Print Editing Part 2

Continuing the How2 post from yesterday you can see the pixelation when zoomed in at 100%. Today is where we will use some filters, adjustment layers, and clone stamping to make this a workable solution. Not all the steps are shown in this tutorial but I will discuss the process.

One of the first items I had to create was a mask image. Elements does not have a way to save a selection so a mask image will be something I could go back to select and use on other layers. The image below has a white background as it is a jpeg for this tutorial but the actual layer needs to have the dark areas only. The best way to do this is to create a new blank layer above the original layer and draw in with a black brush the areas you will later protect.

The second step is to get rid of as much pixilation as possible while maintaining the integrity of the image. To this we turn to the gaussian blur. This effects the entire image so we will need to mask the area that we do not want blurred even though Elements does not have a mask function. The work around is in the image of layers 1 through 3 below. Layer 1 is the original image, layer three is the Gaussian Blurred layer. Layer 2 is the trick to a layer mask in Elements. Simply create a Levels Adjustment layer (which comes with a free mask) and click OK without making any changes to the levels. Place it below the layer you want to mask and hold the Option (PC:Alt) key while mousing over the line between the two layers. 

You will see the cursor turn into The little icon to the right.For some reason Adobe has decided to not mention this icon or ability in the Elements help files but it gives Elements one of the most powerful tools the full version of Photoshop has available. If there is a back door to an outcome why don't they just include it in the layers pallet in the first place. Maybe that will be inversion 7 or 8.

Continuing with our project you can select the layer the we previously made to make a mask and use it to fill with white on the layer mask that comes with the Levels Adjustment layer. Having most of the mask in black blocks the blurring allowing it to fall only on the face and hands.

We then want to flatten the image. I have a problem of flattening an image when I am still working on it so I picked up from the Photoshop Guys that I can get a flattened layer while keeping active the layers that make up the flattened layer. To do this you turn on the layers you want flattened and make active the top layer in the stack that is turned on. Use the Command-Option-Shift-E (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E) keys and voilá, you have your flattened layer (layer 4 below).

A couple of adjustment layers to correct a couple of items and we will be finished. First we drop in a Levels adjustment layer (layer 5 below) to set the light and dark limits of the image. This in effect adjusts the contrast of the image. Use the center slider to balance to effect. The last adjustment we want to do is make the image pop just a little. Elements does not have a vibrance adjustment like Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW which works great to give the image punch without hitting the flesh tones. So we turn to the Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer (layer 6 below). This will generally jacks the flesh tones so you have to brush some black onto the layer mask. to bring back the skin tones.

There were just a couple issues to deal with. Those would be teeth, eyes, and skin condition. With the small teeth in the image there were not many pixels to generate the right look so some clone stamping was necessary. Somehow in the original image Sandy had some darkening under the eyes. Again some clone stamping with the opacity set to 30% works well. Increase the whites of the eyes and catch lights and the image is complete.

Zoomed in again at 100% (above) and there is still some pixilation but much cleaner than the starting image. Remember we are working on an 8 x 10 inch image so when printed at 5 x 7 it will compress to a cleaner final print.

Ok... So it is not something that I would sell or want to portray as my photographic abilities,(after all I did not take the shot. However to get a larger photograph from a smaller (and dirtier) copy, it was not bad at all.

Hey... Have a great weekend... Doug