clean up gradient

[wasteland]

I'm rather new to photoshop and editing. Originally all those reddish gradients were of a different color. I can't remember exactly what I've done but I've played with some settings (color overlay I think) and change this object to a red palette of colors. I like the colors but noticed that if you zoom in, you'll see it's all 'dirty' full of blemishes and irregularities. How can I smoothen/clean it so it looks much better when zoom in (and keep the existing colors as much as possible)? Thank you
WL

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi wasteland
1) Best way would be to examine what you did to introduce the problems and have members suggest better solutions for you. Are you steps or PSD file available for what you did?

2) I get the impression that it may not be available and you want to know how to fix the existing issues with the present image. If that is the case here is what I would try (I am assuming you have the most recent version of Photoshop yet that may not be the case)
a) Convert to 16 bit mode
b) Turn Layer into a Smart Object
c) Apply Filter > Camera raw filter and set the "Texture" slider all the way to the left and then accept the changes and go back to Photoshop
d) If the result is still not adequate, apply the Camera raw filter a second time and slide the Texture all the way to the left

My experience has been is that the Texture slider does a fairly decent job of cleaning up this type of situation without badly affecting other image properties

More targeted advice could be done with more details provided by you about the creation of the gradients.
Hope this helps
John Wheeler

 

[wasteland]

Thanks a lot. Yes, 2) is the case. The steps you suggested have helped. It's not 100% spotless but it's much better. At least I now know how to go about it.

If I can ask one more: how do I make the edge/outlne more smooth?
Thank you.

WL

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi WL
There are two factors to consider on the "smoothness" of the edge and I am assuming that this is going to be a raster image output and not a vector image output (correct me if I am wrong).
At low resolution you get the pixel edges or "jaggies" which look like stair step. Smoothing that out is with anti-aliasing where the edges are fethered into the background. Your edges right now look as if was being feathered to a light almost white tone before going to transparent. If you want the image to just transition to an unspecified color (this image overlayed onto an arbitrary background) you would want the feathering to be transparency feathering. So it depends on what your objective is.

If you want a sharper edge, you need to have an image at a higher resolution and then created a selection on the edge you want to define and either cut the image out with that selection or create a Layer Mask to effectively to the same. Its actually best doing this with the pen tool creating a path as that path boundary will keep its sharpness if you change the size of the image.

So it might be helpful to know your final target image in pixel size and if you are overlaying or ???

Others may jump in with their thoughts too. Hope this helps some
John Wheeler

 

[wasteland]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, the transparency feathering seems to be what I'd generally like.

I have now been playing with 'refine edge' options in Photoshop. Let me google transparency feathering.

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi WL
I think using the refine edge is a great tool to use. The issue with you image is that your edge already has a gradient from the red magenta look to some edge pixels that are almost white before going to transparency. Refine edge is a great way to go yet you may need to address that edge first just depending on what you want the edge look to be. I have blown up the edge so you can see to what I am referring below: