Photoshopping Stray Hairs - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

04/03/2006 09:09:21 PM · #1

I am working on a photo that I am trying to remove stray hairs. Everytime I heal down close to the head it seems it looks like the now shortened hairs have exploded.

I think this is how the app is blending the surrounding areas with the heal spot. Any help is greatly appreciated.

-Rick

JayWalk

Canon EOS-6D

04/03/2006 09:10:18 PM · #2

Try cloning instead of healing... should help with the problem

04/03/2006 09:17:16 PM · #3

Originally posted by JayWalk:

Try cloning instead of healing... should help with the problem

Good tip, it seemed to help a lot. With clone, it doesn't seem to sample source and destination very well. Which is probably why it's working. Is there something to bump up the source/dest sample?

-Rick

Tranquil

Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro for Canon

04/03/2006 09:18:25 PM · #4

Originally posted by CarpeNoctem:

Originally posted by JayWalk:
Try cloning instead of healing... should help with the problem

Good tip, it seemed to help a lot. With clone, it doesn't seem to sample source and destination very well. Which is probably why it's working. Is there something to bump up the source/dest sample?

-Rick

What exactly are you asking?

Could you post up a pic to see?

Man_Called_Horse

04/03/2006 09:27:55 PM · #5

To keep your cloneing clean, use a lasso tool(or what ever tool you may be comfortable with) to define the edge of your clone.

Defining the edge will keep the part you are cloning active, and keep the clone within the target area. This technique will keep any bleed away from non clone area.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

04/03/2006 09:28:08 PM · #6

Originally posted by Tranquil:

What exactly are you asking?

Could you post up a pic to see?

Not at the moment. Hopefully I can describe what I meant.

With the healing brush you pick a source with the alt key and paint the area you want healed (the destination) it blends your source and the destination so there is a smooth 'heal'.

When you clone, you pick the source like in healing BUT clone replaces the destination completely. Sometimes that leave color transition artifacts.

The cloning tip is working out really good now that I am using it. But I was 'hoping' that through the brush parameters or clone tool parameters I could set it up to 'blend' while cloning.

Sorry if my terms are not what they should be.

-Rick

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

04/03/2006 09:29:49 PM · #7

The size/feathering of the Clone tool is controlled by the current selection in the Brushes pallette. The opacity is controlled by the slider in the Options pallette.

Hint: Create a New Layer, set the Clone tool checkbox to "Use All Layers" and you can sample from below, but "paint" the corrections onto the new layer.

That way, you can keep on tweaking the repair without actually disurbing any of the original pixels, and it doesn't bloat the file size the way duplicating the Background layer would.

04/03/2006 09:30:51 PM · #8

Originally posted by American_Horse:

AH,

Let me run an example to see if I understand. I should go an select an area (model's head) with the lasso tool. Or vice versa? With this selection active, I should be able to clone without killing pixels in her head?

I think I understand???

-Rick

04/03/2006 09:33:00 PM · #9

Originally posted by GeneralE:

General,

I have heard of this use all layer technique in a couple books, but I never fully understood it until now.

That is an AWESOME way of doing it, and goes with my style, 'no pixels were harmed in the making of this photograph.' Let me know when you are in Cleveland and I'll take you to dinner for that one.

Edit: Time to kill this layer and start over!
-Rick

Message edited by author 2006-04-03 21:33:32.

Man_Called_Horse

04/03/2006 09:39:57 PM · #10

Originally posted by CarpeNoctem:

Example...

If cloneing the eye of your modle head per say, use one of the mentioned tools around the eye so that the eye is active only. You will get marching ants ( black and white moving line). This area is the only area that is active now.

Get clone tool, and start cloning inside the eye. Everything inside the eye will be cloned. Everything outside the eye will not be touched.

Refer to GeneralE from there.

04/03/2006 09:42:14 PM · #11

Originally posted by American_Horse:

Thanks AH, I got it now.. Working out pretty good, but the use all layers and the cloning tool seems to be a bit weird, gonna play with it a bit.

Thanks Everyone!

-Rick

Prof_Fate

04/03/2006 09:54:01 PM · #12

patch tool might be useful as well.

circle the 'bad' area and 'drag' to a good area - all fixed and blended.

Message edited by author 2006-04-03 21:54:34.

04/03/2006 10:01:13 PM · #13

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

patch tool might be useful as well.

circle the 'bad' area and 'drag' to a good area - all fixed and blended.

Didn't think of that one... Gonna try it out... Thanks!

Rick

Prof_Fate

04/03/2006 10:03:52 PM · #14

I was using healling tool on face blemishes and last week at school a top PS pro said to use the patch tool.

other options: (but maybe not for hair)
clone/rubber stamp on LIGHTEN mode OR a low opacity (30% ish).

There are so many ways to do teh same thing, aren't there?

04/03/2006 10:46:19 PM · #15

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

Yeah there are, but that's good. Right now I'm like the carpenter who learned to hammer, every problem looks like a nail. But with these options I'm beginning to see the problems for what they are, and the tools to use.

Like this clone/healing for the stray hairs on a overlying blank layer seem to work great on the hairs on the outside of the head. I use the clone tool to get rid of them and then I heal to blend the harsher clone tool. Seems to work well.

The patch tool seems to work best on hairs in the hair mass and on the skin areas.

Thanks Prof for the patch idea.

-Rick

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

04/03/2006 10:53:58 PM · #16

Taking a break from the hair problem, I decided to play around with some blending modes.

I Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to duplicate all the visible layers. In normal blending mode I could see a definite improvement in color and constrast, so I said 'hey I wonder what other blending modes will do?' Coming to a saturation blending it really brought out the golden skin tones and saturated the 'orange' gel on the background.

Somehow, it seems to have done better than a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Maybe it's me.

I didn't want to over do it so I backed off the opacity to about 75% and it seems to be a real improvement.

I think once I'm done fixing the details, I try that before I finish up.

This photo started out as a less than decent shot and I think it's turning out okay. Wouldn't ribbon, even if this work was legal - but a marked improvement.

Thanks for the help guys and gals.

Rick

MayaM

Canon EOS-50D

04/03/2006 11:24:44 PM · #17

Not sure if this helps, and I did not try it, but I ran across this tutorial yesterday...

//studio.adobe.com/us/tips/tip.jsp?p=1&id=100674&xml=phs8kbhairmask

Here is the brief description of it:

The true power of masking in AdobeÂ® PhotoshopÂ® resides in its ability to use an image to select itself. This tutorial shows how to take a couple of color channels from an RGB photograph and combine them to produce a complex, naturalistic mask. And just for fun, weâ��ll be using this technique to select those wispiest of all image details, individual strands of hair.

Man_Called_Horse