help with harsh facial shadows using photoshop

Spreebot

I hope I'm posting this in the correct spot, if not, forgive me and move me, please

Background info of this photo is it's an on the spot photo, taken at a birthday party, in the only spot the hotel would let us take a group photo, with no light setup avail, harsh indoor overhead lights and other flashes going at the same time...it's not pretty, but i'm looking to make the best of what I have and I'm challenged. Looking for advice on facial shadows/shine and anything anyone has up their sleeve to work with in cs4 to make this photo easier to swallow

I've started with a few stock tricks I have up my sleeve along side the awesome magic skin plugin, and a touch of portrait prof 9...but want to see if anyone comes up with something I haven't tried!

Oh, sorry about the watermark, didn't think about that when posting the sooc image from my site, I'm cropping just above it anyway...

Mahalo!

pathfinder

I am not seeing a picture.

Do you have external links permitted in your gallery?

Spreebot

pathfinder wrote:

I am not seeing a picture.

Do you have external links permitted in your gallery?

Yep, I do...but I had it hidden :P

so I moved it here...sorry

BinaryFx

Nicole, I do have some thoughts. Did you shoot raw or only JPEG? Raw provides more flexibility, however it is amazing what one can do with only a JPEG.

Can you crop tighter and provide the forum with a larger unedited image, it is hard to see what is really going with edits on on such a small image with higher JPEG settings.

What software do you have and what level do you rate yourself with this software?

Are you supplying data or prints? If prints, what output method (photo lab contone, inkjet stochastic dots) and what size?

What are the expectations for post processing, considering the adverse shooting conditions?


Regards,

Stephen Marsh

members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx
prepression.blogspot.com