Commercial Photoshop Retouching: In the Studio

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The Photo Retoucher's Work Environment
The Workflow of a Typical Retouching Job
Becoming a Professional Retoucher

Sometimes it's awkward to explain to people what I do for a living. I assume because you are reading this book and interested in retouching images in a professional environment (or just adding a professional touch to the images in your personal environment), that you have a vague idea of what I do all day. While the rest of this book is specifically about the general retouching techniques I use in Photoshop in my daily work, in this chapter, I've tried to give you some insight into the workspace, workflow, and workday of a professional image retoucher. If you're eager to get to image manipulation, Chapter 2 jumps right in. But if you're planning on spending any time retouching photos professionally (or as a dedicated hobbyist), consider the following information. Knowing the basic setup and activity of a retoucher's studio can save you time and stress down the line.

I'll start this chapter by telling you how I set up my workspace and how I get comfortable at my workstation. Being comfortable is very important, especially when you retouch for long hours. I have had some 16-hour days in my career. That's a lot of time on the mouse! And after nearly 20 years of retouching, I haven't ever had any neck, back, or arm ailments, including carpal tunnel syndrome.

In general, you should set up your workstation for what feels right for you. Here are some tips that I would recommend for your workstation.

First, I like to have my monitor up a bit higher than most people would; I lower my chair to achieve this. I would rather be looking up slightly than looking down at a monitor. When looking down on a monitor, I tend to get a sore neck. This way, when I'm looking straight at the monitor, I am looking at the middle of the screen, and I believe this position shown Figure 1-1 has prevented me from getting a sore neck.

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I'll start this chapter by telling you how I set up my workspace and how I get comfortable at my workstation. Being comfortable is very important, especially when you retouch for long hours. I have had some 16-hour days in my career. That's a lot of time on the mouse! And after nearly 20 years of retouching, I haven't ever had any neck, back, or arm ailments, including carpal tunnel syndrome.

In general, you should set up your workstation for what feels right for you. Here are some tips that I would recommend for your workstation.

First, I like to have my monitor up a bit higher than most people would; I lower my chair to achieve this. I would rather be looking up slightly than looking down at a monitor. When looking down on a monitor, I tend to get a sore neck. This way, when I'm looking straight at the monitor, I am looking at the middle of the screen, and I believe this position shown Figure 1-1 has prevented me from getting a sore neck.

Figure 1-1: Set up your workspace to avoid stress and injury

Second, when sitting at a computer desk, I like the corner position for my computer, which offers more room to stretch my legs and support my elbow. A corner placement also allows you plenty of room for the placement of a monitor, particularly if it is a large CRT monitor, which some people prefer. (Of course, if you use a flat screen monitor, this isn't an issue).

Also, I find that I can work on a computer for a long period of time if my arm is supported properly to the elbow. I have seen many computer setups where the keyboard, mouse, and monitor are placed on the straight portion of a desk. This offers little, if any support for your arms and I find it very awkward to work on, becoming very tiresome within a short period of time. I believe that people are much more prone to injury as well with a setup like that. I usually have an angled footrest as well, just enough to elevate my feet.

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First, let's get familiar with the relationships. If you work as a photographer, either in an ad agency or a small design house, you may deal directly with the client who is going to approve your work. If you work for a pre-press or film house, you typically deal with the client indirectly, through a coordinator and a sales person. In this case, there will be an account representative who acts as the liaison between the film house and the client or agency. That representative interprets the client's instructions and relays that information to an internal production coordinator at the film house. From there, the production coordinator processes the job throughout the shop and ensures that the job makes it through the various departments for processing. The basic players and their relationships are outlined in Figure 1-5.

Figure 1-5: The relationship between the client and various suppliers

Obviously, each job is unique, but the following sections outline the basic process of a retouching job.

A typical job will include a pre-flight check of the client's files to make sure that all of the elements needed to do the job are there. This may include page layout files, typically assembled in QuarkXPress or InDesign. It is necessary to make sure the necessary fonts, images, and logos are included in the job file. A quick call to the client at this stage can save a lot of embarrassment later by discovering any errors right off the bat.

Images used in ads are typically supplied in two forms: the ad agency has used a photographer to shoot and retouch the image, or the ad agency has purchased the image from a photographer and will do the retouching in house.

Or perhaps the photographer has shot the image and the ad agency is relying on a pre-press or film house or a retouching specialist to retouch the image. The image can be supplied two different ways, as well: digitally from a camera or a transparency from a film-based camera. Years ago, the quality of images coming straight out of a digital camera were not great, so the images were shot as transparencies, either 35mm, 2.25", 4" by 5", or 8" by 10", depending on the type and size of the camera used. These transparencies were then scanned and digitized for use on a computer. Of course, times have changed, and the quality of digital cameras has improved. As such, more and more images are supplied right off the digital camera.

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I enjoy doing retouching especially when the job is really challenging. Making the impossible possible. But most of my day is spent doing routine work, the bread and butter stuff, so at the end of the day it is actually a job. If you were having fun all the time, it would be called a holiday! The following sections cover some of my basic observations about the profession.

It used to be common for companies to train people on the job. These days, it seems that companies want to hire someone who can hit the ground running. I guess that leaves the training up to you. I believe that anyone with an interest can learn retouching with Photoshop, as long as the desire is there. Many schools have Photoshop night courses, and those may be an inexpensive option. If you work well on your own, reading a book like this is a good option. You know yourself well enough to know how you best learn.

I do feel that the best retouchers are people who have an artistic background. I say this because you have to be able to imagine the look of an image before you even retouch it, such as where a shadow falls and how it interacts with the rest of the image. Whether you model with clay or sketch cartoons, I don't think it really matters as long as you have the artistic sensibility. As long as you know what you want to achieve, the rest will fall into place. I think you should have good listening and communication skills as well. Being able to interpret what people tell you and convey your ideas and thoughts are important.

There are many retouching opportunities out there. The only downside I see is that many, many people want to get into it. It is like computer animation. It seems cool to do. When retouching started, it was limited to high-end proprietary systems that were very, very expensive. The time charged out for retouching was also very expensive because there was really nowhere else to get the retouching done. These days, anyone with a few hundred dollars can pick up a computer and Photoshop, and they are in business. Also, many people fresh out of school with few responsibilities can afford to work for less. Many ad agencies know this, and people starting out in ad agencies will work there just to build up a name for themselves, gain some work experience, and develop a portfolio. Not a bad idea if you can afford to do it.

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Imagining the Light That Should Have Been
Creating a Simple Shadow
Creating Shadows for Complex Objects
Retaining an Existing Shadow in a New Background
Grounding Objects with Shadows
Common Shadow Mistakes
Keeping a Shadow Library

Shadows set objects into their surroundings. Often a client will ask to me create a shadow where one doesn't currently exist (because an object has been close-cropped onto a blank background) or fix an existing shadow that looks out of place (because an object has been cropped out of its natural environment and placed onto a new background). Or perhaps existing objects in the new scene may affect the way a shadow interacts with its new surroundings. When this happens, it is typical for an object to look out of place in its environment. Retouching can "fix" reality.

In a typical production environment, you might encounter a variety of these types of retouching scenarios: taking an image that was shot in a studio and placing it into a natural outdoor scene; dropping an image into a scene with a different background altogether, which may have been lit differently; cropping an image from an outdoor scene and bringing it indoors. In each case, the color and look of the shadow may have to be adjusted to reflect the changes in the color or feel of the image being brought in and its new surroundings.

Creating realistic shadows from scratch can present a real challenge. First of all, you have to create something that doesn't exist yet, or at least doesn't exist in the form you want it to. The shadow has to be brushed in with typically no point of reference and is totally dependent on the imagination of the person retouching the image. (If you have a limited imagination, this can be a problem, but we'll discuss means of getting around that in this chapter.)

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The problem some people face is that they don't fully understand photographic lighting and therefore can't build a good mental picture ahead of time of how the final shadow on the image should look. Before doing any retouching, you should have a clear mental picture of the final outcome before you even start to alter the image. Otherwise, you risk failing to create the final look you're after. It's like making a movie—you don't film anything that just happens to come by, but create a storyboard before any shooting takes place so that you know the shots you'll need in advance.

The first thing you must do before creating a shadow is determine where or what kind of light source would have created the shadow you want. What kind of light source is "present" in your final image? Basically, we have a couple of different potential light scenarios: indoor or studio lighting and outdoor natural lighting.

Studio lighting: In a studio, a photographer can have total control over the lighting process, choosing which types of lighting sources to use and which methods of reflecting that light to employ (Figure 2-1). The idea is to light the object in such a way that all the desired details of the object are evident or the proper mood is achieved.

Figure 2-1: In a photographic studio lighting setup, the photographer has complete control over where the lighting comes from and how it is reflected
Outdoor or natural lighting: With outdoor lighting, there is basically one source of light: the sun Figure 2-2. Shadows created from the sun are quite directional, so it's often easier to see where the shadow direction will fall than it is when light is coming from all around in the studio. Outdoor lighting can be controlled to some degree to highlight various details in an object by using various reflectors, as is done in a studio.

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Let's start our shadow work by creating a basic shadow for some strawberries. Our unretouched image, Figure 2-9, is a good example; most shadows I am asked to create are this type of simple basic shadow. Having said that though, one must pay special attention to the shape, size, and density of the shadow, as such a simple shadow on a stark background will look really out of place if it isn't correct. Using some basic techniques, we can give these strawberries a realistic shadow, as revealed in Figure 2-10.

Figure 2-9: Before: Shadowless strawberries in space

Figure 2-10: After: Strawberries with the proper shadow

To start, we'll need to isolate the image of the strawberries. If the image is being removed from a background and put on a white or tinted background, I usually crop the image with the pen tool. As you can see in Figure 2-11, I usually add a small amount of softness to the pen tool selection (Select → Feather), depending on what the rest of the image looks like. In this case, I've added a Feather Radius of 0.2.

Figure 2-11: Use the Feather command to add softness to an image when selecting

It is very important to make sure that when an object is close-cropped out of an existing background, you take special note of the original softness of the image. If you crop an image out without any softness at all, the edge of the cropped image will look like it has been cut out with a knife and simply stuck down on the new background.

A good rule of thumb for determining the correct softness is to have a look at the original image, zoom in to a large degree, and see how the pixels of the image feather off into the background. Although this is not all that measurable in terms of an exact measurement, it will give you a visual cue as to the amount of softness you should add. Adding softness is a very visual thing, and to use the exact amount each time may not work for all images. You'll have to experiment. It is not unusual for me to make more than a couple of attempts before I figure out exactly where I want the softness setting to be.

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Figure 2-27: Before: a picture of a lonely tree

Normally, I would start a project like this by making a mask of the object. Masks will be covered in a later chapter, so for now, we'll assume that the tree has been cropped out.

Figure 2-28: After: tree in its new environment with proper shadow

Creating a shadow for a complex object is a little more involved than the freehand shading we've done so far. In this section, we'll create a shadow for a more intricate object, the complex tree shown in Figure 2-27. By the time we get to the final image, Figure 2-28, we'll have replanted this tree on a hillside with the proper shadow intact.

First, make a selection of the tree and create a new multiplied shadow layer. On the new multiplied layer, fill the selection with a 98% black, as I've done in Figure 2-29.

Figure 2-29: The tree selected and filled with 98% black

Next, select Edit → Transform Path → Skew. Move the transform center pivot point of the transform tool to the bottom of the tree, so that it will be the pivot point of the shadow, as in Figure 2-30. Then, adjust the corner handles and distort the shadow layer until the desired shadow angle is achieved. The desired angle of the tree shadow will of course be determined by the direction from which the light is coming.

Figure 2-30: Move the transform center pivot point to the bottom of the tree, and then adjust and distort the shadow to the desired angle

Let's say the sun would be coming from the right side of the image. You can see this if you look carefully at the tree trunk, as the right side of the tree has an orange glow to it from the sun and the left side of the tree is dark, or in the shadow area. This would mean that the tree shadow would fall to the left and be placed flat on the ground.

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Sometimes your client has an image in which he would like to have the object cropped out of the background but retain the shadow. If the object is on a light background, as in Figure 2-35, this is generally a simple matter of dropping out the background.

Figure 2-35: The background here has subtle coloring that the client wants removed

Figure 2-36: Drop out a white background with a curve or selective tool adjustment

Figure 2-37: Copy a four-color image and create a grayscale

I will usually make a selection of the object or the background (whichever is easier) and invert the selection (if necessary so only the background is selected. Then I use a curve adjustment or a selective color adjustment to drop out the background, as shown in Figure 2-36.

Figure 2-38: Using the same selection, copy the image to the four-color image's black channel

If the object to be cropped is on—say, a tartan background, for example—you obviously cannot simply drop out the background. In a case like this, you would probably have to recreate the shadow from scratch.

If you have an image in which you want to retain the shadow, but have the shadow in black only, try this technique. First, make a path or selection of your background, and then make a copy of the image and change that copy to grayscale, as shown in Figure 2-37.

Figure 2-39: Delete the cyan, magenta, and yellow shadow channel information

Figure 2-40: Final result shows the chair and shadow successfully extracted from the background

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With every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. This applies to shadows as well. If you place a shadow underneath an object, some of this shadow should be reflected back onto the object, thus anchoring the object to Shadows the shadow and the surface on which it sits. Without this anchoring effect, objects will appear as if they are hovering (an effect you wouldn't want unless you were trying to make an object appear as though it were floating, as in Figure 2-41.

Figure 2-41: Before: original image without an anchoring shadow

Figure 2-42: After: reflection of shadow onto the oranges anchors them to the ground

To create this anchoring shadow, add subtle amount of shadow to the object itself on multiplied layer, particularly where the object gets closer to the ground or another object. As an object gets closer to the ground or another object, the shadow will become progressively darker. After the application of the anchoring shadow, the object appears properly grounded. Note the anchoring shadow around the underside of the oranges in Figure 2-42.

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Figure 2-43: Incorrect: there is nothing in the image that explains the angle of the shadow

Figure 2-44: Correct: a shadow that stays on the horizontal, regardless of the object angle changes

There are a variety of common shadow mistakes; in this section, I'll go over a few and give you some tips on how to avoid them.

Always make sure a shadow stays put on the ground in a horizontal fashion, regardless of how the image angle may change. Notice that in Figure 2-43 there is no mountain or wall to explain the position of the donut's shadow. In Figure 2-44, the donut is hovering at an angle, but the shadow correctly "sits" horizontally on the ground. The only time the angle of a shadow would change is if the shadow hit an object that is on an angle, like a wall or mountain.

Figure 2-45: Incorrect: negative-looking shadow not on a multiplied layer

Figure 2-46: Correct: shadow on a multiplied layer

Creating your shadows on a normal, unmultiplied layer makes the shadow appear to have a "negative" effect because the color of the shadow "knocks out" color beneath it. The shadow ironically ends up having less density than the rest of the image, as in Figure 2-45.

Figure 2-46 shows how the same shadow should look when multiplied correctly.

Figure 2-47: Incorrect: a shadow added to a colored area with less color than the object being shadowed

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One thing I have found quite useful and a real timesaver is to keep a library of shadows. I keep a few basic shadows on file and repurpose them instead of having to recreate them from scratch each time a new image comes in. This is particularly useful for car images, but you may find other uses for them. I usually keep them as a fairly large file, but the nice thing about a shadow is that it can be resized quite considerably, 200% or more, and the image doesn't really degrade all that much. Add a slight Gaussian blur and a little noise to it, and you're back in business.

Figure 2-53: A shadow under an object that has been restricted by a crop mask can't be repurposed easily

Figure 2-54: A shadow under an object that has not been restricted by a crop mask can be altered more easily for a different use

One big tip for creating shadows is: don't restrict the shadow to the shape of the object. By this, I mean create the shadow as if the object you are making the shadow for isn't even there. Do not create the shadow with an inverse selection of the object

If a shadow doesn't fit perfectly with your new image, you can always use the Transform/Distort tool to adjust its perspective slightly to create the desired angle or look you are after.

Figure 2-55: Library of shadow files

Be sure to give the shadows in your library descriptive names so you can find them when you need them. You can see the ones from my library are titled according to the angle of the view.

I say this because if you ever erase or shift the position of the object or shadow, there will be a hole or line where the shift has taken place. You can see the problem in Figure 2-53.

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Correction Basics
Adding Texture to an Image
Using the Clone Tool
Neutralizing Images
Brightening Images
Changing Image Colors

When I say "correction," I am not talking about your run of the mill correction like when you are asked to make a banana appear more yellow. I am talking about making corrections that can not only make that banana appear more yellow, but add greater shape and pizzazz so it really stands out from the rest of the bunch. The beauty of such corrections is that they can be applied to any image and changed to the point that people can't believe what you started with. Let's dive in and see how to really make those images sing.

The corrections I will discuss here are described in CMYK because anything being printed on paper by a printing press will be of a four-color process, with the occasional special Pantone color. The basic principal of a correction can also be applied in RGB. When I speak of four-color process, to clarify, some ink jet type printers are called RGB devices, but for the most part this means that they like to receive an RGB file. They will then use their internal conversion process to convert the file to CMYK, as the inks used in these printers are CMYK. Some printers use additional ink colors as well to enhance the image.

Let's start with a few basic philosophies for making corrections. (Note that many of these techniques apply to much more than color corrections.)

The first thing I like to do when I make corrections is make a duplicate layer of the original image and assign the date or a descriptive name for the layer, such as "Color Correction." That way, there is no confusion as to when your work was done and what the layer is. This is especially helpful if you have many layers in your file. I find there is nothing worse than calling a layer its default name, like "Layer 0:"; this doesn't tell anyone anything about the layer. Another reason I make a copy of the layer is because if the client wants to go back to the original for any reason, I have it.

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Let's start with a few basic philosophies for making corrections. (Note that many of these techniques apply to much more than color corrections.)

The first thing I like to do when I make corrections is make a duplicate layer of the original image and assign the date or a descriptive name for the layer, such as "Color Correction." That way, there is no confusion as to when your work was done and what the layer is. This is especially helpful if you have many layers in your file. I find there is nothing worse than calling a layer its default name, like "Layer 0:"; this doesn't tell anyone anything about the layer. Another reason I make a copy of the layer is because if the client wants to go back to the original for any reason, I have it.

One more good reason for duplicating a layer is because it can be very easy to alter a change I have made to the image. If I have made a color change and the client finds that I haven't gone far enough with the change (or I have gone too far with the change), I can simply change the opacity of the corrected layer to get me where I want to go without having to start all over (Figure 3-1). It is very common for client to ask if I can go somewhere halfway in between two changes, if I have a layer with the change I have made, it is a simple matter of adjusting the opacity of the layer. A simple click on the layer opacity to 50%, and I'm halfway there! A very handy way to make quick adjustments.

Figure 3-1: Using layers to make multiple color changes to an image allows for easy adjustments to clients' requests

I may make adjustments to part of an image this way as well. Let's suppose the client loves the color change to one part of the image, but wants to go back to the original in another area of the image. I'd use a mask, a Pen tool–created selection, a Lasso tool selection, or my Erase brush to eliminate what I don't want changed on my color-adjusted layer, as in Figure 3-2. A layer mask would work well in this situation as well.

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I am often asked to introduce more shape or texture into an image that is lacking it (Figure 3-12). Examples of images lacking shape may be very dark objects that have lost shape due to the amount or density of color in an image. Another example may be a fabric or material that is lacking shape—not that it isn't in the image somewhere, it just hasn't been exaggerated. Imagine a block of chiseled ice. If a client wanted to see all the many textures within that shape, various methods could be used to bring them out. There are a couple of ways I like to do this.

Figure 3-12: Before: an image lacking shape and texture

One basic method for adding shape and the appearance of more texture is to use a simple curve adjustment. Using the curve adjustment with all colors selected, I'll take readings of the darker and lighter areas of the image and come up with a bit of an S curve (Figure 3-13). The S curve is a basic way to introduce more contrast to an image, which usually results in the appearance of more shape, texture, and contrast.

When I say "take a reading," I mean that you want to see what values make up a particular color. This information is displayed in the Information palette window.

Figure 3-13: After: an S curve in the Curves tool and the resulting image

Another way to add texture to an image would be to go into the individual color channels and pinpoint each color on the curve and adjust them individually for maximum shape. For instance, the cyan channel may have more shape than the other color channels, and therefore, you may want to change the cyan channel without changing the other channels, as long as this doesn't affect the overall color balance of the image. The black channel is usually a good starting point because it will not change the overall hue of your image, just its density and shape.

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The Clone tool (Figure 3-29) basically uses two points: one point reads the image information, and the other point writes that information. Adjusting the Clone tool brush size adjusts the size of the read and write points. The distance between the two points is adjustable, and you must take care to keep from repeating the same information as you brush along.

For cloning straight edges, hold down the Shift key and click along the length of the edge you are trying to fix (Figure 3-30).

Figure 3-29: One Clone tool point reads the information, and the other writes that information; sometimes the information repeats itself: a very undesirable effect

Figure 3-30: Before: cloning an edge of an image with the Shift key

By holding down the Shift key, the Clone brush will follow your every click (Figure 3-31).

Figure 3-31: After: cloning an edge of an image with the Shift key (the second point is clicked while holding down the Shift key)

I like to use human faces to demonstrate corrections because everyone knows what a face should look like, and if anything is off, people will notice. This forces me to get it right! To smooth out rough skin or some other rough surface, use the Clone brush set to a very low opacity (Try 20% and adjust it from there if necessary). Massage the area constantly by changing the brushes so you don't get any repeat patterns. See Figure 3-32.

Figure 3-32: Smooth out an area with the Clone tool

Keep the brushes moving and change their positions in relation to each other often so that no one area repeats itself. Depending on the rest of the image, add a bit of noise to the area to break up the smoothness of the area retouched (Figure 3-33).

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When I speak of neutralizing images, I mean that I want to make the image true to its natural color. For instance, I want my blacks to be a black, not yellowish black or bluish black, but black black. I want my white areas to be white, not a pink tone or off-white. Neutralizing an image is an attempt to do this.

In RGB, it's pretty easy to obtain a neutral look in a full color image. Usually, if you balance the highlight and shadow areas, the rest of the image will fall into place. For instance, if you started with the image Figure 3-37, look for the whitest area in the image and make of the values in the image the same.

Figure 3-37: The original shot needs neutralization

For example, make a white area R5, G5, B5. You can use the Curve adjustment tool or the Selective color correction tool to set the highlight and shadow area neutral points, as shown Figure 3-38. Use the Color Sampler tool and the Information palette to see what the values are as you make changes with the color correction tools to balance these two areas.

Figure 3-38: Adjust the highlight with the Curve adjustment tool to a perfectly even number in all channels

You don't want to blow out an area to the point that there are no values left there. You may get rid of any subtle shape if you do this. Just make sure you leave minimum dot in the very lightest areas.

Next, you want to go to the shadow area of your image and, using your curves, balance all the colors there as well—for example, R250, G250, B250—as in Figure 3-39. Again, just like the highlight area, the opposite holds true here: you do not want to plug up or fill in the shadow areas, for risk of losing subtle shadow detail. Avoid making the shadow areas R255, G255, B255.

Figure 3-40 shows the final image.

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Another typical request that I get from clients is that they feel the image color looks dull and they'd like to brighten up the image. A couple of easy ways to brighten up images are with the Hue and Saturation tool, and with the Selective color tool. Go in and take out the unwanted colors that dirty up other colors with either of these correction tools. For example, if the following colors look "dirty" or not as bright as you'd like them to, try removing the appropriate color.

If a red color looks dirty, take out the cyan.
If a green color looks dirty, take out the magenta.
If a blue color looks dirty, take out the yellow.
If a yellow color looks dirty, take out the cyan.

If you use the Saturation slider in the Hue and Saturation tool (Image → Adjustments → Hue/Saturation), shown in Figure 3-43, and slide it to your right, this tool will take out the unwanted colors for you. The Hue and Saturation tool will do all colors at once, as you can see in Figure 3-44, so it isn't all that selective about what colors will be changed.

Figure 3-43: The Photoshop Hue and Saturation tool

Figure 3-44: After applying the Hue and Saturation tool

Be careful with the Hue and Saturation tool because it can do a fair amount of damage to an image use it sparingly. It can cause the colors to break up and look posterized or very cartoonish Figure 3-45, something you will want to avoid.

So, instead of Hue and Saturation, I tend to use the Selective color tool more often, as I have more control over what values I can change. Usually the change I make is a visual one, unless I am trying to dial in an exact color match to a reference color chip or an exact value. Obviously, you will have to experiment with these adjustments, but at least this will get you on the right track. Figure 3-46 shows the effects of using the Selective color correction tool, adjusting just one color—in this case, the green. Other colors can be affected, but to a lesser degree than the wholesale employment of Hue and Saturation.

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Occasionally, you'll asked to change the color of one single object within an image. If you are changing the color of an image to an entirely different color than the original image color, the first thing you should do is have a look at the individual colors to see which color channel has the most information and shape. If the image is green, the dominant color will be the cyan or yellow. If I were asked to turn the image into a red, the bulk of my correction would use information from the cyan or yellow channels. So let's say we needed to change the color of our lizard. You can see in Figure 3-47 that the cyan channel has a great deal of information.

Figure 3-47: In the case of a green lizard, the cyan channel has the most information

Another option is to either desaturate the image so that there is a healthy amount of information in all color channels to play with or create a grayscale of the image, and paste it back into the original color image. You could add lots of shape with a "crazy curve" (as described earlier to your grayscale image, prior to pasting it back into the four-color image. Figure 3-48 shows the effect of desaturation.

Figure 3-48: Desaturating an image is another alternative for isolating an image to change color

Next, mask the area of color to be changed very carefully with the Pen tool; you do not want to either miss some of the color to be changed or crop outside of the area you wish to change. The color change would either spill over into another area of the image, or the old color would poke out from behind the new change.

Be warned that desaturating an image can make an image look a little flat. You may have to experiment with your image to see whether this works well.

Add a soft feather to the selection as well. Depending on the look of the rest of the image, most of the time that works out to be a .2 to .5 feather. Adding a feather helps the correction look like part of the image. You don't want to have the correction looking like it was cut out and dropped it with a butcher knife!

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Creating Smoke or Steam
Creating a Smile
Creating Motion from Stillness
Extending Backgrounds
Shining Things Up

One of the most difficult challenges of retouching is creating something that doesn't already exist. There may be a portion of an image that is missing and needs to be redrawn or made up. For example, sometimes a person's leg or finger is outside of the original shot and needs to be added in. It might be necessary to add or change a reflection to make an object look more appealing. The techniques described in this chapter will help you create something from nothing!

One common request I receive from clients is to add smoke or steam to an image. Sometimes the desired effect is wispy, floating steam to make a muffin look fresh from the oven; sometimes it's a strong, forceful stream to indicate an iron's wrinkle-fighting power. Knowing how to make steam is a handy tool.

Adding steam to a food item can immediately make it more appetizing. In this example, we'll add steam to a cold cup of coffee. By the end of this exercise, the coffee should appear hot!

Let's start with the cold, unappetizing cup of coffee in Figure 4-1. Once we add some steam, we'll be serving the much tastier looking cup shown in Figure 4-2!

Figure 4-1: Before: a cold cup of coffee

Figure 4-2: After: once we add steam, our java will again be suitable for drinking

First, you'll want to create a new layer. Next, select the Brush tool. Set the brush opacity to a low amount, such as 30 or 40, and set the foreground color to white. Now, brush S-shaped white vertical lines where the top surface of the coffee is, as I've done in Figure 4-3.

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One common request I receive from clients is to add smoke or steam to an image. Sometimes the desired effect is wispy, floating steam to make a muffin look fresh from the oven; sometimes it's a strong, forceful stream to indicate an iron's wrinkle-fighting power. Knowing how to make steam is a handy tool.

Adding steam to a food item can immediately make it more appetizing. In this example, we'll add steam to a cold cup of coffee. By the end of this exercise, the coffee should appear hot!

Let's start with the cold, unappetizing cup of coffee in Figure 4-1. Once we add some steam, we'll be serving the much tastier looking cup shown in Figure 4-2!

Figure 4-1: Before: a cold cup of coffee

Figure 4-2: After: once we add steam, our java will again be suitable for drinking

First, you'll want to create a new layer. Next, select the Brush tool. Set the brush opacity to a low amount, such as 30 or 40, and set the foreground color to white. Now, brush S-shaped white vertical lines where the top surface of the coffee is, as I've done in Figure 4-3.

Figure 4-3: Brush S-shaped lines onto the layer

Once you have a few lines drawn in, select your Smudge tool and set the opacity to 50%. Shape and distort the lines with the Smudge tool, massaging the lines and pushing them around like putty until you get the look of wafting steam, as in Figure 4-4.

Figure 4-4: Modify the painted in white lines with the Smudge tool

Feel free to create more layers and additional lines of steam, reshaping them differently each time. You do not want any two lines to look the same. You may want to set the opacity levels of the various steam layers at different levels so that the steam will appear more natural and have more of a 3D effect. You can also distort or change the height and width of the various steam layers. Figure 4-5 shows the final effect.

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While using the Liquify tool may be kind of fun for turning people you don't particularly like into aliens with big bulging eyes, I find that it has very practical uses as well. If used sparingly, it can be applied to realistically alter a subject's facial expression. In our example, let's change the demeanor of the model in Figure 4-14 to put a slight smile on her face.

Figure 4-14: Before: Serious model face

Here, we'll use the Liquify tool to improve her mood. Choose Filter → Liquify. In the Tool options, choose a large brush (a small brush will make it difficult to keep the lines smooth and fluid). Too small a brush will cause small ripples in your change.

Use the Forward Warp tool in the upper-left corner to turn up the corners of her mouth. Do not just pull on the edges of areas where the lines are, as this will cause the area you are distorting to become blurry. Try starting the distortion a little farther away from the actual area, working out toward the edges. If you use the Liquify command in this way you will not stretch the image as much and it won't appear distorted (Figure 4-15).

Remember that when changing the shape of any portion of the image, think of the other effects this may have on the rest of the image. Smiling changes the shape of your cheeks, eyes, and so on. Make subtle adjustments to these areas with the Liquify tool as well, as shown in the final image, Figure 4-16. Don't be afraid to use your imagination.

Figure 4-15: Use the Liquify brush to manipulate the shape of the mouth

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On occasion I am asked to take a static object and add motion to it so that it appears to be moving. You can add motion to objects in a couple of different ways. For instance, you might be asked to make a lateral motion, like when a car or person goes racing by. Motion could be added to make an object to appear as though it were spinning. Motion could also be added to make an object appear as though it is coming toward or traveling away from us. So how do we create motion where there was none?

Figure 4-16: Changing the shape of the mouth also means imagining what smiling will do to eyes, cheeks, etc.

Adding motion to cars is typical request. This is often done because the client or manufacturer does not want to put excess mileage on to the vehicle or run the risk of damaging a new car. In this example, we'll take the car out of its stationary background and add motion to the background and the wheels. Figure 4-17 shows our sample vehicle standing p

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