Need help with photo please

[kimh]

I took some photos yesterday and the harsh sunlight was not kind in some of them.
As you can see one of the girls had great light and the other did not. Any advice on the best way to even them up?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1Vb2f7lVQKKNbndnDlHNRQTwibgk
Kimh

[kimi_boo]

Make a copy. I'm sure you will get all kinds of info.

I would try
Enhance, Adjust Lighting, Shadow/Highlights
Enhance, Adjust Color, Color Cast. Click on the white shirt of the older girl and see if you like that?
Levels Adjustment
Add just a hint of contrast

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1FEUrBRYFnEuTi1aHlXbtGWSnolNIz_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1FEUrBRYFnEuTi1aHlXbtGWSnolNIz)

just me...:o

[Carbone]

I opened the image, duplicated the layer, applied the Shadow Highlight filter, then erase the smallest of the two girls, so that only the one requiring adjustment was in effect adjusted. Here's the result :

http://homepage.mac.com/carbmac/captures/image216b.jpg

I've also adjusted the Midtone Contrast to the right, fairly. This was done very quickly, so Kimi's answer is probably better.

Ray

[nkeevers]

Kim, I agree with the above. Funny, I was just going to post your picture with changes I made using Enhance/Shadows and Highlights but Ray and Kimi beat me to it! It makes so much of an improvement.

Oh, and by the way, beautiful subjects!

[Juergen D]

First I applied a Levels adjustment layer, double clicking with the white eyedropper on whitest part of the smaller girl's blouse. Merged the Levels layer with the Background layer. Next I created a Screen layer at 100%, masked it with a gradient, going diagonally up from the lower right hand corner, this way not lighting up the smaller girl. Applied some contrast to the face of the girl on the left. Merged visible and applied an Omni Lighting Effect to that girl's head. Masked the rest of the image, so the lighting would only be in that area and the rest of the image stayed unaffected. Took the opacity of this layer down to 34%. Lastly, I placed a Hue/Sat layer on top to enhance the saturation some.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1FsAYv8jJoLu1FlkfPzjRRd5HTKxR_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1FsAYv8jJoLu1FlkfPzjRRd5HTKxR)

Juergen

[Daviskw]

Hi Kimh

Good work all I gave it a try too. Sometimes just changing the light is not enough. There is almost always a color shift in the shadows as well as noise. So besides shadows/highlights I used a hue/saturation layer for tone and a noise filter.

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/12Tl8n61EIP9FDyf9d6Av4i4j4uhbV1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=12Tl8n61EIP9FDyf9d6Av4i4j4uhbV1)

[kimh]

You guys are life savers with your great suggestions and quick replies!! I can't wait to work on my photos later today. Must head out to update some work requirements (take a test:rolleyes: )
Thank you all again!
Kimh

[frank abramonte]

Kimh, see if this is what your looking for. I don't know which link to give so here are both. The pic is at the same size & resolution as your, you can safely size down in a higer resolution without any loss in quality. The small size in the post looks a little darker than the full size one I posted.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1JnsHc72ORbAs49gOdDNxbeKgiDW1

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1JnsHc72ORbAs49gOdDNxbeKgiDW1_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1JnsHc72ORbAs49gOdDNxbeKgiDW1)

[kimi_boo]

Wow Guys!! :D :D

Juergen and Butch.... fantastic as usual!!

Butch I kept seeing the noise and yet I never thought about reducing it. :eek:

Great Job.

[frank abramonte]

Kimh, this version is a little lighter. I balanced both faces a little closer in lighting.


http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1sb8UONBuYAfBWucXZBMgHrnXHbS6

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1sb8UONBuYAfBWucXZBMgHrnXHbS6_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1sb8UONBuYAfBWucXZBMgHrnXHbS6)

[nkeevers]

Wow, I liked them all...but I especially liked yours Frank. The color in their faces looks the most realistic I think. But that's only my opinion. I'm definitely going to try all the techniques spelled out. Frank, how did you do yours?

[j_rod]

Here is my first try to any of the projects posted here. And second time posting.

Javier

[Sissy]

Wow, have I learned a lot from reading this thread. I'd be hardpressed to decide which of these remakes I like best. Everyone did so good. Thanks so much for asking the question, Kimh.

[nkeevers]

First I applied a Levels adjustment layer, double clicking with the white eyedropper on whitest part of the smaller girl's blouse. Merged the Levels layer with the Background layer. Next I created a Screen layer at 100%, masked it with a gradient, going diagonally up from the lower right hand corner, this way not lighting up the smaller girl. Applied some contrast to the face of the girl on the left. Merged visible and applied an Omni Lighting Effect to that girl's head. Masked the rest of the image, so the lighting would only be in that area and the rest of the image stayed unaffected. Took the opacity of this layer down to 34%. Lastly, I placed a Hue/Sat layer on top to enhance the saturation some.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1FsAYv8jJoLu1FlkfPzjRRd5HTKxR_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1FsAYv8jJoLu1FlkfPzjRRd5HTKxR)

Juergen

Juergen, I'm going to try your technique on a picture I got from my brother that is really dark. I'll have to post the before and after when I'm done trying it. Well, I might use all of the techniques you used but at least part of them.

[frank abramonte]

Norma, I did it in photoshop using curves. I understand that you can get a plug in for smart curves but only on elements for PC. I work on mac so I resort to Photoshop when I have to do any retouching. My Photoshop is rather old, lacks some of the features of elements, but curves allows you to change RGB colors in proportion with one action. It's a balance of getting what you want & still maintain the depth/contrast in the photo.

I let the magic wand make my selection of what I wanted to work on. This is more accurate than using the lasso tool.

I first set the magic wand to a tolerance of 50 and made a selection on the large face. I selected everything within the face except for the dark colors bordering the background.

Holding down the shift key, I changed the tolerance to 10 and selected the additional areas I wanted included in my retouching picture, like the darker colors next to the background.

Had I not done this it would have brought a lot of the background into the active area, thereby changing the background along with the faces.

The tolerance number is arrived at thru trial and error. Begin with a number and see how much is included in the selection, then adjust, and reselect based on these results.

By changing the tolerance to 10 it allowed me to select colors closer to the background without actually including the background in the selection.

I then lightened the large face to what I thought was pleasing. When I was done I took one additional step and used the magic wand to isolate the smaller face. Once hi-lighted I adjusted the color to better match the color of the larger face.

This was done with one layer.

Hope this helps.

Check out this link (courtesy of JuergenD)

http://free.pages.at/easyfilter/curves.html

[nkeevers]

Frank, thanks! I downloaded and will try it out.

Juergen, I don't think the picture I have can be really fixed too much. My bro took it at night with a 3.2 camera and if I try to lighten it I see more and more pixelation. And wince the boys are not close ups, I don't think I can do much with it.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1621aJCbM3ut7lAAEbkgnC9yacy02_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1621aJCbM3ut7lAAEbkgnC9yacy02)

[Juergen D]

Norma,

This one is quite dark, but I tried; just to see, what might be possible. I essentially applied the same technique and steps as with the girls' image. And, as you noted, there is plenty of pixelation when lighting up. So, to have some acceptable result, I ran the finished image through Neat Image, placed it back on the layers stack, and left it up there at 85% opacity...

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/10BDgCOfiy3UH3Y0mFfalK9p4H0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=10BDgCOfiy3UH3Y0mFfalK9p4H0)

Juergen

[msbrad]

my opinion: on the pic Jeurgen did of the 2 girls..perfect...leave it alone!
The man knows what he is doing. the end
m

[Daviskw]

Hi Norma

Like Juergen but not as fast...:p ... same as above. Only so much can be done with low light.. for noise i have been using imagenomic... I like it.

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1SMHvQYNGYh5LWRCAyI5TDOD8Mtcb_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1SMHvQYNGYh5LWRCAyI5TDOD8Mtcb)

[nkeevers]

Juergen and Butch: They both look really good considering that original is really dark. I tried lightening it too and it came out similar to yours but the pixelation (or whatever you want to call it) just kept getting worse. I appreciate the help because now I know it's not me. That picture just isn't going to look that great. PE can't always work miracles!

[Juergen D]

I tried lightening it too and it came out similar to yours but the pixelation (or whatever you want to call it) just kept getting worse.
Norma,
I a case like this, you just have to live with some or more pixelation and then try noise reduction with one or the other filters or software. I went back and reprocessed my version with Noiseware Community Edition (http://www.imagenomic.com/), which produced a better result than Neat Image. I believe, it is same software that Butch was using.

Juergen

[nkeevers]

I don't have any noise reduction software so I guess that'll be the next thing I look into. Thanks for the help and the info. Is it better to use the plug-in or stand alone. Because I know a plug-in can slow the system down.

[kimi_boo]

OK. I'll bite. The differences they show on their site are amazing. :eek:
Of course it would. :p
Will the plug-in work in PSE5?

[Byron Gale]

Not that this image needed another shot at fixing it -- the previous renditions are excellent -- but I thought I'd apply the old stand-by "contrast masking" technique. Not too bad for 30 seconds' work...

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1dKyZCpBeaUsMPCQRBh1YPrbdkovRG_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1dKyZCpBeaUsMPCQRBh1YPrbdkovRG)

In the event some are not familiar... Contrast Masking is applied by creating a duplicate image layer. Then, on the duplicate layer, remove color, invert, change blend mode to Overlay, apply some Gaussian blur (to taste). Maybe vary the opacity of the duplicate layer -- depending on how it looks.

[kimi_boo]

My favorite technique and I never thought to use it on people. :eek:
I always use it it on landscapes or objects. Great Job Byron!

[msbrad]

Byron, you read my mind as i read the first part of your post above the girls photos. thank you for explaining and the steps. shall definitely save the info and try it. I've sure learned a lot from the suggestions in this thread.
Thank you all, and glad the question was asked.
m
"Learn something new everyday"

[Juergen D]

Will the plug-in work in PSE5?

Kimi,
I have the free versions of both noise reduction softwares that I had mentioned. They are stand alone.

Juergen

[kimi_boo]

Kimi,
I have the free versions of both noise reduction softwares that I had mentioned. They are stand alone.

Juergen

Hi Juergen. I followed the link to Noiseware and it looked like it was $49.99. I will go back and check again. Sometimes I am not the brightest bulb in the pack. :eek:

[kimi_boo]

Well I played with the shareware version but I don't really see a big difference. I do see a small difference. I tried Stronger Noice??:confused:
What are the best settings?

[nkeevers]

Hi Juergen. I followed the link to Noiseware and it looked like it was $49.99. I will go back and check again. Sometimes I am not the brightest bulb in the pack. :eek:

LOL! Get out of here! You're so funny!

[nkeevers]

Thanks Byron! Your picture looks great and I've never heard of contrast masking so I wrote it down to try out. What else can I use it on besides people; is it used to eliminate shadows or is there another reason to use it? I have no clue...I'm just a newbie.

[kimi_boo]

Norma... here is the thread I posted a while back.

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16674&highlight=contrast+masking

I will post in it so it will show.

[msbrad]

...and I am so glad you did.
m

[nkeevers]

:D [QUOTE=kimi_boo;194917]Norma... here is the thread I posted a while back.

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16674&highlight=contrast+masking

I will post in it so it will show.[/QUOTE

Kimi, I'm losing it! I just answered that thread a few minutes ago!:D

[Juergen D]

What are the best settings?

Kimi,
Just use Default, which is subtle. If it is too subtle, do it again.

Juergen

[kimi_boo]

ahhhhh..... again? :p

Thanks!!