Mikes Photography

creators · Last edited by creators on Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:27 pm; edited 6 times in total

I have a pretty standard procedure for make overs, after which any other creative stuff can be applied.

Open the image, always a good start. Check the Levels and do any adjustments. On Paula's image the Histogram needed some adjustment at the white end. I rarely, if ever, make any mid tone adjustments using the levels palette, I'll do that with either the Curves palette or via Brightness and Contrast > Highlight/Midtone/Shadow.

Next, Brightness and Contrast > Clarify. I have this set to Strength 2.00 and rarely have to alter it.

The next job it to remove any serious blemishes using the Makeover Tool. This has two circles, it samples from the outer ring and applies that to the inner. I usually zoom in for this and scan the face. Doing this before the next step means that any slight imperfections left after using this tool will be smoothed away with the next process.

Next is Brightness and Contrast > Digital Camera Noise Removal. This requires adjustment for each image. I am really only interested in the skin so I select areas of skin of differing tones but avoid overlapping any areas of seriously differing contrast, I just want to apply a general smoothness to the skin. There are three sampling regions, though you can make more. To select one, click on it in the bottom pane and drag it in the left 'Before' pane. Paint shop samples areas of solid colour to remove digital noise, but we're using it as a smoothing tool so moving the sample regions is usually a must. Once you're happy with the preview, click ok.

I do a last check over, to see if there are any blemishes left, like shadows under eyes, that sort of thing, if there are I'll use the Makeover Tool or Clone Tool and possibly the Smooth Tool after them.

On this image I felt that some adjustments using the curves palette was in order so did that.

The last job is the eyes. Although I have applied smooting which itself is undesireable on the eyes, I want the originals back and I want to apply an unsharp mask to them. Save the current image under a new name. Duplicate the image. Open the original image, copy that, close the original, and paste it as a new layer over the background layer so that it's sandwiched between our two worked on images. Give this layer a quick Clarify to spruce it up and then choose Adjust > Sharpness > Unsharp Mask. There are complex rules to using Unsharp Mask, but as a rule of thumb for most images try, Radius 1 or 2 and Strength 50 or 100. 1 - 50 is pretty soft, 2 - 100 is pretty fierce, try some combinations and watch out for haloing or over sharpening. 2 - 50 looks good to me on this one.

Select the top image and using a soft eraser remove the eyes so that the sharpened eyes show through, when you're happy flatten the image and save it.

Job done.

Before:

After:

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Evolution104 · 2Fast 2Furious Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 998

Thanks Keith! As a PSP user, I find that tutorials and help are hard to come by. Much appreciated.
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see my photography at john.seelbinder.org

creators · Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 2:31 am Post subject:

It's a brilliant program and the program I cut my artistic teeth on, so I value it enormously and it's come a long way. Image manipulation is what floats my boat, I don't think I would enjoy my camera half as much as I do if I didn't have programs like PSP and PS. Anyway I'm really glad that this stuff is helpful, a world without artwork would be a much poorer place. Cheers, Keith.
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pasvorto · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:29 pm Post subject:

Wow. So much to learn.

creators · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 1:35 pm Post subject:

If you can keep the committee in your head quiet (which always manages to be negative for some reason, why is that?), that just means you're gonna have more fun from now on.
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Blue · Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:11 pm Post subject:

I have CS2. I would love to see a similar tutorial for that... just a basic, not too degrading or processed makeover. (hint, hint, please?) Very Happy

My process right now is pretty basic... I always adjust levels first, then check auto color to see what it gives me (I really don't have a grasp of curves yet, so I avoid it), then I use the spot healing brush where necessary. I make a selection around just the eyes, sharpen them, then invert the selection and apply noise removal to the rest of the picture, usually at a power level of 1- 2 if it's really noisy. Then I downsize the image a little, just to bring it all in tighter. That's pretty much it. Any advice?
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Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought. - Albert Gyorgyi

creators · Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject:

Serious makeovers in CS2, in order to avoid the over processed problem, are incredibly complex and even more time consuming. As I read what you've put here, you are doing a great job. I can probably help with specifics but have not ventured yet into the world of the big players and don't expect to. A YouTube search for makeovers will bring up some awesome stuff, but it really is heavy duty stuff.

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