Underwater portrait

[Linda Jeremy]

I know I am going to crop out this dark part of the pool on the right for better composition. Do I do that before RAW edits or during PS editing?  I have left it in so far and been trying to take into account the effect it has on my histogram and using the ALt key to check for clipping and ignoring anything in this part. The dark part on the left, I will attempt to make look like the rest of the water using PS. I assume I fix the dark parts before any levels adjustments??? Does it matter if I have clipping in the dark area on the left when I attempt to fix in PS? - probably cloning.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Linda Jeremy

[Damien Symonds]

Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever crop during editing.

You're doing the right thing by holding down the Alt key, and ignoring clipping in that area.

1 minute ago, Linda Jeremy said:

Does it matter if I have clipping in the dark area on the left when I attempt to fix in PS? - probably cloning.

No, the clipping doesn't matter.  But are you sure about cloning?  Maybe copying and flipping from the other side might be better.

[Linda Jeremy]

No I wasn't sure about cloning. Copying and flipping sounds like a good idea. Do you have a tutorial on this you can point me to?

[Damien Symonds]

It's all part of the Layers & Masks Class.  Module 7.

[Linda Jeremy]

I have several other images I could layer and mask for the water also. Going to have to do this for her nose bubble!