Can this underexposed and noisy photo be saved? [solved]

urbanaries

I could not have screwed this one up more. Luckily before I got too far into the shoot, I realized I was in Manual with ISO 1600 but this was before that. As you can tell it's underexposed, and noisy as hell.

I do not currently have a noise reduction program and/ or I2e. I have read several threads on i2e and haven't read anything about its noise reduction.

Luckily, I shot in RAW. I currently edit using LR 1.0 and Photoshop CS2 on a PC. Here is the JPEG straight out of camera.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. The non-group portions of the shoot went great, so I could re-shoot fairly easily, although I would rather avoid doing that to the client if possible.

Andy

Send me the raw file, I'll post it so folks can play with it!
PM coming.

urbanaries

Andy wrote:

Send me the raw file, I'll post it so folks can play with it!
PM coming.

RAW file sent about 30 minutes ago, let me know if you didn't get it.

Thanks Andy!

Andy

Here is Lynne's Raw File.

OK Team, let's see your best shot!

RogersDA

I tried - there's a lot of pixelating in the image so:

Duffy Pratt

I did this from the small JPG posted. First, curves in RBG to set white and black (white in boys shirt and black in man's shoes). Then a trip to CMYK to steepen the black curve and try to coax some detail in the cloth, and to get skin tones in something acceptable. That left the skin way too colorful, so I did a trip to LAB to bring down all the colors, and did Shadow/Highlights to darken the walll behind them (except around guy's head), and to get more detail in the pants.

I''ll give the RAW a shot when I get a chance.

Duffy

fehlinger

I gave it a whirl. I think the noise is there to stay. Even after noiseninja its pretty bad. 4 x 6 should be ok though.



Link to full size

Jody Melanson

RogersDA

O.k., Jody. Tell me how you did it.

Please.


Pretty please.


I'll be your friend.:D

urbanaries

Jody Melanson wrote:

OMG Jody that is fantastic!!!! bowWhat on earth did you do? (and would you be willing to share your results?) Thanks everyone for working on this...I know the noise is terrible!

jay

heres my shot not as good as jodys though

jay

heres a little filter effect and a overlay

gus

gmonkeh

Here's my go at it Lynn.....

Mike Lane

Here's my stab at it.



Click for link to O.

fehlinger

urbanaries wrote:

OMG Jody that is fantastic!!!! bowWhat on earth did you do? (and would you be willing to share your results?) Thanks everyone for working on this...I know the noise is terrible!

Indeed, Jody! You are a true talent both behind the lens and behind the keyboard. I'd love to know how you salvaged all of that detail. Please, do tell! [hint]mini-tute?[/hint]

BTW Jody, everytime I visit your site, I know I can write off the next hour or so!!! So many great shots.

Tentacion

Hi
Hi, sorry if I interrupted, but I played with your pic, hope you don't mind...

Khaos

This will have a painting type look close up. I had to blend pixels to get the illusion of sharpness and also maintain color, light and shadow balance. At a distance it will look fine.

urbanaries

Khaos wrote:

This will have a painting type look close up. I had to blend pixels to get the illusion of sharpness and also maintain color, light and shadow balance. At a distance it will look fine.

Wow, so many great renditions, it's hard to pick one I like best! Keith, did you run a median filter and then an unsharp mask? I tried that a few different ways and got similar results to yours, just curiosu.

Tentacion, your edit looks great too, it's small though so I can't see much detail.

Again thanks everyone for taking on the challenge....awesome, awesome work!!!

heymarz

I'm still learning PS, so can't contribute much on the help side. What I wanted to ask all the PS wizards, is if you can remove the light reflection off of moms face in that pic to? I see most of you took the light beam out of the boys head but can you fix mom and if so how.
THanks

sskoutas

Show-off!!

:D:D

Jody Melanson wrote:

RogersDA

heymarz wrote:

I'm still learning PS, so can't contribute much on the help side. What I wanted to ask all the PS wizards, is if you can remove the light reflection off of moms face in that pic to? I see most of you took the light beam out of the boys head but can you fix mom and if so how.
THanks

Its so easy. First, in PS, duplicate the image layer. This is a good idea so that the original is not altered. You can always delete the duplicate later if you don't like it or if you really mess up.

With the duplicated layer seletect Choose your "burn" tool. Its icon looks like pinching fingers.

Look at the options you have for the burn tool


For a quick toning down choose the Range as highlights. Choose a brush size and type appropriate for the area you are working in (zoom in on the area if needed). I typically use a soft brush so the edges a not harsh but rather faded when I paint with the tool. I also typically drop the exposure down a lot so that the burning is gradual. Each pass over the area will burn the area a little bit more.

Khaos

urbanaries wrote:

Wow, so many great renditions, it's hard to pick one I like best! Keith, did you run a median filter and then an unsharp mask? I tried that a few different ways and got similar results to yours, just curiosu.

Tentacion, your edit looks great too, it's small though so I can't see much detail.

Again thanks everyone for taking on the challenge....awesome, awesome work!!!

I have a lot of tools in my PS toolbox.

Even though I use Noise Ninja, I still eliminate noise in RAW using the Luminance slider. I'm at work so I can't tell you exactly where it is, but you'll find it with a little searching.

I use Pixel Genius for sharpening. I love that program.

The rest was done in RAW with exposure, and LAB adjustements, along with some dodge work.

You'll notice in my work I tend to have more contrast and a little less HDR when it doesn't help the primary subject. While I like what Jody did, the faces seem a little washed out at the expense of being able to see everything in the shot. It's a personal preference.

urbanaries

Update...
The clients finally placed an order, and ended up ordering the image Jody worked up, and it printed successfully, to client's satisfaction...clap

However, the only other shot they ordered, I wasn't so concerned about, and their 8x10 printed horribly. After seeing my own attempt at a rework, Andy says to refund their money...just wanted to make one last ditch effort before going black and white!

original print (printed w/ Smugmug autocolor; final result was grainy and weird blue highlights in hair)


My rework (CS2 noise reduction, reset white and black points, and lowered red saturation)


Link to Original File:
http://lynnehulbertphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/2847906#152653379

any thoughts? (besides whipping me with a spiked noodle)

z_28

I know it's late but I can't resist to try :rutt

z_28

urbanaries wrote:

The clients finally placed an order, and ended up ordering the image Jody worked up, and it printed successfully, to client's satisfaction...clap

However, the only other shot they ordered, I wasn't so concerned about, and their 8x10 printed horribly. After seeing my own attempt at a rework, Andy says to refund their money...just wanted to make one last ditch effort before going black and white!

original print (printed w/ Smugmug autocolor; final result was grainy and weird blue highlights in hair)


My rework (CS2 noise reduction, reset white and black points, and lowered red saturation)


Link to Original File:
http://lynnehulbertphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/2847906#152653379

any thoughts? (besides whipping me with a spiked noodle)

And I still can't resist

urbanaries

z_28 wrote:

And I still can't resist

Wow, this looks great!! Thanks for taking the bait!! you did a miracle job on the skin tones, and preserved the shadow detail in the dark sweater, which I could not do at all.

Care to share your technique?

z_28

Not really a technique - rather simple hand and eyes job in CS2.
I used probably everything from standard palette, no plug-ins, no actions,
no automatic functions.
Cropping, rotating, brightness, contrast, saturation, hand color balance,
some shadow variations, some background remodelling ,
sharpening twice, noise twice (both at different levels).
One thing should be done here as I do on previous family portrait - removing sun line - on this one removing shadow.
But it's time consuming process and I'm so lazy

z_28

As you wish B&W and doctored a bit more

urbanaries

z_28 wrote:

Not really a technique - rather simple hand and eyes job in CS2.
I used probably everything from standard palette, no plug-ins, no actions,
no automatic functions.
Cropping, rotating, brightness, contrast, saturation, hand color balance,
some shadow variations, some background remodelling ,
sharpening twice, noise twice (both at different levels).
One thing should be done here as I do on previous family portrait - removing sun line - on this one removing shadow.
But it's time consuming process and I'm so lazy

I'm not so concerned about the sun shadow, its not intended to be a pristine studio backdrop...

the skin tones however were of major concern, and you did a great job. I used most of what you referred to in your explanation but as you know the various settings and order yields an infinite range of results!

I appreciate your taking a stab at the image, you clearly have improved upon my original foible. In the interest of time, I think I probably should convert to black and white for the client.