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ex3mist

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Hello,
I wondered if anyone could help me with the prcessing of some images. For example, I have an image like the one on the left and I like to make it look like the other on the right. (See attachment.) Can anyone recomend a Photoshop action that could do the job?

Best regards
 

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IamSam

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Hello and welcome to PSG.

I apologize but we need a bit more information since the two images (before any changes) are very different. What aspect or effect in the second image are you referring to? Please be as specific as possible.

As far as I can tell, the second image has very little if any changes that stand out.
 

IamSam

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The softer, less harsh lighting would be my guess..........but we may never know! In any case, I doubt there will be a specific action that will be able to make the change. From a starting point, the images are far to different.
 

ex3mist

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Hello,
Thanks for the reply.
The problem is that I can't be more specific because all I know is that the one should become like the other. The more it resemples it, the better. I'm not profissional and can't speak in photografic terms. Just want to find out how could that be achieved and if anyone knows an action for this, would be great!
 

IamSam

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Hello,
Thanks for the reply.
The problem is that I can't be more specific because all I know is that the one should become like the other. The more it resemples it, the better. I'm not profissional and can't speak in photografic terms. Just want to find out how could that be achieved and if anyone knows an action for this, would be great!
OK, thanks..............Hopefully someone will know of an action that you can use. Good luck.
 

Tom Mann

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There were very good points raised above, but let me add my 2 cents...

I am convinced that there is a conspiracy by the people who sell PS actions and ACR/LR presets to lead less experienced photoshopers to believe that a given action or preset will always produce the same final look.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

As pointed out above, the result after applying the action/preset depends dramatically on the starting image. In some cases it is highly dependent on the starting image, in others, less dependent. If there are flaws in the starting image, they are likely to come through, often in unexpected ways, in the output of the action / preset.

The image you provided as an example of a starting image, has at least two major problems that will prevent it ever from looking like the goal example image. The first and probably most severe problem is that the highlights in that image are so close to being completely blown out that there is almost no color or luminosity information in these wildly overexposed regions, so, any action will face the impossible task of turning them into beautiful skin like in your goal image. About the best one can do in an automated action or preset is try to blur over these areas.

The second problem with your starting image is, as was pointed out above, the lighting is much too harsh. This results in deep, relatively sharp-edged shadows both on small and large scales. The resulting image can be softened in post production, but there is no way the results of this will ever look as good as if the model had been lit and photographed with the desired softer look in mind right from the start. If you took that image, it looks like you lit her with almost no fill light, and the size of your key light (in angular terms) was much too small. If you used one at all, you should have used a much larger softbox or umbrella positioned close to the subject to let the key light wrap around and into the subject's nose, eye sockets, far side of her face, folds on her blouse, etc. The solution to this is lighting, not post production.

That being said, I set up an ACR / LR preset that at least attempted to soften the light, reduce contrast and saturation to give it more of a pastel look, etc. As you can see in the attached GIF animation, compared to the goal image, the results of applying that preset to your starting image are horrible. Of course, if I had brought the image into PS and worked on it manually -- ie, essentially reconstructing everything -- I could have gotten closer to the desired look, but even spending hours on one image, the result would still not be as good as the goal image.

comparison_starting_tweaked_goal_images-ps03a_sRGB_for_GIF_annotated_698px_hi.gif

Also, to demonstrate that that actions and presets can produce different final results depending on the starting image, I took a preview image from 123RF.com (full ID in the file name) and applied the same ACR/LF preset to it. This starting image is also high contrast, but at least it is not as high contrast as your starting image and doesn't have blown highlights. I intentionally selected this example to have a blue background to show that my preset does indeed turn this into a more pastel sea-foam / cyan color, as expected. However, if I had used a starting image that had a yellow or some other color background, my preset wouldn't have done a thing to it -- it would have stayed yellow and not even been turned into a pastel yellow -- not exactly the behavior you probably want.

In any case, you can see that the result of the exact same preset on a different starting image is even further from the desired look and feel (ie, of the goal image) -- no clean whites, way oversoftened / mushy for this starting image.

comparison-26145405-gorgeous-female-model-standing-in-the-sea-in-italy-stock-photo-b4_after_acr_.gif

HTH,

Tom M
 

ex3mist

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Thank you for the detailed explanation, Tom!

I'm aware that an action could have different results on different images. The reason to ask for this is that the images are many and an automated solution would save a lot of my time.

But anyway, I don't know much about the presets and how you achieved this result, so can I ask you to give more detailed explanation of how to make the same thing you did? A step by step guide as for a newby would be great...! :) I'd like to test what would come out with other images. And to learn something new of course! Thanks!
 

Tom Mann

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Actually, in anticipation of you possibly asking for a more detailed explanation, I decided to do this with an ACR / LR preset not an action because it's trivial to send you my preset file, for you to load it into PS, and then see each of the settings that I used, and then play with them for yourself.

So, to load my preset into ACR / PS, download and unzip the attached file and follow the directions here:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/2014/04/presets-for-lightroom-and-camera-raw.html ...
or, just Google {photoshop load acr presets}.

Then open an image in ACR (it can be either a raw file from a camera, or a jpg). If you don't know how to do this, Google that as well -- all it takes is setting a PS preference to open supported files in ACR.

Finally, go over to the preset tab in ACR, select this preset, and then scroll through all the other tabs to see the settings I used.

I may have made some final minor tweaks in PS like minimizing the big dark areas in the lower corners of the image, but the preset did 99% of the changes you see.

If you have any questions once you play with it for a while, don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,

Tom M

View attachment make_model_pastel02.zip
 
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ex3mist

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I appreciate the time you took to write all this, thank you very much! Later I'll do what you suggest and try what will come out of it. I'll definatelly write back to tell the result.

Best regards
 

ex3mist

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Hello Tom,
I've never used presets before so I needed some time. Every picture is diferent so the outcome is never the same and it has to be adjusted. But that helped me a lot and I thank you for it.
 

Tom Mann

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You are quite welcome, ex3mist. Thank you for being courteous enough to let us know how it went. It can be very frustrating to have worked on a mini-tutorial for someone, and then you never see them again.

Anyway, I'm glad you found the preset file that I sent you useful. For ACR and LR, sending a preset file saves a lot of time in discussion because it lets the recipient see every single change made by the person sending it, as well as allows them to explore based on those settings.

Again, please don't hesitate to drop back in if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Tom M
 

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