Photoshop Retouching

The client wanted this sports recumbent bike photographed on a black background. Black on black is never a lot of fun but the photographer made a pretty good job of it. There is a limit to what can be done at the photography stage, however; black edges disappear and light cannot be put into all the corners.

Even in pre-computer days, a lot of retouching would have been necessary in a specialist retouching laboratory.

A few small lights could have helped in the photography to pick up highlights and details, but there are some areas which cannot be successfully lit when using a black background.
Photoshop retouching has to come to the rescue.

Here is a summary of what was done.

Removing the tummy bulge

• Use the Pen Tool to draw a new line for the stomach

• Convert it to a selection and give it a small Feather.

• With the Clone Stamp, cover it with detail from the arm. Deselect.

  The highlights and the shadows on the red shirt still indicate a bulge.

• With a combination of the Patch Tool, Healing Brush and Clone Stamp, replace these unwanted shades with the plain red.

Overall brightness

• With a Curves Adjustment Layer, a couple of anchor points will protect the blacks while lightening the rest of the image.

• Make the mask black and using a white brush, expose the Curve adjustments to the bike parts.
  Use a very small brush on the chain.

• Rather than making one Curves change too extreme, it can be better to use two Curves. Dupe the first Curve including the mask and modify slightly.

• The woman is bright enough although the face needs to be a little brighter. A 30% brush works here.

Spokes

• With the Polygonal Lasso Tool, select one spoke and copy it on to a new layer.

• Change its mode to Screen.

• The other dull spokes should be treated the same way.
  
Some blend better at less than 100% opacity.

Tyres

• Draw an oval selection around the outside of the tyre.

• Create a new layer.

• Give it a broad Stroke inside with a dark grey.

• Save the selection with Select > Save Selection.

• Apply Gaussian Blur to the grey ring.

• Load the selection and Inverse. Apply a small Feather.

• Delete the outside fuzziness of the grey ring.

• On the mask, with a soft brush, conceal the top portion of the ring and adjust opacity to taste.

Leg blotches

This is just a brief summary.

• Obvious marks are removed first with the Healing Brush.

• The leg is selected with the Pen Tool.

• It is copied on to a new layer, twice.

• Give one of the copies some Gaussian Blur.

• Convert the Path into a selection and remove the blur edge, as with the tyre.

• Reduce the opacity of the blurred leg layer.

• Treat the second copy of the leg the same way but with less blur.

• Use masks on these two layers to blend them in with the original leg to give a realistic look.
  The blotchiness must be removed without the result looking too pasty.

  The left leg needs a little treatment on similar lines.

The lower frame

Some tone needs to be added in a similar manner to the tyres.

• Outline the frame area with the Pen Tool.

• Copy the section on to a new layer.

• Fill it with a dark grey.

• Give it a small Feather.

• Apply a mask to this layer and choose a soft brush.

• Conceal the greyness that falls over the chain and over the centre of the frame.
  The greyness is left over the top section and bottom edge, so that the frame stands out a little from the black background.

• Adjust the opacity of the grey according to taste.

Home