Brighten dark shadow in a photo

Duplicate the lowest original layer of the image. Change the Mode of this duplicated layer to Overlay, for using this layer as a retouching Contrast Mask.

Use the Layers » Color » Desaturate tool to remove the saturation of colors in the retouching Contrast Mask. Use the Layers » Color » Invert tool for inverting the brightness in the desaturated, colorless Contrast Mask.

Blur the desaturated and inverted Contrast Mask with the Filters » Blur » Gaussian Blur -filter. I used a radius of 15x15 px for blurring the "Contrast Mask Layer" in my image.

Use the Layer » Mask » Add Layer Mask -dialog, for adding a semi transparent Layer Mask to the shadow correcting Contrast Mask to make the effect of retouch more diffuse, soft and photo(no) natural. Use the setting Grayscale copy of layer as the layer mask type.

Tip: You can duplicate the layer with the Contrast Mask to brighten the shadow in the image even more.

Duplicate the lowest original layer of the image. Move the duplicated layer to the top of all layers and change the Mode of this moved layer to Hue -mode, for keeping the hue of colors natural to the original image.

Duplicate the upper, hue saving layer and change the mode of this copy to the Saturation -mode, for keeping the saturation of colors natural to the original image.

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xoxo

aL

Brighten up dark photo colors with Gimp

Duplicate the original image layer in the layers dialog. Change the Mode of this duplicated layer to Value -mode to use this layer for a retouching brightening of colors. Further editing of the image, without this masking layer , could lead to a change of original hue and colors within the picture.

Apply the Tools » Color » Levels -dialog to the retouching layer for manual or automatic correction of brightness, color and contrast. Click on the Auto Correction -Button in the levels Dialog to try Gimp's automatic correction of brightness, color and contrast.

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xoxo
aL

help for retouching the teeth with Gimp

Select the teeth with Gimp's selection tool Lasso. Do not select gum, tongue, lips and other areas that do not belong to dental enamel of the tooth. You can remove parts of the selection by holding the Ctrl button.

Make the selection of teeth soft by using the Selection > Feather dialog to avoid dark stained stripes, edges and corners on the edge of the selection for teeth whitening. I used a value of 5 px to make the selection in my image soft.

Bleach the colors in the selection of teeth by using the Tools > Colors > Hue + Saturation -dialog to make stained teeth shine in natural white teeth color.

The exact values for color bleaching differ in each photo image with different teeth, saturation and lightness. I used the following values for teeth whitening in my picture: Hue: 0 ; lightness: 33 ; Saturation: -70.

xoxo
aL

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how to do skin care with Gimp

Select the skin with Gimp's selection tool lasso. Do not select lips, eyes, hair, nipples and other areas that do not represent flat skin. Make the selection soft by using the Select > Feather dialog to avoid sharp stripes on the edge of your selection. I used a value of 9 px to make the selection in my image soft.

Copy and paste the selection of skin by pressing the Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V keys successively. Verify the new skin layer by clicking on the layer button NEW in Gimp's layers dialog.

Blur the retouching skin layer with Filters > Blur > Selective Blur. I used a values of 3 px for Blur Radius and 100 for Max. Delta to blur the skin layer in my image smooth.

Set the layer mode of the retouching skin layer in the layers dialog to Lighten Only to retouch the underlying layer of the image. Duplicate the original layer, move the copy to the top of all layers. Set the layer mode of the moved layer to Saturation to keep the natural Saturation and color of the picture.

xoxo
aL

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