I need CS2 help

[Debbi]

I am trying to process some wedding pics from last weekend. I am still trying to learn how to process people in CS2 and have done pretty well for the most part, but now I'm stumped. How can I soften (if not eliminate) the wrinkles in the eyelids pictured below without it looking processed? I can fix the blemishes and skin texture (which haven't been done yet on this pic). Any help is greatly appreciated, but please tell me what you did. Thanks.

[srwatters]

Try using the same technique that you use to get completely smooth skin, then lower the opacity (or fade) the effect. I use the patch tool, then immediately fade the last operation to 50%+- until I get the softening I desire. You can also do all the changes in a layer, then reduce the opacity of the layer until you get the desired softening.

Good luck.

[Debbi]

Thank you very much, Scott! Your pics rock (not that any of your models need this treatment), so I really appreciate the input.

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by Debbi

Thank you very much, Scott! Your pics rock (not that any of your models need this treatment), so I really appreciate the input.

Thank you, but you'd be really surprised to see the before/after shots...

[Debbi]

Then maybe you need to put on a CS2/3 workshop

[Debbi]

OK - CS2 gurus. I know you are out there. Please share your knowledge (I did say please).

[princessmocha]

Debbi
I hope you dont mind me fixing the pic. I used the Healing Brush Tool(the one that looks like a band-aid) to fix the wrinkles, and the Blur tool to make the skin on her eyelid look "smoother". I am not a pro in CS2 but I love exploring what it has..haha
I hope it works for you!

[janetg]

used the clone tool on a duplicate layer, above original - added a mask, then painted the eye back in at 20% opacity.

[DJ.]

Another approach would be to keep some of the wrinkles but after cloning you smooth them out and smudge over them to soften. To bring back some texture you can add grain or noise to the lid only. I have only added a small amount here. When finished you can apply your skin processing to the entire face to blend it all in.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/vetrail/a1s.jpg

[srwatters]

About 5 minutes using a second layer. Combination of clone tool at 75% flow and 33% harness. Then come back and pick smaller areas (8-12 pixel brush) with same flow, but 60% hardness. select areas that need lightening/darkening and use brightness/contrast or levels to blend evenly.

Finally lower the opacity of the second layer to 90%+- until it looks right. I did only her left eye.

BTW, you do know that the image you have here is in ProPhoto RGB color space. I converted my version to sRGB before uploading.

[Debbi]

First of all, thanks to everyone. I will see what works good in my workflow and this photo in particular but now I have a few more tools to add to the arsenal, so to speak. I really appreciate it.

Scott, I'm going to ask what I KNOW is a really stupid question. Please bear with me as I have only really been using CS2 for about 6 months and am learning by trial and error. In camera, my photos are saved in RAW sRGB. All I do is bring the photo up in ACR via Bridge. Depending on what I am doing (web or not), I may convert to 8 bit to save as a jpg. What am I doing wrong and more importantly, how do I save the web version in sRGB?

[srwatters]

Debbi, I'm no expert in Photoshop or photography for that matter, but I'll tell you what I've discovered in the last 2.5 years as a user. Your RAW images do not have any color space assigned to them with regard to Photoshop. They are simply the raw data that the sensor captures with some additional meta data that records what the camera settings were when you pushed the shutter release. Any RAW converter (ACR, Bibble, RAWMagik, Canon Raw Converter, etc.) may have access to those parameters and might use them (ACR doesn't except for white balance), but essentially you're dealing with just raw sensor data. My workflow goes something like this:

Open RAW image with ACR
Adjust tabs in ACR to get the desired exposure, white balance, etc.
Open the image into Photoshop as full resolution, 16 bit, ProPhoto color space
Edit the image (a whole different post)
If I plan on more editing or this is a customer large format print, save as a PSD with all layers etc. in 16 bit, ProPhoto color space.
Use edit->convert to profile to Adobe RGB color space
Use image->mode to down sample to 8 bits per color depth (these last two must be done in this order or you could get banding or blocking)
Save the image as a tif uncropped (this is the master for different crop sizes)
Crop the image as required (5x7, 8x10, 11x14 etc.)
Save the image as tif (this is the master print base image)
Resize the for web display
Use edit->convert to profile to sRGB color space
Save the image as jpg quality 8

By using "save as" instead of "save for web" I retain the ExIF data which is nice if you're posting here. For customer images, I may strip it, but I might not.

Hope that helps.

[Debbi]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your time and wisdom.

[DigitalDiva]

The clone stamp and the healing tool with Digital Gem plugin and some gaussin blur