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Deseparately need help!!!!


P

Purple71

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My FIL passed away two years ago and my husband doesn't have a picture of them together. I tried my hand at Photoshop myself, but can't figure out how to improve it. If anyone is willing to assist me with this project, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm looking for it as a Christmas present for my husband. TIA!!

image.png
 
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Still looking for someone to help me make my husband's Christmas extra special!!!! He doesn't have any photos of him and his dad, who passed away two years ago. Please! I have tried doing it myself, but don't know Photoshop.
 
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Purple71

I'll give it a try. Actually I'm already working on it. It will not be easy because the resolution of the pic 01 (with your father in law) and pic 3 (you, your husband and the kid) are very different.

To make my work a bit easier could you please upload a picture of your couch as in pic 3 but empty (no one sitting in it)
 
Don't get high expectations.
There were two issues, the light and the resolution of the photo's.
On the one with your husband the natural sunlight is coming from his right side. On the one with your father in law, the light is coming straight ahead from a flash device.

issue.jpg

The result is

dad and sun.jpg
 
That was a pretty decent job Eggy considering the source file incompatibility. Right on.

Just a little tip, in case it's escaped your skillful eye or anyone else may want to know... under the IMAGE menu > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights filter.
Try that to nullify/nuetralize the highlights/shadows in an image. Play with the "Color Correction" tool too to balance out any color casts.
That'll let you start from scratch and create your own light source/direction by (as i've always called it) painting with light & shadows; not unlike you did here.

Again, well done.
Have a good one.

Mark (aka theKeeper)...
 
I agree, theKeeper! With what he had to work with, he did a remarkable job! Waiting to if anyone else wants to try, but will use Eggy's if nothing else. Thanks again for all your work!!!!!!!!!:)
 
theKeeper: I'm honored to recieve advice from the creator of this wonderful forum.
The 'Shadows/Highlights' adjustment is indeed in fact a filter only applicable on an actual layer and not on an adjustment layer.
Mostly I use it for recovering information from a dark picture. I never played with the settings and wasn't aware it could be used to eliminate highlights.
So I tried this afternoon and I'm not happy with the result. I think I need a bit more practice.

I started with the cutout
01. Original Cutout.jpg

applied S/H and 'played' with the settings
02. Shadows_highlights.jpg

I just kept the head
03. original.jpg

to this disappointing result
04. original S-H.jpg

So Purple71, sorry I could not help you fully.

I hope someone with more skills jumps in and give it a try.
 
Eggy you did a lot better than I ever could have. I was reading so many how to-s for Photoshop, as to teach myself...LOL! You shouldn't be disappointed at all. You did a wonderful job and a truly appreciate it!!!!!!!
 
I'd just like to say first, that your initial rendition of these combined photos Eggy is more than adequate given what you have to work with.
Due to the extreme difference in the composition of each photo there's no real way to composite a perfect compliment of the 2 photos. Some sacrifice will have to be made in both overall quality and overall visual effect in order to put these photos together.
The important thing here is that these 2 people are even in the same photo together. That's the only real effect to be achieved here, IMHO. So to that end, you've done a marvelous job.

As for the Shadows/Highlights filter...
This is a wonderful filter that can be utilized in more way than what its name suggests. Something to remember in regards to a lot of Photoshops many filter/functions.
You had the right idea Eggy. Your resulting image looks almost as good as you'd get it to look, you simply need to experiment a little with certain settings to know how they effect the outcome. I have attached an example image that i did. You can see my settings in the image.
So long as you understand that in order to remove shadows, the image needs to have its contrast reduced. This is why the result ends up looking a little pastey. But also, the fact that the image has less shadowed areas makes it look odd to your eyes -- i.e. it looks flat. 2 dimensional...but your brain knows it isn't or should be. Just don't let that fool you into thinking you haven't gotten the results intended.



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I've also attached a comparison image so you can see how/where the shadows/highlights have been modified; and to what extreme. You'll notice that i was able to bring back some skin texture detail to the right side of the face and lose a lot of the large "hot spot" created by the nearby lamp. That was lucky. :) I couldnt go any further on that without completely washing out the side of the face with discolorization.

balancing light source.JPG

There's no possible way to make the photo exactly as we need it -- this plugin can't work miracles. :)
However, knowing that will help us to decide when we've used it enough to get us much closer to our goal.
After applying the filter, i also made other adjustments to the photo to help blend it back into its original state; in fact i tried to bring it even a little further in quality than it started out at -- like applying moderate sharpening etc.

shadow comparison.JPG



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The most difficult task here will be to try to get both subjects to look similar in depth/dimension. The photo of the dad is much more high contrast, due to the flash bulb from the camera in that dark room. Whereas the son is sitting in a lighted room being light by a warm yellow lamp bulb. That's a BIG difference lol. And one that, honestly, probably won't be overcome. The best we can hope for is to try to even out the light sources for both subject to reach some kind of medium that isn't hard on the eyes.

And so, after a few hours, this is what i ended up with. I hope i've done it justice. I saved the final render @ 5"x7" 300dpi.
This was the most compatible size falling between the 2 image's resolutions. It should print pretty clear. The file was too large to post here though, so if you like/want this image @ print resolution Purple71, let me know and i'll post a link to it for you. I can put this stuff on my own server.

If i could, i'd like to invite Eggy to repair the TV reflection in the son's glasses like he did before? That was a masterful job you did.
I can post a link to the PSD file here if anyone is interested in checking out the layer to see what i've done. We used to do that around here in the old days. People found it a neat way to learn things.

father & son composite - webscale.jpg

Have a good one.
Mark...
 
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theKeeper
Thank you Mark for the very educational explanation.
I haven't forgotten this request because I hate failure and between stuff I was doing I've tried different approaches.

I'll give it a try with the settings you used.
Just as you stated it will never be perfect due to the mentionned issues.

I'm not going to repair the TV reflections once again because it took me about an hour to fix them the first time (almost pixel by pixel). Thanks to PS I can cut out that portion and use it in the 'new' project.

By the way, I can not open your attachment saying 'invalid attachment'. (?)

Regards
Lambert
 
theKeeper, I would love to see what you were able to accomplish! Eggy, please, I meant no disrespect to what you were able to do!!!!! As I stated before, I do truly appreciate what you were able to do with what you had to work with!!!! You are both very sweet to even attempting this for me and don't know how much this means to me!!!!!!! *crying* Thank you both VERY much!!!!!!!!!
 
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