PS Elements 10 editing help with this photo please

[lindsey7682]

I am new to photography as well as ps elements 10. I would greatly appreciate some help on editing this photo. I took this picture of my son's foot this evening and I love it but I really want to make the foot and lips pop. I have played around with it for about 2 hours and I cannot seem to get the lips to select so I can brighten the color. I also made it a solid black background to make the foot pop but it still looked very strange. I need help using this editing software or some links to great tutorials would be very helpful. Thank you!

[IMG][/IMG]

[Frog]

I just loaded elements 10.
Don't know how to help. The lips are just not sharp enough to isolate, I think.
Which tool did you use to try to isolate them?

Hope someone comes along with more insight.

[SmartWombat]

I think the biggest problem is that the foot isn't in sharp focus.
That will make isolating the foot and the red colour (a lipstick kiss?) more difficult.

If you really want to make it pop then I think you need more light on the foot, as well as coming from behind it.
It highlights the tips of the toes quite well, but then the shape of the sole of the foot is lost as that edge light goes up the bridge of the foot and the ankle and leg.

It's going to be hard working with that 91K file, and working at that small size.
You have the advantage of the full size image which will make it a little easier I think.

Best tool for the job I think is the Quick Selection Tool.
Press A or click on the 8th tool down on the bar on the left.
I set the brush size to 14 and then drew roughly over the kiss.
Adding extra selection with the Add To Selection option middle of the top left.
I used that to draw the outside of the kiss.
Then removing selection to take out the inside of the kiss with the Subtract From Selection option right hand of the top left.

Once the kiss was selected I made a layer and then added adjustments to the layer.
But nothing was satisfactory.
Nothing worth sharing.
The problem for me is the colour is so subtle and the area of the mark so large that enhancing it looks wrong.

Best effect I can get is to create a layer for the whole foot using the same select/deselect technique, and then add a Levels adjustment to it using the Add Adjustment button.
Change the layer effect to Lighten and then move the white arrow to the left to lighten just the foot against the background.

I think really this may be easier to do when you take the photo!
A brighter red shade of lipstick perhaps, and not a modern smudge proof one. One like my mother used 45 years ago, that left a nice red mark I used to rub off before going to school
And smaller may be better, not such a full lip print but thinner and with more lip surface detail.
I'm finding it hard to explain what I see in my mind, sorry.

[lindsey7682]

I completely agree... I am going to retake the photo with more light and a bright red lipstick. What you envision in your mind is exactly how I wanted the picture to turn out. Believe it or not but I know exactly what you are trying to describe Unfortunately my son was not willing to cooperate to get the picture I wanted. By the time his foot was still enough to snap the shot the kiss had smudged a lot. I greatly appreciate the very detailed feedback. With this picture I ended up just editing it to black and white and created more DOF. It still isn't want I want but it did look a lot better in B&W.

[n8]

I suggest using the benedryl tool. It will make a re-shoot much easier ;)
You may also want to work with the saturation, and use the eye dropper to select that very shade of red. You can then apply a mask to brush out what you don't what affected...at least I think you can.

[readingr]

Just had a quick play and came up with this - lots more you could do.

Rough selection of the lips, redefine the edge and add some feathering of the selection - in this case a 9.

Select the colour replacement tool and select the foreground colour you want - could be any colour and the saturation you want.

paint using a large brush only the selected area will be painted over.

Roger R.

[readingr]

Oh, I forgot to mention I used Paul's picture because the foot popped more.

Roger R.

[geraldb]

Here is my version, hope you like it. If you want a more defined lip print, you shouldn't press too hard to keep it from smearing.
G.

[wfooshee]

Thinking from the other end of the process, you might start with a more vivid lipstick color.