remove it, from Channels to Blend Modes to Blend If to Color Range, but nothing worked.

Well, this is the technique for you.

And there are two simple steps - Number 1 - Fix the brightness and Number 2 - Fix the

color.

And that's it.

So without any further ado, let's get started.

Back in the magical world of Photoshop and to download this photo and follow along, check

the links in the description.

So let's start with fixing the brightness.

But before we do anything, keep in mind we don't want to be distracted by the colors.

So let's take the colors away by using a Check layer.

So click on the Adjustment layer icon and then create a Solid Color Adjustment layer.

You might be thinking, 'Why am I not just decreasing the saturation and making it black

and white?'

Well, there's a reason for it.

If we choose any color, any color which has no color in it, in other words white, gray

or black, any like that, just hit OK and change the Blend Mode from Normal to Color.

Right now, the color has been taken away and you only see the brightness levels.

Why is this accurate and not decreasing the saturation?

Let me just demonstrate something.

So, if we simply create a Gradient, I've already shown this to you before in previous videos,

so, if you click on the Adjustment layer icon and then choose a Gradient, and let's choose

the Gradient of a rainbow, single click on in here, and we're going to choose something

like this.

So this is a rainbow.

Hit OK.

Now keep in mind, all of the colors here, if I just go to the color picker, have a look,

all of the colors have Brightness level of what?

100.

So, technically they are at the same Brightness level, right?

And if you check Red - Brightness level - 100, right.

Same Brightness level, technically.

Now if you hit OK, hit OK again.

Now, if you simply create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer on top by clicking on the

Adjustment layer and choosing Hue/Saturation and taking the Saturation down, it will become

gray, because all of them were technically at the same Brightness level.

But there's a problem with that.

If you look at the human eye, human eye doesn't perceive things that way.

For a human eye, this blue is darker than this yellow.

For a human eye, this red is darker than this yellow.

So, instead of going that route which deals with light technically, I mean, logically,

it's right, but to human perception, if you just create a Solid Color Adjustment layer

like we just did at the top and change the Blend Mode to Color, it will be more accurate

in terms of human perception.

Let's turn it on and have a look.

As you can see, the blues are darker, right?

The reds are darker than the yellows, which makes more sense.

That is why it is more accurate to do it this way instead of just taking away the saturation.

So, this is a simple Luminosity Check layer.

Let's name this Luminosity Check.

Now, we need one more check layer.

To see the differences even more, let's create a Curves Adjustment Layer.

Click on the Adjustment layer icon and then choose Curves.

We want to make the shadows more darker to see more differences.

So with the Hand tool selected, just click and drag down the shadows.

Now we want these areas to be normal, click and drag them up.

This is just to see the differences better.

So these two are check layers, let's select both of them.

Select the first one, hold the Ctrl or Command, select the second one and then press Ctrl

or Command + G.

Now that the distractions are gone, we are ready to remove the shadows.

So select the Background layer and on top of that, we're going to create a Curves Adjustment

layer.

Click on the Adjustment layer icon and then choose Curves.

And we're going to name this Brighten or you can name this Dodge, if you want to sound

technical.

Let's zoom in.

All we got to do is to click a point in the middle, take it up just like that.

Now, select the Mask, press Ctrl or Command + I to invert the Mask.

Now, what is the concept of Mask?

White other areas which show up, Black are the areas which hide.

So right now, the complete Mask is black.

So the effect of Curves is showing nowhere.

As soon as we take a brush and paint white, the effect of Curves will begin to show in

that area.

Alright, so select the Mask and then just zoom in, take a Soft Brush.

So here at the top, Soft Round Brush, and with a low Flow, start painting on the shadow.

Now if you have a Wacom tablet, it will make the process extremely simple for you, because

then you can paint softer for less intensity on areas with lighter shadows and painter

harder for more intensity on areas with darker shadows.

So let me show you what I mean by that.

So you can set the Opacity or the Flow to Pen Pressure by going to Window and then Brush

Settings.

With the same brush selected, you can just check Transfer and inside of Transfer, we

don't want any Jitter, just decrease the Jitter, and we want to set the Opacity to Pen Pressure

and we also want to set the Flow to Pen Pressure as well.

Make sure you decrease the Minimum to 0%, and then you just paint softer.

See, at these areas the shadows are not very dark.

So we need to paint softer.

And for the dark areas, just paint harder.

That's it.

So you don't have to paint multiple times.

You can actually use the pressure of your hand to control how much shadows you want

to remove.

So if you're using a tablet like me, you can set the Flow to about 5- 10% and then, using

the pressure of your hand, control the intensity.

If you're not using a tablet, set the Flow from 1-2% and then paint more times in that

area to have more intensity.

Alright, so I'm going to set it to 5%.

5% is fine for me, and then just start painting.

I'm going to speed up the process so that it doesn't get monotonous.

Just simply paint.

Now as you can see, we have finished brightening up the shadows using this Curves.

Let's have a look at the before and after.

So this is the before, actually, this is the after.

This is the before.

Shadow is all over her face, right?

And if I turn it on, have a look at it.

Such a dramatic difference.

But before we move on to Step Number 2, which is fixing the color, have a closer look.

There's still a little bit of shadow.

It is soft, as you can see right here.

How do we take care of that?

It's very simple.

All we got to do is to use Blend If.

Now, let me ask you one question, what is the common property of a shadow?

It is dark, right?

And we can limit brightening in the dark areas by using Blend If.

So let's create one more Curves Adjustment layer by clicking on the Adjustment layer

icon and then choose Curves.

Now we're going to brighten it.

Click a point in the middle and then take it up, just like this.

Now, to limit it just to the shadows which is a dark area, double click on the right

hand side of the layer.

This opens up the Layer Style dialog box.

Now inside of that, take the slider of the underlying layer from right to left.

We are taking away the brightening from the bright areas of the underlying layer or the

layer which is under it, which is the Subject layer.

Alright, so we're going to take it away.

As you can see, it's very harsh, so we need to break the slider.

Hold the Alt key or the Option key on a Mac, click on the slider to break it apart and

take it to the extremes, we want it extremely soft.

Hit OK right there.

Now, we don't want that all over the image.

It's doing a great job, but, only on the face and the shadow areas.

Right.

So, what do we do now?

Mask it.

So click on the Mask, press Ctrl or Command + I to invert the Mask, take the brush, white

as the foreground color.

With a soft brush, you can also decrease the Flow if you want to to 20%, just start painting

on the soft shadow areas.

See how easily we are taking care of it.

That was not hard, right?

This area also has a little bit of shadow.

All right, now have a look, here's the before, here's the after.

Let's make it soft.

Now, let's remove the shadow under the eyebrows and the eyes.

So, we're going to paint right there.

Now, that looks interesting.

Let me show you the before and after.

Here's the before, here is the after.

Let's paint a little bit here.

Now, if you think it's too much, you can always do this - decrease the Opacity.

So let's control it accordingly.

We don't want it totally gone, probably somewhere about 92 would be great.

Now, we have come a long way, isn't it?

So, here's the before..let me show you without all of these..this is the before, this is

the after.

Fantastic, isn't it?

Time for us to move to Step Number 2 where we fix the color.

So, before we fix the color, we need to see the color.

So let's hide or remove the Check layer.

This Check layer, this group was just to take away the colors and make the shadows extreme

so they are more visible, hence, more easy to remove.

Now we don't need it, so we can actually turn it off or simply delete it.

If we zoom in, the color might not be consistent.

Have a look right here, the areas where we removed the shadows, this is the before this

is the after.

The color is a little off as compared to rest of the areas.

Here as well, the color would be a little off as you can see in this area.

Again, if we just zoom in into couple of areas like this, the color would be a little off.

This area as well, the color is off.

So how do we fix that?

Very simple.

Create a new layer.

Click on the New layer button and you can actually name this Color Fix, right.

And change the Blend Mode from Normal to Colour because we want to fix the color.

Just that.

Now take the Brush.

Make sure it is a soft brush.

You can always decrease the Flow if you want to, but I'm going to keep it, in this case,

about 40% and then all you gotta do is take a sample and paint, that's it.

Now, before you start painting, just make sure, click on the Eyedropper tool, just make

sure Sample - Current & Below or All Layers is selected, and 3 by 3 Average is fine, but,

I'm going to increase it to probably 5 by 5, so that it takes an average of 5 by 5 pixels.

So it creates a box of 5 by 5 and takes an average of all of those colors.

This prevents you from accidentally sampling a color which might not be the right representation.

Maybe you sampled a noise, you don't want to do that.

Right.

So take the brush back again and take a sample and just paint on the areas where you think

the colors are off.

Take a sample from an area nearby and just paint on that.

This is just to match the colors around.

So let me show you the before and after.

This is the before, this is the after, very minute difference.

I'm not sure if you can notice this or not.

You'll be able to notice this here, have a look, the colors are a little too saturated.

So we're going to take a sample from here and paint over that.

Look, here's the before, here's the after.

It took care of it.

Take a sample from here and paint over that.

That area is gone now.

All right, that was not the right color.

Sometimes you might have to sample from different places and try what fits the best.

I think that is a little too desaturated.

We're going to have to sample from a darker area, maybe something like this and try painting

here.

Yes, that works.

Still, let's decrease the Flow to 20% and let's try painting.