colorization issue

Your masks should not overlay. I achieved this aim by first creating the 1st mask - I did the face first - and then dublicating the mask, inverting it and then using the black brush to edit my mask until just the hair is selected. So you can be sure the masks does not overlap. After this I blured both a bit. About 5px.

That's all. Looks better and is much easier cause you don't have to select the difficult area between hair and skin another time. Could you post your pic, so I can see where you are working on?

have fun ;o)

That makes perfect sense with the mask. Only do it once!
I did make 2 masks, they did overlap, and then problem got worse trying to fix this.
Quicksand

Any tips about posting an image. Total newbie here and dont want to get it wrong (and post link to my H/D)

you can upload you image on my ftp and then I'll upload it on my hp server. ftp://teatree.myftp.org (I hope it works)

The images have arived yesterday and I am very content with the result. The only negative thing is, that the images have a slight blue touch, i.e. the the teeth are not ligh yellow but light blue. In addition the image is a bit cropped but just about 2 or 3 mm from every border.

PS: my ftp server is not everytime online. Instead of using the ftp server you can use a free host or send me a mail: [EMAIL=insane.cs.nu@gmx.de]insane.cs.nu@gmx.de[/EMAIL]

I have been researching, and found my ISP supply me with 5meg web space.
Just in the process of uploading images using ws_ftp pro, to this web space.
When (and if) this works you will be the first to know ;)
I'm presuming all images viewed through forum are done this way. Or similar?
Thanks for your supported help insane, but I may still need your services...lol

Content is better than dissapointed.
How is the detail in the enlargements? Any noise present?
As for colour cast, there could be 1001 reason for this :(
Is your mum happy with the picture? That is main question.

Got it working. So simple in the end :~/

this is image I followed from your first tut. Notice the orange at hairline.
I also added my own 'mood' lighting also ;)



this is image I want to work on. Picture of my niece.
Notice hairline here. Could be big job



Any thoughts?

Sorry that you had to wait so long for my answer. I wasn't there the last days. In the picture is no noise and the paper is a very good high quality paper. The false colours are the mistake of the photo lab because my monitor is calibrated. This is very importent if you want your pictures to be printed out afterwards. As I said the teeth are light blue and not light yellow. I can scan the photo if you want so you can see it with you own eyes. The gap between the mans head and the top of the picture is cropped and the gap between the hanky and the right border. But anyway my mother was happy with the picture although the first thing she said was: "my brother has blue teeth!"

The first picture you coloured looks very good. The shoulder is a touch too grey in my opinion but all in all you have my respect. Good work. The second image is not so difficult as you think. First duplicate the bg. Then crop it a bit to reduce the file size. Add gradient map. Create mask. Fill it black. Choose the brush and select the face like you did it with the wirst image. For the hairline I would set down the opacity a bit. You dont have to work exact here. Tomorrow I can post an image of the mask I did. Important is to blur the mask afterwards to make the transitions look more realistic.

Good luck! Have fun!

Colour calibration is big thing in digital workflow.
In time WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) will be in existance, but for now, we have to take risk's and trust in others judgement.
If you had the option, send the printer a test-print (from inkjet printer) of your image. Then they can do their own colour adjustments based on pre-print.

Thanks for pointing out grey area on shoulder area. I would not have noticed this.
Some good advice there for when I tackle the big job, hopefully this weekend.
Will let you know how it goes.

I am anxious =)