Tough shot at Disney World... and tech issues.

SittingElf

I am having a hell of a time with this shot.... See info below the picture.

My son's first meeting with Pluto!

(Click photo for full size on SmugMug)

Problems and issues with this shot:

1. This was the first outing day I had with my new 5D MkII. Went to Walt Disney World with my wife and two year old son and shot a lot of pictures... almost exclusively outside. Like an idiot, I was so used to shooting with my 50D, that I didn't bring my 580EXII, having forgotten that the 5D has no pop up! So I ended up shooting this picture handheld, with no flash, @ 1/50th, ISO 640 (at the time still scared of higher ISO), f/4, with my 24-105 @ 67mm. No time for posing because the Disney people were trying to move the line along as fast as possible, all the while having to shoulder my way into position against one of the countless Disney Photographers who are found everywhere in Disney World. The lighting was mixed and not very flattering as you can see.

2. The shot was one of four with Pluto, and my son's expression in this one is priceless. Unfortunately, I have been trying to post-process this picture and clean it up in Aperture 3 and having a hell of a difficult time. There is so much color saturation in the entire scene that every adjustment I make in one area negatively affects another. The best I could do was to try and clean up the skin tones and pseudo white balance the shot. Additionally, I am viewing on my new Dell u2410 monitor hooked up to my Mac Pro...and have had to set the brightness at 20% or get blown away! It is also extraordinarily difficult to work with this image while viewing because just when it looks right, the cones in my eyes become totally saturated, and if I walk away from the monitor and then come back, it looks entirely different to my eyes!

Don't know what more I can do to improve this shot, colorwise or cropping, but I'd certainly be open to suggestions! I want this as a family "keeper".

Tay

Don't have much in the way of advice, except to let you know that's Pluto, not Goofy!

Swartzy

I pulled it in...will work on it...be right back.. BTW...with the MII....forget about fearing noise. I shoot my Mark I all day long at higher ISO's and it's not an issue.

Svennie

I'm not a really experienced photoshop user, so I took this opportunity to improve my skills
You can add an adjustment layer to the image and use a mask to adjust only the parts you need. In this case I adjusted the exposure of the background. I'm not really pleased with it yet, but it gives you an idea of what can be done.

SittingElf

Tay wrote:

Don't have much in the way of advice, except to let you know that's Pluto, not Goofy!

So I was very testily told by my two year old son when I showed him the picture on the computer!! He said "Poohtoh, Pootoh!!!"

Swartzy

Here's one such version: A couple of mentions: The overall orange color cast is the beginning of the headaches. The photo was color corrected to begin. Yes, the bg is desaturated a bit so not to compete with the subjects...there's no way around that. You'll also notice the bg is blurred and darkened. It may appear this has no color compared to the original but in reality, Pluto is NOT orange and neither is your wife or child. The skin tones are close (see the teeth) but with a RAW file, the edit would be much more seamless. Also, I don't know how much sharpening you did, but zoomed in 200% it is way over done. I have Aperture as well....and never use it....Lightroom kicks it's butt.

Macushla

I only have Photoshop elements and I just got it a few weeks ago but I do love a challenge. This is as good as I could get it:

W.W. Webster

You're right - the child's expression is to die for. I just desaturated the (human) skin tones and then cooled the overall temperature a bit.

lizzard_nyc

Played around on Picnik--had to go this route--couldn't help myself.

Svennie

I 'borrowed' some ideas from the other comments:

Macushla

I just love seeing all the different edits!!!! This is fun.

Sam

I think these type of shots have value beyond the technical. That said here is a quick adjustment.

I would recommend using ISO full ISO settings and don't be afraid to use 800 -1600. I also like to use my 24-105 f4 at 5.6 or smaller.

Sam

Scott_Quier

Here's mine. Things I found and corrected include the strong orange cast, a little noise, and a much too busy background .... all of these caused by the venue where the shot was made - Disney aught to know better.

So....

Swartzy

Heheh...I don't think I've ever seen so many Disney pics of the same scene in my life roflrofl

rainbow

Don't forget that Pluto is a cartoon character in a setting to match. And then there are stage lights that are deliberately upping the saturation of the scene.

So it is much more akin to having theater or concert shots whereby it is not supposed to look natural with normal skin tones. So get the humans and Pluto to an acceptable look and the rest should look as they do (or similar)in your original post. It might be fruitless to try for "normalcy" in a setting that is not meant to be so.

The look on your son is one for the ages (no matter the PP)!

The_Fat_Zebra

Of all the edits I prefer the ones with highly saturated tones in the background and some work on the skin tones only (althought BW conversion one is great as well). It just seems to me that this scene needs it? - it is a cartoon setting after all

Swartzy

Well it is a pretty lame argument that because it's a cartoon scene then it doesn't matter. The most important element of the photo is his son's face. Why don't we add a bit more saturation and run it through a couple photoshop filters to really give it that "cartoon" look...then it could be authentic. The OP said he was having difficulty why?

Ed911

Well, I thought I'd add my retouch. I happened to like the intense background, so I just worked with the Pluto and the skin tones. I just wanted to true them up a little and add some separation.

Original



Retouched

Coleman Photography

Swartzy wrote:

Here's one such version: A couple of mentions: The overall orange color cast is the beginning of the headaches. The photo was color corrected to begin. Yes, the bg is desaturated a bit so not to compete with the subjects...there's no way around that. You'll also notice the bg is blurred and darkened. It may appear this has no color compared to the original but in reality, Pluto is NOT orange and neither is your wife or child. The skin tones are close (see the teeth) but with a RAW file, the edit would be much more seamless. Also, I don't know how much sharpening you did, but zoomed in 200% it is way over done. I have Aperture as well....and never use it....Lightroom kicks it's butt.

This one seems to be the best imo. skin tones are very close.

Macushla

I like the blur in the background and the crop. The mom looks best in this version also.

The_Fat_Zebra

Swartzy wrote:

Well it is a pretty lame argument that because it's a cartoon scene then it doesn't matter. The most important element of the photo is his son's face. Why don't we add a bit more saturation and run it through a couple photoshop filters to really give it that "cartoon" look...then it could be authentic. The OP said he was having difficulty why?

I'm not sure I understand. My point was to go for natural skin tones, but leave the saturated background.

topcat374

swartzy wrote:

Also agree that this one has the most impact. Wondered if it would benefit from an uncoventional crop to keep the attention on your son's expression (which I think is priceless btw and totally outshines any technical issues even if you leave the shot as is!!!). Not sure where this would leave you for framing a 'keeper' though...

met

Cute photo! I also prefer Swartzy's version.

Swartzy

The_Fat_Zebra wrote:

I'm not sure I understand. My point was to go for natural skin tones, but leave the saturated background.

What I was driving at was leaving the background as is, regardless of repairing the overall color cast would still compete with the subjects. In any photograph, we focus on a subject or subjects and diligently work on eliminating distracting elements. The saturated BG is without a doubt a distraction not to mention is NOT the source of the photograph but instead the people and Pluto. I was also addressing the comments previous to yours so as to "get" the focus where it belongs.....the OP's desires.

An 8x10 crop is easily done with this frame as the top and bottom remain the same, just the sides are cropped to one's liking.

kwcrow

Ed,
I think that your retouch is the best one so far.

Ed911 wrote:

Well, I thought I'd add my retouch. I happened to like the intense background, so I just worked with the Pluto and the skin tones. I just wanted to true them up a little and add some separation.

Original



Retouched