MetaChat - Photoshop skills? Care to help a bunny help a friend?

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04 April 2007

Photoshop skills? Care to help a bunny help a friend? I have a friend who has a photo. It's for her parent's anniversary announcement, and it's a great pic of her folks. Unfortunately, there's a bald head between their two smiling faces. I think it's a fairly simple thing to do, if you know how. Which, I do not.

post by: richat at: 09:46 | 14 comments

Depends on what the background looks like and how clear the contrast between the edges is.

posted by matildaben 04 April | 09:50

My email is in my profile, or just post here and I would be happy to send the orginal. It's going in the paper, so I don't think it needs to be a really detailed job either. I really should learn some basic photoshop skills.

posted by richat 04 April | 09:51

I'll try - email it to me.

posted by iconomy 04 April | 09:58

How about a link? That way I can turf the file and I won't be accidentally leaving happy people's pics on the internet!

posted by richat 04 April | 10:02

I think masking the background and applying a gaussian blur so it looks like it was taken with a wide open lens would be the most natural. Plus you'll need to do something about those horrible specular highlights from the lamps. Fortunately the edge around the couple is strong so the masking shouldn't be too difficult for someone who knows how to do it. (I myself am terrible with masks because I haven't learned a good technique yet.)

posted by matildaben 04 April | 10:05

Thank you iconomy! Lightning fast and great work.

WOULD HIRE AGAIN! A++++++++!!+!!!+!!!

(Sorry the pay's so lousy)

posted by richat 04 April | 10:29

This is what I've got so far.

I tried to keep the lady in the back but found it impossible to get a realistic looking face while removing the other guy.

I've done similar stuff like this before. It helps if you have a dark(er) background.

Lemme know what you think.

≡ Click to see image ≡

On preview:
Nevermind. :(

posted by CitrusFreak12 04 April | 10:38

That looks great too CF! thanks!

posted by richat 04 April | 10:40

How about just darkening it?

posted by doctor_negative 04 April | 10:41

great photo btw. nice job on the photochop CF.

my .02 - i'd crop it in a bit tighter from the left to remove the disembodied arms/shoulders on the left hand side. they're a tad bit distracting and tend to pull you 'out' of the subject framing.

but that's just me.

posted by lonefrontranger 04 April | 10:47

CF, can you darken the arm people on the left, maybe? I bet you could clone out that really bright lamp from the brick wall. [On preview: cropping the arm people would require also cropping out dad's hand, which would be too bad plus it would mess up the composition.]

posted by matildaben 04 April | 10:53

P.S. They looks like really sweet and happy people. This is a nice photo.

posted by matildaben 04 April | 10:54

The problem with the lamp is that it's illuminated the stuff around it. It's much harder to get rid of things that aren't surrounded by darkness. And yeah cropping would mess with the composition.

And I really like the dad's smile/laugh. I kept smiling every time I saw it while editing out the people in the back.

I would recommend doctor_negative's course of action for the people on the left. Would probably make them less obtrusive. I'll do it if you think it prudent.

posted by CitrusFreak12 04 April | 11:42

Here's my attempt.

I still wanted it to look like there were other people at this function, that they weren't dancing in space, so I just tried to make it more subtle, much like what matildaben said. I also took out the flash shine on her glasses, erased the bald dude's shiny glasses and took out the lights on the wall.
Not sure if it works, but there it is.

posted by chococat 04 April | 12:29

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