Cheers dude! Better than I could achieve at this point so that's much appreciated
So if you want to try my method...
Setup
-Use photoshop.
-Ensure a picture meets all of the criteria in my other thread they pinned.
-Copy the photo and open a new photoshop file. Paste.
-Make the image size bigger if needed.
-Select the area you wanna xray. Try to avoid any hair, object of a different thickness(belts, metal, etc) Save it.
From here on out everything we do is in the selection.
-Duplicate layer. Use this as a reference image and to test EXTREME(20%+) burns/dodging.
Exploring
-Use levels and exposure filters to get an idea of what's where and see if there is anything you can reveal. Play with the sliders a LOT. We're looking for outlines of what we're trying to see.
-Mark outlines on a new layer.
Leveling the playing field
-With our exposure and level layers off go into shadow/highlight and play with the sliders. Trying to get the outlines we saw earlier to be visible and tone down any excessive dark or light areas.
-Use BURN HIGHLIGHTS and DODGE SHADOWS on 1-5% levels to further get colors consistent.
-Do a brightness/contrast layer, increase contrast. Merge that layer and our image layer.
We're going to start getting EXCESSIVE crazy colors and noise from the adjustments. THIS IS OK. We're trying to get contrast right now, we'll remove and fix the colors soon.
-When you're happy with knowing what's where you can start utilizing burn/dodge to clean things up and add contrast.
HOW WE DO THIS IS You're going to
burn MIDTONES on 1-5% AROUND the are you want to improve. If it's 65 pixels, use 100. Things aren't always where you think and this is the difference between drawing a picture you think looks nice and doing an xray. AFTER you have burned midtones, burn SHADOWS with 1-5% until it's DARKER THAN YOU WANT. Why? Because...
DODGE MIDTONES 1-5% to take off the excess crap WE added to the image.
We want only whats really there.
-Once your picture is cleaned up nicely it's time for last minute contouring. Dodge and burn to add/remove any last minute things that don't look right.
Fixing the color
-Make a new channel mix layer. Pick the one that make things the most consistent and give you the definition you want. Merge this layer with image.
-Use the eyedropper with a 11x11 or 31x31 sample to pick a spot of skin that's midrange.
-Depending on the image we're going to do a few different brushes.
- Lighten
- Darken
- Soft light
- Hard Light
- Overlay
-Use an opacity between 10 and 50% and experiment with brushes, your eyedrop sample, etc. Each image is a little different.
-After a few passes of the brush you will probaby need to burn/dodge to get your contrast of colors back to where you want them.
-When you feel you're close use Replace color and Match color to close the gap. If neither of these is working out for you try selective color and focus mainly on neutral and your primary color.
Last touches
-To get the image looking more realistic lets do some final passes of bruning and dodging. Dodge highlights and burn shadows. Use a big brush and 1-3%. Depending on whats needed, either burn or dodge midtones to match the surrounding area.