Missed the clown - HELP PLEASE

[Jaygre]

Missed the entry deadline. I had problems with the masking on the white face. How do you
retain good detail when doing something like this?

All you pros, help needed...Thanks much!

[Dave]

With difficulty is all I can say.

I painted the white (with some skin tone in it) outer lips and eyebrows on my entry on a new layer set to overlay with the opacity set at 75%, I used a large soft brush ....

and got a terrible result! LOL

I'm no professional .... can't you tell?

[Silky]

Awwwww....too bad you missed the deadline, Jaygre....I love your image!

[down2earth2]

[QUOTE=Jaygre] I had problems with the masking on the white face. How do you
retain good detail when doing something like this?[/QUOTE]

Too bad you missed the deadline. I know how it feels. :( It's a nice entry.

I don't understand what you mean by "I had problems with the masking on the white face." Do you mean problems painting the face white, or problems creating a layer mask to use while working on the face?

[Jaygre]

DTE2 - I was trying to apply the white face, then I used a soft brush to burn some of the wrinkles on the original image, but I lost so much texture (wish I could get rid of MY wrinkles the same way, and NOT bring them back).

Also, while we are at it, is there a tutorial for extraction on hair with a busy background. I've searched all my books. ? BTY, my sweet husband got me Eye Candy for Valentines Day, sure a lot less calories than the real thing.

Thanks all

[Dave]

[QUOTE=Jaygre]
Also, while we are at it, is there a tutorial for extraction on hair with a busy background. I've searched all my books. ?
[/QUOTE]
Jolt's extraction tutorial might help there - http://www.pixeladdiction.com/bb/tutorials.php?aid=14&page=1&topic=

[Jaygre]

Just what I was looking for - thanks

[down2earth2]

Sounds like you were wanting a way to put back the dark details (wrinkles and such) without losing detail. I'm not sure if this would work, but it's an idea (for Photoshop).

Duplicate your background layer (the original photo), and drag it to the top of your layers. Desaturate the layer so you don't add any color back into your picture.
Create a layer mask and fill it with black which will make your new layer invisible.
Now, with a low opacity brush, paint over the wrinkles with white (in the mask) which will allow the original wrinkles to show through the mask.
If the wrinkles get too dark, either paint over them again with black using a low opacity brush, or reduce the opacity of the layer.
You might also try different blending modes on your new layer: multiply, soft light... which usually makes you need to turn to opacity of the new layer way down.
Good luck!

[Jaygre]

D2E2 - Thanks so much for the suggestion! Really worked like a charm and applying the multiply blending mode as a final step with the mask, I was able to paint in some subtle shadowing for facial contours.

Suggestion - do a tutorial on this. It really is NIFTY.

Joanie