photoshop advice

stephras07 · Jul 25, 2011

Did some maternity pictures today, and Mama really wanted some of her bare tummy... however she would like to hide/diminish the stretch marks. This is what I'm working with - is there any way to smooth these out? I use Photoshop Elements. I really want to be able to give her the pictures she wants, but I want them to look as natural as possible.

Thanks

BTW - no CC, I just wanted to know the best way to hide/smooth out/diminish the stretch marks. I will post pictures for CC soon!

KmH · Jul 25, 2011

Then you would want to do 16-bit edits, and since Elements is the consumer version of Photoshop it can't do much in the way of 16-bit edits. Which version of Elements do you have? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9?

Being able to do 16-bit edits is one of the many, many, many advantages to having one of the versions of the professional grade of Photoshop - CS(x).

stephras07 · Jul 25, 2011

Ummmm 16 bit edits? LOL

Elements 8. I know its more limited than the pro grades, but I couldn't see spending that much on CS just yet. I'm not bringing any money off of this yet, and being a stay at home mom of two kids ... Elements was all I could do at this point. Is there anything in Elements that I could do?

ghache · Jul 25, 2011

You will need photoshot and i would use a layer frequency seperation technique to remove all the marks.

stephras07 · Jul 25, 2011

Can you explain that a little more? I've been better about going to youtube tutorials for stuff, so I've been learning more of the functions, but I'm not sure I understand the process you are talking about.

Matt24138 · Jul 25, 2011

I think you could do this in GIMP which is a free program. Just a little hard to navigate.

412 Burgh · Jul 25, 2011

Let me hop onto my desktop after I eat breakfast and I will play around with the image and try to fix it for ya. then I'll tell you the steps i took IF i can get it to work

mwcfarms · Jul 25, 2011

You can use layers in Elements and try to use smart blur I think. Try youtube for a smart blur layer skin smoothing technique in PSE. Even gaussian blur would work. Just make sure your doing it on a layer. I know there are a tonne of videos for this on Youtube.

Big Mike · Jul 25, 2011

Sometimes these guys forget who they are 'talking' to.

I'm sure you could make some improvements to the skin with Elements. Sure, Photoshop would be better...but we have to work with what we have.

I haven't used Elements in a long while...but I do think that is can use layers. If you don't know how to use layers, that would be a good place to start reading/learning. For something like this, you would want to create a new layer and then create a layer mask. You would want to 'mask' off all the areas except the belly, then you could apply a 'filter' or other affect (like Gaussian blur). The effect (when applied to the layer) would only show on the areas that are not covered by the layer mask. So you could blur the belly without blurring the rest of the image.

But before you do that, I'd suggest getting in close and trying to reduce the appearance of the marks. In Photoshop, I'd use the healing brush and/or clone stamp tools...to take some of the clear skin and 'copy' it over the marks. Take your time and be careful. It would also be a good idea to do this on a new layer, so that still have the original image as the bottom layer (background) in case you need it.

vtf · Jul 25, 2011

Elements 8, not great but gives you an idea.
Use band aid to smooth.
Create a duplicate layer.
Select area to work on
Select gaussian blur, select amount.
Adjust opacity on duplicate layer to suit.
About 10 minutes of work.

412 Burgh · Jul 25, 2011

vtf said:
Elements 8, not great but gives you an idea.
Use band aid to smooth.
Create a duplicate layer.
Select area to work on
Select gaussian blur, select amount.
Adjust opacity on duplicate layer to suit.
About 10 minutes or work.

beat me to it! thanks lol

mwcfarms · Jul 25, 2011

Then you can go in and adjust color for skin tone so it matches a bit more. Easy peasy.

stephras07 · Jul 25, 2011

Big Mike said:
Sometimes these guys forget who they are 'talking' to.

I'm sure you could make some improvements to the skin with Elements. Sure, Photoshop would be better...but we have to work with what we have.

I haven't used Elements in a long while...but I do think that is can use layers. If you don't know how to use layers, that would be a good place to start reading/learning. For something like this, you would want to create a new layer and then create a layer mask. You would want to 'mask' off all the areas except the belly, then you could apply a 'filter' or other affect (like Gaussian blur). The effect (when applied to the layer) would only show on the areas that are not covered by the layer mask. So you could blur the belly without blurring the rest of the image.

But before you do that, I'd suggest getting in close and trying to reduce the appearance of the marks. In Photoshop, I'd use the healing brush and/or clone stamp tools...to take some of the clear skin and 'copy' it over the marks. Take your time and be careful. It would also be a good idea to do this on a new layer, so that still have the original image as the bottom layer (background) in case you need it.

Thank you

It is sometimes frustrating when I ask something like this and the majority of responses are "you're using the wrong program, you need to spend a ton more money to use what I think is better". Granted - CS is truly better, but out of my price range at this point.

Thanks for the tips too. I tried using the clone stamp, but I was having a hard time getting the color to match up at all.