Help with PP? Can this be saved?

WingsOfLovePhoto

Not sure if this would be the place to post.... but if not feel free to move... I had posted some senior portraits here last week. Well the girl picked the one photo (I should have not even shown ) to be her yearbook photo. It has blown out hair, underexposed face, too much distracting bokeh, backlighting and fly away hairs. Learned a lesson here about trashing these kinds of photos.... I am trying to talk her out of this one but I haven't heard back and was wondering if you all think this can be saved. There were 100+ others to choose from...ugh....What do you think? are there processes to help?

Tim Kamppinen

Honestly it's not that bad. If you play around with the raw file you might even be able to recover the blown out hair. Don't use the recovery slider, though, it usually looks terrible. Drag the exposure slider as far left as you need to to get detail back in the blown out regioin, then raise the brightness slider to bring the rest of the image back to normal. Use the exposure brush to dodge the face and burn down the "distracting bokeh" (I don't think it looks bad at all) and it'll look great. If you want I'm sure you could clone away most of the flyaways in PS without too much trouble. Just don't try to eliminate them completely because it will probably be way too much work and not look natural in the end anyway.

Of course, there's a chance that even manipulating the raw file you won't be able to get the detail back in the hair... if that's the case I'd just correct the rest of the file and be done with it, if she really wants this shot. I think blown highlights are something that we as photographers worry about and stress over even though our clients don't notice or don't care most of the time. Really, as long as you make the face look great the rest of the image can be a nuclear explosion and it won't matter... most of the time.

EDIT: This was a five minute dodge & burn job in PS. With the raw file in LR or Camera raw you should be able to do much better:

James H

Hi Sandy, You get to be the recipient of my first official post to Dgrin.

First of all, I agree with Tim. The shot is really not that bad and I'm assuming the girl likes it best because she feels like this shot represents her better than the other poses you captured, which I took the time to look through before deciding to play around with this image. It probably feels more natural to her and therefore is probably the best shot to represent her in her yearbook.

I'm not a portrait photographer, but I see the mentality all the time among those who are that somehow their idea of what a client's portrait should like is better for the client than what the client actually picks out. I think that's a flawed mentality and really only serves to bolster the photographer's own ego in many cases. Not that I think you're trying to boost your ego, but some of the technical flaws you point out in this image really mean nothing to most customers. I'd say fix a few minor details and sell her the image that makes her happy. You may not want to use it in your portfolio for the technical reasons, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't get enjoyment out of it. Below is a very quick edit in Lightroom, which is really somewhat limited by working on a reduced JPG, but it should give some idea of what's possible. I hope you don't mind the copy/edit, but it appears to be pretty standard for the help forums.



I changed the white balance to warm things up a little; selectively adjusted the curves for a little more contrast; added a slight vignette to darken the outer edges; selectively brightened her face, and reduced the clarity to soften some skin imperfections. Other than that, I rotated the image slightly CCW and would probably do so just a little more if there is any more to the original image than in your posted crop.

I like the outcome and think with a little more effort on the original file you should be able to fix it right up. I didn't add all the technical details for every edit since I have no idea what software you're using, but I hope it was helpful and at least gets you going in the right direction.

WingsOfLovePhoto

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

Honestly it's not that bad. If you play around with the raw file you might even be able to recover the blown out hair. Don't use the recovery slider, though, it usually looks terrible. Drag the exposure slider as far left as you need to to get detail back in the blown out regioin, then raise the brightness slider to bring the rest of the image back to normal. Use the exposure brush to dodge the face and burn down the "distracting bokeh" (I don't think it looks bad at all) and it'll look great. If you want I'm sure you could clone away most of the flyaways in PS without too much trouble. Just don't try to eliminate them completely because it will probably be way too much work and not look natural in the end anyway.

Of course, there's a chance that even manipulating the raw file you won't be able to get the detail back in the hair... if that's the case I'd just correct the rest of the file and be done with it, if she really wants this shot. I think blown highlights are something that we as photographers worry about and stress over even though our clients don't notice or don't care most of the time. Really, as long as you make the face look great the rest of the image can be a nuclear explosion and it won't matter... most of the time.

EDIT: This was a five minute dodge & burn job in PS. With the raw file in LR or Camera raw you should be able to do much better:

Thanks Tim... I am glad you don't think it is too bad! I can't see your edit though...red x..... I did just hear back from her and she doesn't care about the things I mentioned. So I am going to fix it and be done with it!

WingsOfLovePhoto

James H wrote:

Hi Sandy, You get to be the recipient of my first official post to Dgrin.

First of all, I agree with Tim. The shot is really not that bad and I'm assuming the girl likes it best because she feels like this shot represents her better than the other poses you captured, which I took the time to look through before deciding to play around with this image. It probably feels more natural to her and therefore is probably the best shot to represent her in her yearbook.

I'm not a portrait photographer, but I see the mentality all the time among those who are that somehow their idea of what a client's portrait should like is better for the client than what the client actually picks out. I think that's a flawed mentality and really only serves to bolster the photographer's own ego in many cases. Not that I think you're trying to boost your ego, but some of the technical flaws you point out in this image really mean nothing to most customers. I'd say fix a few minor details and sell her the image that makes her happy. You may not want to use it in your portfolio for the technical reasons, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't get enjoyment out of it. Below is a very quick edit in Lightroom, which is really somewhat limited by working on a reduced JPG, but it should give some idea of what's possible. I hope you don't mind the copy/edit, but it appears to be pretty standard for the help forums.



I changed the white balance to warm things up a little; selectively adjusted the curves for a little more contrast; added a slight vignette to darken the outer edges; selectively brightened her face, and reduced the clarity to soften some skin imperfections. Other than that, I rotated the image slightly CCW and would probably do so just a little more if there is any more to the original image than in your posted crop.

I like the outcome and think with a little more effort on the original file you should be able to fix it right up. I didn't add all the technical details for every edit since I have no idea what software you're using, but I hope it was helpful and at least gets you going in the right direction.

Hi Jim! I am happy that you chose me to be your first post! Thanks for the info. I like your edit. I work in lightroom and CS3.. I can do pretty much what you did. The only thing I notice though is that side by side her face in your edit looks a little rounder/bigger? Might be an optical illusion..... I am going to try to fix it up similar and will repost. Thanks for the details. She wants to keep the shot so I will do my best.. And...fyi...I...unlike some others have 0 ego for the most part. I just wanted to point out my photographic flaws just to cover myself. Somebody someday might decide to critique her photo and I don't want the flaws to come as a shock to her Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you post some of your stuff!

James H

WingsOfLovePhoto wrote:

The only thing I notice though is that side by side her face in your edit looks a little rounder/bigger? Might be an optical illusion.....

No illusion - due to rotating the image a couple degrees, her face (and everything else) does occupy more of the frame and therefore is actually a little bigger when compared side by side with the original.

I'm glad you heard back from her and are going forward with this one. You captured a really nice and natural smile in that shot.

cletus

James H wrote:

Hi Sandy, You get to be the recipient of my first official post to Dgrin.

James, nice work and welcome to dgrin

WingsOfLovePhoto

So here is the repost.... looks a little bright on the laptop monitor but not on the Mac.... what do you all think? better or too little definition?

James H

Looks great on this end. Nice job cleaning up the fly away hair.

sweet caroline

Greta edit!

Miguel Delinquento

Sandy, this was a fun exercise in community on a few levels. The original shot is pretty good. Your latest makeover seems too contrasty and a bit too bright on the calibrated S-IPS monitor on my Mac Pro. I would like to see a little more detail on her face.

Here is my 2-minute attempt. If I had more time and a larger file I'd remove more skin defects, but she is a lovely young woman regardless. I aimed for a more subdued look. Just another data point for you.



M