Oh, this made me laugh - Best yet. JH ... View more

Hello simig71733691, One of my specialties is to repair and restore old documents and photographs. An advantage I have is I am a portrait artist - the main reason I love the work. Like coloring book work to me. I will tell you a few things to consider - make the task as easy as you can by cropping this photo - saving only the central figures. That takes care of the dark inner edges. Since you are new to Photoshop this will be a learning process that you will not forget. If this repair work is being done for a customer, warn them it will take some time. Make sure you use a very light touch - work in layers and do not paint with 100% saturation colors  -- maybe15%. Keep several copies of the original. You might need to copy and paste-in the faces a few times before you are satisfied with the quality. Not too much fine brush details in faces, mostly shading. Learn to use the selection tools...all of them. Then select each subject and color area to work on - a small bit at a time like curtains, clock, dress - select the faces and hands for close work too. Bring the areas along at the same saturation level - pastels only. Later you can use the Curve to darken these colors when you have finished. You will benefit from watching the restoration tutorials to learn a few basic things.  If you web search for a professional restoration service you can maybe have it done and then try to duplicate the quality. This forum has many excellent professionals who could perform this restoration but it would require a great deal of time or we would have to become your private tutor to help you through it. Best wishes and have fun. JH ... View more

Hi, Enjoyed the fun you all were having with crazy Washington State composting. Please, know that the West Coast, Oregon, and Washington,  were mostly average friendly nature folk, kindly, considerate and helpful. We have lived on the West Coast - all three states - most of our lives and the crazy changes started when the last BIG San Francisco quake happened. Californians migrated north in herds. They now occupy our beautiful homeland and boy does it disturb our peace!!! It is still like the 1980s where we live on the central coast of Oregon. Carry on. JH ... View more

Recycle! Plants from my garden today. Egyptian Bird -- Motif - book cover Egyptology Search for the Tomb of Osiris. ... View more

Dave, Can't a copy of the box be put on another file-level and drop shadowed all over again and start with the two things that are for keeps for the client? Then only the drop shadow is changing? Just asking. JH ... View more

Hi luckkyone, If you just applied the gradient you can go to edit and undo that action. If you did more, you will have to try the other things suggested. Regards, JH ... View more

Hello henkiewenkie. To darken the translucent shadow - If you have a weak drop shadow, go out and select layer style - drop shadow and select the % of opacity % for the drop shadow - adjust until you are happy with it.  Try all of the sliders under the drop shadow information. Become familiar with all of them and each thing they make happen. Happy drop shadowing. Best JH ... View more

Thanks for your reply. I am a professional illustrator - Portrait Art - too. Photoshop has everything needed to create a painterly painting. I have always used it for all of my work since joining NAPP years ago. Corel Painter might be good but why bother with it if Photoshop is working for you and you own it. A brush is a brush in an artist's hand. The filters I enjoy the most on a picture like yours always end up being at least three filters done on top of one another. I use the color pencil and crosshatch a lot. In the picture I posted, try selecting the dark black with the lasso tool and cross-hatching that area with that filter then apply the saturation values and tone sliders before you unselect it. Mix it up. Try all the filters.  I even select - using the magical selection tool  - and drop buckets of color in specific areas. I have also put a picture through the plastic filter on it to see what happens. If I see a spot I like I will clone it into a place that needs something extra. Have fun for a while and something good will fall into place. Just don't forget which filters you do use. You might want to repeat the process again. I keep about five different copies of outcomes and end up picking one for the final. Let me know how it goes. Happy painting in Photoshop. Regards, JH ... View more

Hello annan56727615, It is difficult to answer your complex question without knowing your basic artistic skills and your experience with any Adobe program. Also, do you want the modern unrealistic use of color spaces similar to the photo you posted? Or are you trying for a smoother surface on the face? There are filters which will give you a similar effect. If you are an experienced portrait artist, you have the talent for your goal, also if you have knowledge of the many tools in either Photoshop or Illustrator, you can use whichever one you are most familiar. This copy of your work was treated by the filter "rough Pastels" - nothing else. Photoshop has a good number of these filters you can try. You can rework it with smoothing and dark color light tinting. The tool that is fun to apply is the curve tool. It will allow you to change colors in exciting ways too. Let us know these few things about you and then we will give you information to more specifically assist you in this effort. Is this work going to be sold or is this an experiment - learning process for you? Kind regards, JH ... View more

Evolution! Joan Arlin Hibbs stock ... View more

Hi Dave, Thank you for your excellent reply to this question. I enjoy seeing the actual changes you made too. Generally, I do use the flip and transform tool. Since I am more illustrator than a photographer, I always draw in or paint in the things I want to add. So, my process consists of very few short actions. I added note this for those who also draw in things rather than go through all the steps you suggested. Best regards, JH ... View more

Hi, I also use a layer to show the rain. Photos of raindrops and rain at 50% in shades of gray and play with the look reducing the % and color of gray. Lighter in some areas. Reflections can go on the raincoat with another layer and clone color from surrounding colors - just a touch here, I fade it and lighten it as I go. Regards, JH ... View more

Hi Neil, Love your posts here. Logical reasoning minds like yours are beautiful to me. So few good thinkers still exist. Reason, logic, problem solving and research add even more to the beauty of the mind. I wonder how much more fun we could have and work we could get done if half of the people took off their Trump distortion glasses and minded their own problems and business. Spending so much energy, time and thought on Trump indicate he controls your behavior and thoughts. He is worth - at the most - five minutes a day. Hugs, Joan H ... View more

What is considered decent....jh ... View more

Thank you for this contribution. It answers so many questions for painterly artists. Nice! I have painted many portraits using digital resources and once printed on canvas, the result is even better than using the old style paint and brushes. A limited pallet a great artist does not make. When I could not afford more than four tubes of paint, I had to mix. Now, the colors are endless. Enjoy! Best regards, JH ... View more

Did you read the full message.. zoom in.  Jh ... View more

Visitors --- ... View more

Me too and I learn soo much from forum. Thanks for your leadership. Regards j h ... View more

The blank canvas syndrome can apply to any dreaded experience. So it is all about attitude! After collecting successful experiences you will not dread the blank canvas beginning. Joy comes with knowing you can do something again and again. And you will improve. I have a sketchbook with me at all times and I rough out an idea or project - nothing grand, just a few circles and squares placed on a page, maybe a perspective guideline or two. These sketches serve to stimulate my imagination if I am stalled and without a fresh idea. I call creating art playing with the tools and colors. I am always looking for a happy accident that is worth saving.  Try not to become too serious about starting a project. Approach it as a child would. Picasso found this out late in life - it worked for him. When I had a limited supply of paper and colors, I would worry about how best to use the expensive paper or canvas. Now, digital art has unlimited canvases and paint and colors without end.  If you have created something wonderful once, you know you can repeat that and even do better work. If you are new to the digital art world, you will want to get to know your equipment and what inspires you. I am inspired and enjoy strolling through the various portfolios on Adobe Stock and other Stock offerings. My summary, attitude is everything. Fear nothing. Be who you are and express it. Joan Arlin Hibbs Artist/Illustrator ... View more

Hi, carefully read the first seven posts. You will see how he is proceeding and learning on his own. JH ... View more

phichakl18197330, Hello. As an Adobe Stock contributor, you will benefit by studying all of the excellent guidelines and tips furnished by Adobe - free. At first glance, I do not see the issues the reviewer sees.  Here is a link for you to research on your own. Always look at your work at 200% enlargement to find all the issues. Best regards, JH Adobe Stock accepts photos shot with any camera—including a mobile device—if they meet our technical and legal requirements as well as our quality standards. Technical requirements Submit images in JPEG format. Minimum image resolution: 4 MP (megapixels) Maximum image resolution: 100 MP (megapixels) Maximum file size: 45 MB (megabytes) No watermarks or timestamps Do not upsample your files; submit the maximum file size that your camera can produce. ... View more

Let's just leave this one alone for a while. Too many repeated suggestions. As I stated, the photographer has other photos with model releases. He is fixing a few things and has resubmitted. No more follow up until he gets news from the reviewer. Best always, JH ... View more

Hi, at the very beginning I asked about releases and the reply was that the contributor had supplied all of them. He then fixed a few things and was resubmitting it. Let's see how it goes. Regards, jh ... View more

teal001, It does look better - sadly the closeup of the head has unsharp edges --- ziggy lines. I will ask others to comment. Best JH Abambo davescm Can you help with the resubmission of this one? ... View more

Well, Less Studio Catania, You will find a few more reasons this photo does not meet Adobe Stock requirements if you carefully examine it at 200% magnification. I took a closer look and see that there are areas that are not in focus - mostly on the right. Also, some problems in areas between the background and the model's hair. Look in other areas for noise or spots that should be removed before posting to stock. Read the stock requirements again and then examine the photo - as one always should at high magnification. Best regards, JH Here is a reply from one of our best forum photographers. Abambo Aug 29, 2018 To be a good picture for Adobe stock, processing should be such that processing is not noticeable. But it’s clear that some processing is practically always necessary. correct lens faults clean the image for sensor spots equilibrate the histogram level the horizon stamp out logos sharpen delicately crop or stamp out disturbing elements in the picture. saturate the image carefully And this basic information you will find at: You can find information paste in browser: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/quality-and-technical-issues.html Quality overview Out of focus Artifacts Exposure Technical issues ... View more