Teeth Whitening

[Cand2010]

Hi everyone

I really need some help with post processing an image. I have some photos I have done for a friend and they have stained teeth. I have tried the teeth whitening brush in lightroom three but the stains still look bad and now un natural. Please does anyone have any recommendations on how to make them look natural. The stains are like lines through the bottoms of the top teeth.
Please please help. Im still very new to this.

Thankyou

[kiwi]

Can you post the original picture ?

Do you have photoshop - or just LR ? (try also downloading Seim's Teeth Whitening brush for LR

[Cam Scott]

Here is my method for White Teeth. (Need Photoshop)

• Using the Lasso tool, feather 2 px and make a selection closely around the teeth, avoiding the gum line / lips.
• cmd/ctr + J to create a new layer via copy with this selection. Click on this new layer to select it and name it "Teeth"
• Create a new Adjustment Layer - Hue/Saturation (This should sit on top of the Teeth Layer)
• cmd/ctr + Click back on the Teeth layer to select the "Teeth' then click cmd/ctr I to invert selection
• Click on the Adjustment Layer Mask. Make sure your colours are reset to B&W ( Press D) then swap to make black the foreground colour (press X)
• Click and hold Shift+F5 . This brings up a window asking what to fill with. Select Foreground Colour and hit OK.
  
• You now have a fully adjustable hue/saturation layer just for the teeth.
• Go ahead and firstly reduce the (master) saturation by around -60 and have a look. Adjust as you see fit. (This will remove the colour of the teeth, but will retain the texture)

You can also try selecting the 'Yellows' and do the same thing and compare the result.

Save your image first as a PSD file, then make a flattened copy. You can at any time revisit and adjust if you've gone too hard! I do a lot (revisit)

This is only one technique I use, and works great for people with good teeth that are just discoloured. If they need surgery though, (excuse the pun) you will need to do some air brushing / cloning etc. Depends how much time you want to spend.

Cam

[Cam Scott]

I didn't mention to add another Adjustment Layer: Levels or Curves.

• Create a new Adjustment layer- Levels or Curves above the hue/saturation layer
• Copy the layer mask from the saturation adjustment layer to the new layer.
• Now, adjust the mid-tones to be brighter if required to lighten/whiten the teeth. You may need to move the highlights slider to the left as well for overall brightness, but beware the 'snowfields smile' as I call it

If the exposure of the teeth is lower than the skin tones, or they have teeth that aren't bright, (which is mostly the case with discoloured teeth) only removing the colour will leave you with dull 'grey' teeth. This second levels adjustment will allow you to brighten them up, again, non-destructively. The amount of times early on I came back to an image after a month or so and been blinded by 'pearly-whites'…. wooooh. turn those bad boys down!

Cam

[sugarcourt]

I was wondering how to do it myself. I found a youtube clip that was useful.
Just search teeth whitening and there is a few to chose from just depends on what method you prefer.

[Flash Hit]

If all else fails, Mrs. Marsh highly recommends COLGATE!!

[Cand2010]

Thanks so much that is really useful informaton. Im going to have a play and see how the different options work out. Thankagain everyone.

[ricstew]

another way I just discovered...for paintshop...make a new layer....desaturate the yellows.....copy original layer onto top of that one and use the eraser brush only over the teeth area so the whiter teeth only show through. merge down.
cheers
Jan

[jocksta777]

thanks, very helpful

[pollen]

The easiest way is to use the dodge tool. Just click the dodge tool, and click on the teeth till you are happy. Change the brush size, hardness and opacity to your liking.

But be careful not to overdo it. I create a new layer and reduce the opacity by 20% or so after I'm done to ensure I have not overdone it, as people do get offended if you overbrighten it.