Shadow Removal editing request

[nuechi]

Hi Everyone,

I have an editing request for the two attached photos. I would like the shadows to be removed from our faces/neck. Can someone help us with this please?

Thank you very much!!

 

[Rajeev Desai]

Actual dimensions: 667w x 500h pixels.

 

[dv8_fx]

The OP of this month and half old request hasn't been around , Rajeev. I doubt whether he'll be back

But it's a good try on the image - still a bit of shadows on the face. A nice exercise for you. Keep it up.

 

[Rajeev Desai]

The OP of this month and half old request hasn't been around , Rajeev. I doubt whether he'll be back

But it's a good try on the image - still a bit of shadows on the face. A nice exercise for you. Keep it up.

Thanks, Admin! I knew that he wouldn't be around at this time, but I tried to recreate the scenes. I am a newcomer to PS, and a huge fan! I could also have smudged the normal skin colors into the shadows and removed all traces of them, but had to keep some there to match the surrounding areas that has shadows. I tried to bring in some details in those shadowed areas... Or the beautiful couple would have looked like a cut-paste job, and a complete mismatch with everything else. I am only learning and trying to run, a little more courageously, with the PS pros here.

I am very sorry if I have needlessly woken up an old thread though.

 

[dv8_fx]

Thanks, Admin! I knew that he wouldn't be around at this time, but I tried to recreate the scenes. I am a newcomer to PS, and a huge fan! I could also have smudged the normal skin colors into the shadows and removed all traces of them, but had to keep some there to match the surrounding areas that has shadows. I tried to bring in some details in those shadowed areas... Or the beautiful couple would have looked like a cut-paste job, and a complete mismatch with everything else. I am only learning and trying to run, a little more courageously, with the PS pros here.

I am very sorry if I have needlessly woken up an old thread though.

Not at all. Nice to see a new member taking part in forum activity and taking up an image edit challenge.

But you never know. If the OP drops by for a visit, he's in for a pleasant surprise with the image work you've done for him.

 

[IamSam]

Hello Rajeev. If I may make a few suggestions. You have brightened the entire image rather than targeting the shadowing of the subjects.

I would like the shadows to be removed from our faces/neck.

Here I have isolated the two subjects and targeted the shadows using layer masks and a Curves adjustment layer along with it's mask as well.
This way, the background is not affected.

note: This was done quickly and could use more work, it's for demo purposes only.



I also apologize to the OP for not seeing this thread when it was posted.

The gif is poor quality.

Before


After

 

[PhotoBurger]

I think Sam nailed it!

 

[Tom Mann]

Not to beat a dead horse (or a dead thread - LOL), but in case anyone else reads this thread, unless you were looking at this picture on a calibrated monitor, you won't have any real idea of how deep or how light the shadows are. Non-calibrated monitors or particularly bad in the shadow areas.

On my calibrated monitor, the original looks far better than any of the attempts to brighten the shadow areas. To me, the original looks the most realistic & completely acceptable, where as the tweaked versions look odd -- they just scream out that they have been Photoshopped. Personally, I would leave well enough alone on this picture.

Tom

 

[Tom Mann]

Agh - I just scrolled all the way to the end of the thread and saw Sam's contribution. It is by far the best of all the other attempts, but it still loses a bit of color saturation when brightened. That could be easily fixed, but to be honest, I would still leave well enough alone in this photo.

T

 

[ALB68]

I tried this too. Used Sam's methodology and the Adjustment/Shadows and Highlights tool. I am inclined to agree with Tom though, original would suit me. I used Sam's screenshot as the original and the shadows looked much more pronounced on it. Here is what I got.

 

[Paul]

Nice job ALB68

 

[ALB68]

Thanks!

Nice job ALB68

 

[Rajeev Desai]

I too thought of using a "fill flash" technique to soften the hard shadows on the faces, as any photographer would try. That was obvious too. But then I kept thinking, and saw that the background was too beautiful to keep its details out. I mean, a fill flash is great for the live subjects, but when a background is greater value, may be because the young couple seem to be on a beautiful once in a life (ofc) honeymoon(!) trip, they would want to see the beautiful place where they had been and remember the magical moments, may be throughout their life they would cherish those things that they saw then! Hence I "overexposed" the image considering that the background can't be left in the "dark"!

Also, sometimes an "overexposed" image highlights everything in it and does some justice to the composition. I also tried not to wash out the highlights in the process... I wouldn't go for the top prize in such a case by just concentrating on the subject and his request alone. The background is too beautiful, as much as the couple, and need everyone's attention to its minor details too. That's what made me the image go a little brighter ! Actually I used the Camera Raw Filter a lot on the image, rather just using the brightness control.

Also, I slightly disregarded OP's request because I was rather seeing the entire beauty embedded in the image and in a "different" light, hence I gave him an option to have a little brighter image where the entire beauty within the image got a get-up, including them, of course! I felt it was too bad to leave the overall details out...

May be, I did a good thing too (lol), because he got my version with the overall highlighted beauty, which his own attention could have missed somehow, and he got your very perfected images too, which he had requested. I guess, it's a Win-Win situation for him in this case any way.

Hello Rajeev. If I may make a few suggestions. You have brightened the entire image rather than targeting the shadowing of the subjects. Here I have isolated the two subjects and targeted the shadows using layer masks and a Curves adjustment layer along with it's mask as well. This way, the background is not affected. note: This was done quickly and could use more work, it's for demo purposes only. View attachment 49140 I also apologize to the OP for not seeing this thread when it was posted. The gif is poor quality. Before View attachment 49141 After View attachment 49142