Taking Requests

[Buster's Uncle]

Dr. BA, could you be so kind as to review the first page of this thread?  Uno had several questions I couldn't answer well, if at all - and I think you can.

[Buster's Uncle]

And in the interest of being complete, here's the retouch I did a couple of months ago of Momma's shoop after BA recently had a go at fixing up my attempt. 

I still see the flaws in the retouch, but this job is the main thing that set off my current creative/productive spell - when I was done, I felt almost an itching in my hands for more projects, a desire to create.  Flaws and all, it's still much improved - I think his face looks unmistakably over-retouched, but you see what I started with, and the shot blends together a lot better now...

[Buster's Uncle]

Just a button for my website, links to the info page.  Not sure if you can BB code such a thing or not, and fairly sure html don't work here.

Incidentally, we need to work out how to do the same thing you want there in forum bb code for a big project I'm working on - I'll keep you posted. 

-Also, check out the hovertext on this sentence.  That's as easy as hyperlinking, only with acronym in place of url in the brackets.  I added the boldface separately.

[Mylochka]

Dr. BA, could you be so kind as to review the first page of this thread?  Uno had several questions I couldn't answer well, if at all - and I think you can.

I'm not sure which questions you're talking about -- using the magic wand?  I'd use the Polygonal Lasso tool to select and then go to Select/Feather to blur the edges.

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, tell him what you can about semi-transparency for blending elements into the background or whatever you think best, and any insights into  the html stuff I was no help on...

[Buster's Uncle]

BTW, Mom is GIMPing on the Sam family pic today, and Pokey's coming any minute, so I've encouraged her to share - I think I've been teaching her mostly stuff Pokey doesn't know, so they can teach each other a lot and have fun...

[Mylochka]

I don't know how to do the html stuff, but you can adjust the sensitivity of the magic wand by playing with the numbers in the Tolerence box in the upper right hand corner.  While you've got the wand (or any selection tool) selected you can hold down the SHIFT key to add more areas or the ALT key to de-select areas.

I think the best way to "fade to black" around the edges of an image is to go to Filer/Render/Lighting Effects, swap the Light Type from Spotlight to Omni and then put the center of the circle on whatever it is you want to be the lightest part of the image.

[Mylochka]

Oh, and yes, to make a collage in Photoshop, I'd put each set of images in a different layer and then play with the transparency settings and blending modes.

[Buster's Uncle]

...I imagine the separate layers have the virtue of being a lot easier to move around, something I've found Photoshop to be poor at with straight pasting, as I said...

[Buster's Uncle]

I think you may have missed this...

BTW, Mom is GIMPing on the Sam family pic today, and Pokey's coming any minute, so I've encouraged her to share - I think I've been teaching her mostly stuff Pokey doesn't know, so they can teach each other a lot and have fun...

[Mylochka]

Yes, that sounds good.  Pokey may have some ideas that could help Mom out.

[Buster's Uncle]

Right - and I think Pokey will love the retouching, but it's mostly a different skillset than what she needs for Photoshopping ads together at work.  I think they'll have a good time.

[Buster's Uncle]

Mom was busy shooping yesterday in GIMP, as I mentioned.  I think she made some real improvement on a badly damaged shot.  Here's a before and after:

[Mylochka]

Oh, that's good!  She's doing great.  I think she should try colorizing it.  That will really bring out the details.

[Buster's Uncle]

I will run and suggest that now.  I've talked a little to her about the possibilities for modest colorizations, and even of paintingizing photos as gifts.