Pill bug fun

[daemonoropsis]

Hi all

We are finally getting some consistent frost here in Denmark now, so the number of bugs available for shooting has dropped drastically lately but I was able to find a few pill bugs under some logs in a local green area to play with.

I have talked before about reording my post work but my ailing laptop has not been happy with recording while running PS. This weekend I managed to find a screen recorder that could run quietly enough in the background to allow me to record my process. I had already finished the 2 first images in this series but I recorded the last one. If this turns out to be interesting let me know and I will do some more on some more interesting subjects at some point

Please note that I have deliberately overdone this a bit by removing all the hairs, I simply wished to show how easy it is to clean up a bug (but time consuming):

Pill bug 28x by Ectemnius, on Flickr

Pill bug 10x by Ectemnius, on Flickr

Pill bug twerk by Ectemnius, on Flickr

and the video showing the retouch process, to make it a realistically watchable length I increased the clipspeed by 10x

I dont if it's possible to embed youtube videos here but here is a direct link to the retouch recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v763gJFiwcU

[ChrisR]

Would love to watch it but it comes up marked as Private

(Also your images are a little bigger at 1200 wide than our Forum standard of 1024 wide..)

[daemonoropsis]

Oops, I had accidently marked it as private. it should be public now.

[Paul K]

The image of the eye is excellent.

Looked the video, excellent PS skills, however it's just too quick to really capture what you are doing.

Perhaps slowing it down and taking a section to allow viewers to see what is actually happening would be helpful.

Hope this helps, and I would like to see more.

[rjlittlefield]

A good start, but from the video I can't tell what's really going on.

I see some brushing of masks, followed by extensive use of the clone and healing brushes, but that's about all I get.

For me, it would be better to show and explain just one or two examples of each operation.

--Rik

[steveminchington]

Fascinating to watch but as others have commented, it was a bit too fast for my brain to keep up with. I would like to see a slower version so I could catch more of what you were doing.

[daemonoropsis]

I have made a version running at half the speed of the previous version here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t82s9RFDDt8

The process was:
1: Merging of PMax and DMap images from Zerene stacker
2: Clean up of background
3: removing of hairs just to demonstrate it
4: Enhancing colors etc

[MaxRockbin]

I am a fan of your photos and Photoshoppery and really want to learn some of your techniques which are clearly different and in some ways more elaborate than mine, so... in the spirit of PM.net compulsiveness ... I have documented your video.

I hope you don't mind.

I'm sure I didn't get everything exactly right but I think it's pretty close. (To do this I downloaded the video from youtube and played it in slow motion with VLC).

Timestamps are based on the first (not slowed down) video.

Import DMAP & PMAX outputs as layers
Copy PMAX to be the top layer.
Copy DMAP on top of that.
Add a mask to that DMAP layer
Use a feathered brush to paint into the mask to reveal the PMAX where desired.
(toggle the top DMAP layer on/off to reveal the PMAX layer as needed to see if you prefer the PMAX in certain areas).

NOTE: I don't really see the advantage to doing this in Photoshop instead of in Zerene Stacker. I'd have thought the tools in Zerene are more powerful (doing better blending between PMax & DMap). But Photoshop has more flexibility in a lot of ways...

Around the 1min mark:
Create a new empty top layer and label it "dust"
choose the band-aid tool (D is using a feathered 30 pixel brush) options: sample:pattern Aligned:yes Sample:Current & Below
With that layer selected, go around and band-aid any dust specs and other defects. Vary brush size as desired.
(little white hairs were removed in this step)

NOTE: I think the interesting thing about the technique is the use of a relatively small bandaid brush to remove larger "defects" a little bit at a time.

This goes on to about 7:27 in the video where the dust layer is toggled to show the effect of the extensive band-aid work (as D noted - this was excessive for demonstration purposes).

The band-aid patching continues...

7:39
Create a new layer on top called "back" (for background)
With that layer selected, choose the clone stamp brush - fairly large (150px) and soft edged (0% hardness)
settings: opacity 50% flow:100% aligned:yes, Sample: current&below
Go around and select clean areas of the background and clone over messier ones, varying brush size as needed.

8:04 Still working in the "back" layer, select the brush tool. Create a layer mask on the "back" layer and mask out any areas of that layer that are overbaked (e.g. where the feathered clone stamp blurred some edge detail for example) - by painting black into the mask layer. D used a feathered brush varying from about 125-200 px in his touchup.

8:20
This is slightly mysterious because it was done with a keyboard command, but I think a new top layer was created consisting of all the layers merged below (e.g. the current state of all the retouching). THIS IS A GUESS.

With this new layer selected, the lasso selection tool is used w. a feather of 25px.

8:23
a small area near the bottom left is selected and copied to a new top layer (just left with the label "layer 2".) That selected bit is pasted into the selected layer, flipped horizontally and moved over to the corresponding appendage (mirror image) area on the bottom right and pasted over to make those parts on the left and right more symetrical (and maybe cover a slightly blurry part of the original right appendage).

8:24, this process is repeated with a different selection, also rotating the pasted selection as needed to match the right side.
(NOTE: These two pasted/flipped parts were put inside the same layer - "layer 2". There isn't a separate layer for each. There's probably a keyboard command for pasting without creating a new layer, but I don't know it...)

8:27 D continues working in this layer, slecting the clone stamp and retouching some of the edges using a background selection to fix things like overlaps where the pasted copy didn't quite fit.

8:29 I don't know exactly what was done here, but the layer created at 8:20 (merged layer of everything below) was deleted. My Guess is that it simply isn't needed anymore because... (see next step)

8:30 A new layer is created on top which appears to be a new layer created from a merge of all the layers below (so just like was done at 8:20, but with the new retouches integrated). This is "layer 3"

The lasso tool is selected - now with 50 px feather. With layer 3 as the active layer a large part of the bottom of the bug is roughly selected. NOTE: Where the bug abutts the salmon colored background, the selection border is in the salmon area and not on the bug. It is actually the whole background at the bottom of the bug being selected.
8:37
The filter Noise>Median is applied to the selected area with a radius of 250 px, smoothing out any noise.
9:02 NOT SURE: I think noise was actually added back with the add noise filter here (I see the filter opened, but not sure if it was actually applied).

9:03 a layer mask is added to "layer 3". The brush tool at 125 px soft brush is used to reveal areas behind layer 3.
This appears to remove bad areas produced by the previous step where the 250 px average created some clouding. Mostly pretty subtle changes. Most of the touchups here are at the boundary with the background, as you might expect.
9:16 toggling of layer 3 to see the effect of the touchup. This work continues.

9:19 New Layer 4 created (from merging all the layers below).
Lasso tool w. 20px feather is selected - with the "union" option selected to add up non adjacent selections.
The "noise>median" tool is applied on a small area of the background between appendages. (Just a 35px radius this time).
9:21 The "add noise" tool is applied to this selection with 0.6 and monochromatic options.
9:22 toggling layer to see the effect

9:23 Layer mask added to "Layer 4" and brush tool is slected (175 px soft brush w 40% opacity - I don't know if D is using a tablet or a mouse). Painting black into the mask layer near the border of the previous Noise steps to remove any clouding.

9:24 New Merged "layer 5" created from all layers below (GUESS!). This layer is merged with all the layers down to, but not including, the "Dust" layer.

9:27 New layer 6 added and selected. Clone stamp w. Sample: Current & Below
(soft 35px brush). Used to copy background and near background border areas to clean up foggy areas around border detail. Clone stamp alternating with the band Band-aid tool to clean up some foggy areas on the actual bug near the border with the background.

9:35 New Layer 7 Created (I think from merging all the layers below).
Then all layers from the new layer down to the PMAX copy layer are selected and merged into Layer 7 which is renamed "edit".

NOTE: That leaves as the first, bottom layer the imported DMAP. The 2nd middle layer is the imported PMAX, and the topmost layer is this new "edit" layer.

9:36 A new empty "layer 1" is added at the top and selected. The band aid tool is used again pretty extensively on a lot of small areas that look a little foggy. Soft 50 px brush sampling "Current & Below". Some fine detail cleanup w the band aid.

10:03 This "layer 1" and the "edit" layer from 9:35 are merged into "Layer 2"
A new empty Layer 3" is added and christened "hairs". A long session of depilatory work follows.
13:20. A new "layer 3 is added on top and selected. More de-hairing in layer 3.
14:02 layer toggling to see the effect hair/no hair!/hair/no hair!
Then opacity is adjusted on these two layers (hair & layer 3) to adjust the hair appearance to taste.

14:08 a Layer Group folder is added at the top (nothing in it yet) - called "Group 1"
14:09 Vibrance adjustment layer added to the group folder (so it is altering all layers below the group folder). Vibrance upped. Then a Color Balance adjustment layer is added to the folder and midtone color is adjusted. Then a 2nd color balance layer is added ("Color Balance 2" In this layer blue midtones are altered +5). 14:17: The layer mask for that layer is filled with black (so none of the image is altered by this layer at this point).
14:18 the layer mask remains selected and the brush tool is chosen with White (to make "Color Balance 2" alter whatever is painted white in the mask layer).
The brush is huge - 1900 pixels w 20% opacity and soft edged.

14:20 Another vibrance layer added (vibrance +12,saturation +13) with a black layer mask. A 2000 pixel soft 20% opacity brush is used to paint white/reveal into the mask. This is mostly used to add saturation to the salmon colored background. I

14:23 Another color balance layer is added to the group ("Color Balance 3").
The layer mask for this one is copied from the previos vibrance layer (so it will alter part of the background only).

14:26 A curves layer is added to the group underneath the Color Balance 3 layer.
No change to the layer mask so I think it alters the whole image. Looks like blue midtones are raised only?

14:29 Levels 1 layer added to this adjustments layer group.Futzed with then the layer is deleted.

Some layer toggling follows - trying to decide what to do next.

14:32 - Vibrance 2 layer changed a little (Vibrance +8, Saturation +5)

14:35 another Color Balance layer added to the group: "Color Balance 4"

14:36 Photo Filter adj. layer added. Tried a couple things. Then deleted.

14:38 Another Color balance layer "Color Balance 5" added. This one is set to adjust Highlights (others were midtones).

14:41 Another Vibrance layer -vibrance 3 - is added with overlay set to Soft Light.

14:45 Curves layer added "Curves 3" with a black layer mask (so no effect till the mask is changed) A small area is selected via the mask. Reds are lowered some on the Red curve.
14:48 A selection is made with the lasso tool and a new curves layer "Curves" 4 is added. It looks like the selection is used for the mask for this layer. Some adjustments are made to the curves (blue and RGB).

14:50 another lasso selection is made and another curves layer is added with that selection as the mask. Curves 5.

14:52 All of those curves layers are selected and made into "Group 2" - a group folder at the top of the Group 1 set of layers.

14:54 all of group 1 is toggled on/off and then some fine adjustments are made to the Color Balance 5 layer.

14:56 toggling of various layers to show the changes

STOP THE RECORDING - Oh no. We have a little gap here.

14:59
When the Recording is restarted we have a new Group 3 folder at the top with - it looks like - another Curves 6 layer is added.
25% opacity.
15:00 Another layer - Curves 7 added with a layer mask from a lasso selection made before it was added. The brush tool is used to paint more white in this mask.
15:09 - Another Curves 8 layer - with a black mask is added and a large 1000 px soft brush 100% opacity is used to unmask some parts of the image (white paint).

15:19 A brightness/contrast adj. layer is added ("Brightness/Contrast 1") with a full reveal white layer mask. A 200px soft 50% opacity brush is used to add to the mask.

15:26 some layer toggling to see the changes

Done!

[Paul K]

Max,

Thanks for the in-depth reply of the workflow.

That must have taken ages!

[daemonoropsis]

Wow max, you just spent a lot more time then I was willing on this, thanks for doing it

I have a few notes to your observations:

Note on merging in ZS vs PS: Being a scandinavian I dont have bracket keys on my keyboard and zs doesn't offer keyboard shortcut editing and change brush size with a mouse/stylus doesn't fit the way I work. Changing layers in ZS is also horrifyingly slow and no way to undo as soon as you hace accepted and edit without having to switch between slow layers again means I dont merge much in ZS. Merging the 2 outputs for this image was simple but sometimes there is a lot more mask work and playing with opacity going on.

The "bandaid" tool as you call it is called the "Healing brush tool" which is the second option in the J shortcut key tools

8:20 - Yes I merged all visible layers to a new layer, this is helpful when you need to grab a something that is composed of multiple underlying layers. I always use the keyboard shortcuts as much as possible and I can't even remember where its found in the menus. the keyboard shortcut on mac is CMD+Shift+option+E I cant remember the windows version.

9:02 - Yes I add noise back after using median to average the background. median does a good job of evening out backgrounds but also removes all noise making the background too smooth, adding a bit of monochromatic noise helps this and also makes sure there is no banding.

When i play with colors I always end up with many more adjustment layers then are strictly needed as I could do more then one adjustment per layer but this way works for me and I never keep my PSD files for more then a few weeks so the extra file size is irrelevant.

14:56 - I thought I was done but when I opened the image in a browser later I wasn't happy so decided to go back and do some more adjustments and forgot to turn on the screen recording right away, sorry. I dont think you missed much

[ChrisR]

Is the "Healing Brush Tool" in a mode which is "Content Aware"? I think it must be, to remove the hairs the way it's doing. My PS version is older and isn't content aware. I'm not sure if "Elements" users would have it either.
That means that to remove a hair I have to find and clone in, a suitable detail from elsewhere.

It's interesting how much tastes vary. Obviously Daemonoropsis you can can get this to look any way you desire - I'd have dragged the "Curves" quite a bit lower.

[daemonoropsis]

No it not content aware, you can set the "Spot healing brush tool" to content aware but the "Healing brush tool" uses samples. I constantly switch the sampled area as I go along.

I have never had much use fo the content-aware tools, I often find I have to spend more time cleaning after they have been used then just doing it my self.

[rjlittlefield]

Being a scandinavian I dont have bracket keys on my keyboard and zs doesn't offer keyboard shortcut editing and change brush size with a mouse/stylus doesn't fit the way I work.

True, but perhaps I could add some alternate shortcuts. On your keyboard, what keys does Photoshop use for changing brush size?

Changing layers in ZS is also horrifyingly slow

True, and there's no workaround for that. On the other hand, no changing of layers is needed to merge PMax and DMap. Using the "s" key to flash the display between layers should be instantaneous.

and no way to undo as soon as you hace accepted

This one puzzles me a little. I believe you have a Professional Edition license, which provides multiple-level undo. When you say "accepted", are you talking about Edit > Commit Retouching?

--Rik

[daemonoropsis]

Photoshop defaults to the bracket keys but lets you set them to whatever you want. My own preference is to set them to the , . keys but thats just my preference, dont change anything for my sake as I dont use the function in ZS much. I originally chose the pro version for the stackshot control but quickly started using the android app or just the control box itself to avoid having my laptop/tablet/phone unavailable when I'm shooting a stack.

Yes the S key is good but as far as I know only for 1 source image and one output, in the video example I only had to source images as it was a simple stack but I will often have 3-4-5 source images and then I have to manually switch between the layers in the output images box which is slow (correct me if im wrong)

Yes, I mean commit retouching. Once this is done my "redos" are gone and I have to go back to layers to get something. Which is basically the same as in photoshop but there I have complete control over layer opacity, masks, blending mode and the ability to make channel selections, brush shape etc and I will always put my stacks through photoshop anyway so merging there is the natural thing for me

For me Zerene is a brilliant stacking tool but it stops there. It's not a retouching tool for me which is why I made the video in the first place because people asked how I digitally cleaned my bugs in the first place. I know that there is a trend at the moment against using photoshop in photography in general but hen people ask specifically how I do it I dont like lying .

I appreciate this is your support forum for Zerene and obviously also a way to sell licenses so if you dont like people referencing Photoshop let me know and I wont post any more about how my images come to be.

[ChrisR]

if you dont like people referencing Photoshop

That most definitely won't be the case!
Zerene's retouching doesn't work the same way as PS so sometimes it's better, others not. Different strokes for different folks