Photoshop Advice Needed

[JPM42]

So I'm a Photoshop hobbyist (using CS5), and, when I can, I like to take on random projects (making wallpapers for people, touch ups, etc.) to improve my Photoshop skills. It's a good exercise. Anyways, my friend recently sent me this picture of a model he wanted a wallpaper of that's stumped me. While there's no nudity, it is a Maxim cover, so it's probably NSFW, so the link is here.

As you can see, removing the stuff behind the girl is fairly easy, since it's a white backdrop. But, of course, the impossibility for me is removing the circular yellow part around her arm, while preserving her arm and still making it still look like an arm/hand. Trying to accomplish this goes beyond my current skill level, but it's still a good challenge I'd like to solve.

So I turn to the professionals: is this something that can even be done? If so, what methods would you use to try to tackle this? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Pgohlke]

So I'm a Photoshop hobbyist (using CS5), and, when I can, I like to take on random projects (making wallpapers for people, touch ups, etc.) to improve my Photoshop skills. It's a good exercise. Anyways, my friend recently sent me this picture of a model he wanted a wallpaper of that's stumped me. While there's no nudity, it is a Maxim cover, so it's probably NSFW, so the link is here.

As you can see, removing the stuff behind the girl is fairly easy, since it's a white backdrop. But, of course, the impossibility for me is removing the circular yellow part around her arm, while preserving her arm and still making it still look like an arm/hand. Trying to accomplish this goes beyond my current skill level, but it's still a good challenge I'd like to solve.

So I turn to the professionals: is this something that can even be done? If so, what methods would you use to try to tackle this? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Easiest thing to me would to mask out the hand and then find a photo with hands similar to the original. Cut out a hand and then replace. Use the patch tool to make the transition smooth and maybe paint on new highlights and shadows to make sure the lighting stays the same.

 

[Parkin Pig]

There's not enough actual 'information' behind the yellow dot to recover the hand. If the black text wasn't there, you'd stand a chance, but even then it'd be a lot of effort just for a screensaver.

You can either scour the internet for a photo of a hand in a similar position which you can work into the picture, or if it's for a landscape-oriented wallpaper you could look for just a shoulder and upper arm and then remove everything from just below the bra.

Another alternative would be to cover the circle with a completely opaque circle, then add text on top to customise it with something relevant to your friend (see hastily done attachment, using colour sampled from lingerie)

Yet another alternative would be to photoshop a balloon over the circle.

BTW I don't think the pic will be NSFW - your only issue would be copyright.

 

[JPM42]

Thanks, guys, for the help and for the wallpaper. Much appreciated.

I should have mentioned that I did take a stab at this, last night. What I did was lasso around the yellow circle, and then went to "Remove Color" to try to remove as much of the yellow as possible. This left me with some color similar to the skin, but as you can guess, fairly washed out. Afterwards, I basically just cloned the good part of the arm and just went up to the wrist, and cloned areas of her chest to develop the hand, while adding a little texture. I also used the Color Replacement tool in places. All in all, doing that resulted in this...



Which, for someone who doesn't really know much of what he's doing, I thought wasn't too bad. But you can clearly see how awkward it looks in the wrist area; it just doesn't blend. And, of course, there's still definition missing, and I'm not sure how to recreate that. So at this point, I think the suggestion of finding a similar hand position (which I haven't been able to, thus far) or filling it in with something might be my best bet.

Thanks, guys!

 

[fig]

Your attempt is a pretty solid rebuilding of the hand, nice job.

Yes, the wrist does look a bit off, but let's be honest, no one is looking at her wrists

 

[designs216]

Nice rebuild! Not such an amateur after all.

I would have probably tried to find the same image w/o the yellow dot somewhere else in the pub or online. Sometimes they'll repeat the image elsewhere which would save tons of work.

 

[Flood123]

Solid rebuild of the hand for sure. Amateur ? I think not. Good job, dude.

 

[Arelunde]

In the wrist area, try using the blur tool. I use that on almost all skin - it makes everyone look so much younger! Also, it evens out skin tones and in shadow areas if there's noise, it will either eliminate it or make it far less noticeable. The blur tool is extremely handy and you can control the amount of blur you want to use.

 

[Dana Beck]

Great job

The only thing missing from the hand, I think, is more luminosity...looks a little flat compared to the rest of the body light. I would mask the body and add luminosity to the hand through Image|Adjustments|Color Match and move the Luminosity slider up. Or, if you have Nik Color Effects, you can use Bleach Bypass on the arm to add shine and shadow at whatever angle, rotation you want.

The clone tool is probably my most-frequently used one (I edit real estate pics), and I think you have done a stellar job. I would not go looking for a "hand substitute," as you already have a great one...just add some shine to it.

 

[JPM42]

Thanks for all the great feedback, guys. I really appreciate it.

So, I took all your advice and continued to tweak things up to make it look more like a wrist (the lines, a bit more detail and shadows, etc.) and here's the result...