me again.. help... hair removal

[lana'sphotos]

Ok so I got a e-mail back from my client she wants to know if i can remove thehair on her arm.. i say i will try and woldn't you know that i can't get it to work.. i think that i may be trying to do too much at once.. i also gave the patch tool a try but it wouldn't work with thte lighting.. help i am not sure what i am doing wrong.. i know this is where to come with all you editing brains...
237045

[tim]

Try a layer with a gaussian blur, maybe with a bit of color adjustment, masked. It'd be quite difficult to do well. Make sure you're charging by the hour for unnecessary work, I charge around $150/hr for this type of thing.

[S.Horton]

What software are you using?

If you approach this as smoothing skin, or your soften the entire photo, it reduces the harsh appearance of the hair -- do you think that would be enough? (Did that in 2 min; suggesting you attempt something minimal, see if the client is happy enough; if not, estimate time and quote by the hour).

"Eliminating" the hair entirely would take a great deal of time, hair-by-hair with great care, and I think Tim's posted a good way to do that. It could also be approached like dust removal (shift pixels) and blend over.

BTW, people asking for things like that may, after you do one edit, start asking for more, and more....... You may soon find that you're asked to make the subject look 10 years younger.

My guess - 30 min -> 1 hour to do it right.

[SilverHCIC]

Do you need more removal than this? This was just a quick 3-minute adjustment.
Layer mask
GB @ 3 pixels
adjust hue @ -10
reveal at 50% opacity

[lana'sphotos]

silver, that looks great.. i will see if i can do that ... with your steps... if they don't like that i think i will have to tell them that is the best i can offer.. especially when it is only a small maternity shoot and they only ordered 5 prints.. LOL.. i love doing them so it is ok .. but tough to do so many edits when it is not by the hour...LOL.. thank you guys so much... for the help and advice about charging by the hour.. I am doing a new born shot for them and i already worry about that being alot of touch ups on the arms.... cross your fingers for me and thank you thank you i love you guys.... your the best...
ok and i have never used a layer mask before/... could you give me a little more.. where does teh GB @ 3 pixels come from?? sorry

[SilverHCIC]

silver, that looks great.. i will see if i can do that ... with your steps... if they don't like that i think i will have to tell them that is the best i can offer.. especially when it is only a small maternity shoot and they only ordered 5 prints.. LOL.. i love doing them so it is ok .. but tough to do so many edits when it is not by the hour...LOL.. thank you guys so much... for the help and advice about charging by the hour.. I am doing a new born shot for them and i already worry about that being alot of touch ups on the arms.... cross your fingers for me and thank you thank you i love you guys.... your the best...
ok and i have never used a layer mask before/... could you give me a little more.. where does teh GB @ 3 pixels come from?? sorry
1) Copy original layer
2) Apply Gussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gussian Blur) then set blur to 3 pixels
3) Since GB will darken the skin tone due to the darker hair, adjust color to compensate. ... I just did a quick and dirt Hue Adjustment of -10, but you can use something better if you want.
4) Create a new layer in the Layers Pallet, and shift it (click-drag) between the orignal background layer, and the copy that you did the adjustments to.
5) Select the adjusted copy layer and group with the new blank layer (Ctrl-G)
6) Select the brush tool, and choose a soft brush (soft edged)
7) Set foreground color to black, and opacity to 50% This will allow original features to show through as well.
8) Select the new blank layer (ie, the mask layer) and "paint" over the arm. This will "reveal" the adjusted layer at 50%.

Like I said in my original reply, I only spent about 3 minutes, so it wasn't perfect. ... I just wanted to see if this is what you were after. There are other techniques as well, but this is the simplest. Hope this info helps. ;)

[SilverHCIC]

silver, that looks great.. i will see if i can do that ... with your steps...

Lana, this is a classic use of a layer mask. PM me if you need assistance. It is pretty simple, like I said, about 3-minutes for the arm. EVERY digital photog needs to know how to use various techniques, starting with the layer mask as a foundation. Once you understand this, other techniques become simpler.

There are probably threads on this, but I don't know what they are since I've been using layer masks longer than I can remember. You may want to do a search to get lots of tips. There are people here who can do things that blow my mind. ... You can learn a lot from them. ;)

[dekalbSTEEL]

You could also go with a slightly tighter crop, up and in a little form the bottom left.
I would put the left edge just past her tank strap, and the bottom edge just above her pants waist.

that would eliminate the wall behind Mom and the back half of her right arm, which is where the darkest hair seems to be.

You don't have image editing turned on, but since Silver already posted one, I'll throw mine up too. Pm me if you don't want it re-posted

Jon

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/2827/ruttenmaternity0200websf8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Chet]

You learn something new everyday! Great tips!

[S.Horton]

@OP - Whatever you do, print it to proof it.