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Well after a number of comments about the busy background in the first of my shots of the mystery lady in THIS POST I've reworked it using the burn tool in PS (and a touch of cloning) to dull down the background. Does this work better for you, or have I wasted my time ?

Click the image for a larger version

It works for me full size but next time I think I would just ask her to stand up and hope she still gives you the same look

Much better
It's never a waste of time if you learn something

....... this pix now has my attention, nice work.....

Thank you one and all for the help in getting this right. I didn't notice the busy background until someone mentioned it and there's no question this is now a much better image.

Peter, rather than use the burn tool for what you did, which i think is not the right tool for the job, perhaps you could have cut her out of the image, darken it using brightness or someting or other and then put her back in it. It would look heaps better as there is some areas close to her head that is not properly burned-in.

The desired effect looks good.

My two cents.

Peter
The image has a lot of impact. Next time try and pose your model "undraped".

Killakoala wrote:Peter, rather than use the burn tool for what you did, which i think is not the right tool for the job, perhaps you could have cut her out of the image, darken it using brightness or someting or other and then put her back in it. It would look heaps better as there is some areas close to her head that is not properly burned-in.

The desired effect looks good.

My two cents.

Steve

I actually thought about it, but have never been able to successfully cut a piece out of an image for this purpose. Either I'm impatient or my technique is lacking. I always seem to end up with sharp edges where I cut so the effect gets ruined since you can see where I did it.

Looking good. I would have used a layer and mask. Like Stubbsy, my technique and/or patience is lacking for effectively cutting things out of an image. I find areas where background is visible through hair especially difficult.

Cheers

Matt

The PS work is rather obvious I'm afraid Stubbsy. Theoretically speaking, having a blurred background due to a shallow DOF is ideal, though in this case the PS "fix" doesn't work that well in my opinion. I rather prefer the original.

Stubbsy,

I saw that lady in the Eyes Wide Shut Movie

Nice, very nice.

Mic

I hope you don't mind Stubbsy, but I had a go at PP your Mystery Lady.
The hair is a real problem but this is a 15min attempt and more time would produce better results.

If you disapprove let me know and I'll delete it.

I love this pic Peter - my only suggestion concerns her right eye (looking at the pic) - I would love to clone this and move it to a more suitable location as everytime I look at the pic I am drawn to this eye.

John H. wrote:I hope you don't mind Stubbsy, but I had a go at PP your Mystery Lady.
The hair is a real problem but this is a 15min attempt and more time would produce better results.

If you disapprove let me know and I'll delete it.

John. No problems. Personally I think the coolness of the grey contrasts too strongly with the warmth of the colour - probably needs to be darker. The hair is the problem I have in separating the foreground and background elements for more clever PP.

sirhc55 wrote:I love this pic Peter - my only suggestion concerns her right eye (looking at the pic) - I would love to clone this and move it to a more suitable location as everytime I look at the pic I am drawn to this eye.

My problem exactly. The shot has a really nice vibe to it, yet she looks crosseyed. Normally I'd just move on, but there's something that makes me want to get this one to work since it's 99.9999% there

Couldn't get the eye to look any better, but redid the background using a layer mask. This is my final attempt!

Stubbsy,

I think that you may be going a little too far with the background. Instead of trying to obliterate it , perhaps a more subtle approach. Darken it a little, blur it some and maybe desaturate it some, to seperate it from the subject. I think the colours and style of the background can work well with the subject. There is just a need for some seperation.

You are right, this shot has something that appeals. Perhaps its the cross eyed look or maybe it is the combination of colour and highlights - I think maybe the later.

I had a bit of a go. What I did was to start by duplicating the layer and creating the layer mask. I then duplicated this layer and mask so that the original is left alone - this allows room to play without going through the tedium of recreating the mask. I used a brush with a hardness of around 40%. Next, gaussian blur was applied to this layer. Enough so that the blur was right at about 50% layer opacity. 50% was an arbitrary value that I used so that the foreground and background layers would blend reasonbly well and give room for adjustment. Next, still working in this same layer, I played with brightness, contrast and saturation to taste - yours may differ. I thought about brightening her eyes a little but did not get that far.

Cheers

Matt

MattC wrote:Stubbsy,

I think that you may be going a little too far with the background. Instead of trying to obliterate it , perhaps a more subtle approach. Darken it a little, blur it some and maybe desaturate it some, to seperate it from the subject. I think the colours and style of the background can work well with the subject. There is just a need for some seperation.

You are right, this shot has something that appeals. Perhaps its the cross eyed look or maybe it is the combination of colour and highlights - I think maybe the later.

I had a bit of a go. What I did was to start by duplicating the layer and creating the layer mask. I then duplicated this layer and mask so that the original is left alone - this allows room to play without going through the tedium of recreating the mask. I used a brush with a hardness of around 40%. Next, gaussian blur was applied to this layer. Enough so that the blur was right at about 50% layer opacity. 50% was an arbitrary value that I used so that the foreground and background layers would blend reasonbly well and give room for adjustment. Next, still working in this same layer, I played with brightness, contrast and saturation to taste - yours may differ. I thought about brightening her eyes a little but did not get that far.

Cheers

Matt]

OK

One last go. Both the newer version below and the most recent "last" one were done basically the same as you described Matt. I went back to the PSD file I'd had the foresight to save and adjusted the background layer a little - this REALLY is my last attempt

Hi Peter,
I haven't commented so far, because I wasn't sure what effect you were trying for...
I think that the effect of the picture is spoilt somewhat by the fact that the mask is a little too large for her face. As you said earlier - it make her look cock-eyed.
Maybe it would have looked better from another angle so that her eyes weren't hidden by the mask...