Liv - 4: Minimising Hard Shadow under nose

[lsin]

Hi Damien, i tried using the softening hard shadows tutorial (http://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/03/softening-hard-shadows-method-1.html) to reduce the shadows under baby's nose due to awful overhead lighting, but i do not think it is working.

 

How do i eliminate 2/3 of the shadow and leave just a nice soft shadow under the nose (which doesnt extend all the way down to baby's lips) or is this possible? 

 

I have attached my attempt (1st picture), SOOR and 100% crop of shadow area

[Damien Symonds]

Can you Shift-click on the mask of the clone layer to temporarily turn it off, then show me the photo?  So I can see your cloning in its entirety?

[lsin]

i was afraid you were going to ask that....my cloning is awful, im so bad at it.....but the tutorial says it doesnt need to be perfect as you will be hiding it....

[Damien Symonds]

That looks great to me.  Really well done.

So the flaw is just in your masking, I'd say.

[lsin]

ok so how do i make it better? Bigger brush? higher/lower opacity? i used 5%

[Damien Symonds]

Well, at the bottom, the brush opacity would need to be 100%.  To fully remove the visible edge of the shadow, you know?

[lsin]

is this any better?

[Damien Symonds]

Yes.

[lsin]

thank you

[lsin]

do you really think this is ok? area over the lip looks funny to me and the lip is glowing. here is 100% crop

[lsin]

ok, i have attempted this again, think my cloning might be a bit better - what do you think?

[Damien Symonds]

Just a little bright patch on the right-hand side.

[lsin]

is this any better?

[Damien Symonds]

I still think I see it, a tiny bit.

[lsin]

how is this?

[Damien Symonds]

Good.