you when I get back.

Hell, I make it all the time, and I'm way past rookie.

But gee, don't worry about "bothering"! It's what I'm here for.

For the record, this is mentioned in the FAQs

No that's fine, perfectly legitimate. Just checking. If you Alt-click on the mask thumbnail to show it in black and white, is it pure black in that problem area?

Ok, great. That makes things a little easier, at least. Do you mind sending me the full-size file of the lady that you posted above? And would you mind if I used her to write a tutorial for you on my site?

What is the purpose of the layer you're masking there?

Yep, post in the LR section for help with that.

Hi Lauren, the action takes a little while to set up, but it's well worth it, I promise. It will save you so much time in the future.

It's most likely Chromatic Aberration.

Fair enough. Do you intend to leave some shadows around their feet? Or a clean cut-out down there?

What file format will you be providing to them?

And then what? What are they being used for?

Oh Stacey, PLEASE tell me you've got your name on the Raw Class list. As Christina said, this is too blown out to "fix" per se, so you'll need to look through your shots for another photo which could donate some background.

I can help you get any colours you like, I promise. But there has to be some detail there to work with. Adding colour to white will just look like flat colour, not lovely at all.

Hi Bree, I don't suppose you had the luxury of raw files here?

Hi Mankro, this will be tricky, but I'm sure we can manage something. The first question is - do you have another photo of the back at the same angle, without the roll?

I've played around with a few methods, and I think your best option is a Hue/Saturation layer with the "Colorize" box checked. When you do the first photo, you could find a value on the Hue slider that you liked. You'd also adjust the Saturation and Lightness to how you liked it. You'd mask very carefully around the subject. This will be very handy. Then, you'd keep that photo open, while one at a time opening the others beside it on your screen. For each one, you'd use the same Hue value, but carefully vary the Saturation and Lightness sliders to get the best possible match.

Did you have any luck?

Hi Heather, I would do it with the Patch Tool, similar to eye bags. A little bit of cloning would be necessary too, near the hem of the pants. First, take them out altogether on a new layer: Then lower the opacity of that layer to a point that you think she'll like (this is 69%): And of course the beauty of it is, if she comes back and says she'd like them more or less visible, just return to your PSD file and tweak the layer opacity further.