sashanp Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 was wondering if anyone had any helpful hints on reducing some of the sraie (stretch marks) I know alot of you will say why did you take the shot in the first place, but it was a maternity shot. I have tried healing stamp, clone stop, dodging/burning and gausian blur so far with no appreciable results, any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sashanp Posted May 6, 2007 Author Share Posted May 6, 2007 also please let me know how you employed the fixes. Thanks<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 Talk about hard lighting! Get a softbox and move it close to the model. A fill light might help too, though it might cause the light to be flatter than you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoneguy Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 That image isn't even workable. Is this a scan, or digital file? If you want to email me the original, or at the least, a 100% jpeg, I'll give it a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sashanp Posted May 6, 2007 Author Share Posted May 6, 2007 my intention was to use a honeycombgrid spot to just kiss the outline of her belly, cover the rest and hide the stretch marks in shadow It has worked bfore but I am not even sure what happened here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sashanp Posted May 6, 2007 Author Share Posted May 6, 2007 something to this effect<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_holland Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 Striae are actually raised, and your tangential lighting has emphasized the bumpy skin contour. On top of that, there is tons of noise in the shadows. Time to try again, as this image won't go. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_i Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 Your exposure is *almost* a bigger problem... your lighting strategy only enhanced the texture. Didn't you see that under the modeling lights (or hot lights)? A minute of thought before the shot will save you hours in photoshop, and usually provide a much better look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_farkas Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 If you must use this picture, try duplicating just the belly onto another layer and apply a heavy dose of 'surface blur'. Then add a mask to the layer and bring back some detail along the edges of the clothing and the belly button. I tried this quickly and it seemed to help. It won't make a great image, but it just might make it easier on the eyes.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sashanp Posted May 7, 2007 Author Share Posted May 7, 2007 I will be reshooting, any tips on flattening the stretch marks and or lighting strategy. ( what is opposite of tangential?) as well as exposure, I guess my sekonic 358 needs servicing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverdae Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 Its a pain, but you could try "pixel-by-pixel" retouching. The term refers to this- Alt-click on "create new layer" button at bottom of layers pallet. This brings up a dialog- choose "overlay" as your blend mode, then click "fill with 50% gray" at the bottom of the dialog. Paint on this new layer with white (I usually start about 7-10% opacity) to lighten shadows, black to darken highlights. Since overlay lightens anything lighter that 50% grey, and darkens anything darker than 50% grey, you can even out the skin tones, reducing the effect of the texture, which is in fact highlights and shadows. Do this at 100% zoom. Hope it helps! Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 The opposite of tangential (from the side) is... head on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank_dzambic Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 In telling you to avoid tangential lighting, he's telling you to avoid using sidelighting, as sidelighting (especially harsh sidelighting) always brings out the texture of a subject and makes it more pronounced. Find a way to stand an egg upright, and then in a dark room hold a bright light in front of it and study it, then slowly swing the light to the left or the right until it's to the side of the egg. Now study it again. See how much more apparent the texture of the eggshell became? Now try varying the distance of the light to the egg, moving it closer and farther and study that to see the effect it has on the shadows, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyd Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Filter>Noise>Reduce noise= STRENGTH:10/PRESERVE DETAILS:4/REDUCE COLOR NOISE:98% Use the healing brush tool to help blend leftover marks. (Need not be too perfect.) Repeat step 1 ENHANCE>ADJUST LIGHTING>LEVELS= INPUT LEVELS: 30/1.00/255 & OUTPUT LEVELS: 0/225 FILTER>SHARPEN>UNSHARP MASK= AMOUNT:100 RADIUS:2.00 THRESHOLD:0 The best I could do, hope it helps! -Anthony<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyd Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Looks like the hands could use some more sharpening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_w10 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Here's your belly shot fixed. <a href="http://www.sharkwurx.com/images/belly.jpg">Belly Fixed</a> :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_w10 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Oops. I forgot to attach a copy of the photo properly. Just in case, here's the belly shot after repair.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angie padilla Posted September 16, 2007 Share Posted September 16, 2007 I realize that you are spending a lot of time creating a smooth surface but the truth is that the woman has stretch marks and they are a part and symbol of her pregnancy, she probably wouldn't recognize HER belly in some of the corrections. The original is too harsh but don't remove them all together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemo_paice Posted November 30, 2007 Share Posted November 30, 2007 I know this thread is a bit old, but it is pretty easy removing the marks. I could do better with a high quality image, but how is this??? http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/4967/uploadedfilexj7.jpg Sorry I am new and don't know how to post the image here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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