How can i make this photo better???

nicoleshilliday · September 8, 2008

OK, so...we were messing around with the wide angle and i happen to capture this shot. I have been playing with it for a few hours and can't seem to find any way to make it better. All of the light seems to be at the top of the barn! I am no PS pro and am looking for suggestions on ways to improve this type of problem.

I have also never asked for this type of help before so i don't know if just placing the picture in the thread is the correct thing to do, or should i be doing something else?? :dunno

Feel free to change the shot, just let me know what you did, so i can try to recreate or take some of your suggestions.

Thanks!

Swartzy · September 8, 2008

Hi Nicole. I pulled it in but is entirely too small to work with....if you can provide a link to the original (is best) or at least 3x large would be of benefit. I'm sure it can be corrected.

nicoleshilliday · September 9, 2008

Swartzy wrote:

Hi Nicole. I pulled it in but is entirely too small to work with....if you can provide a link to the original (is best) or at least 3x large would be of benefit. I'm sure it can be corrected.

I'm not exactly sure how to do that....i usually insert the image from my smugmug account....can you explain??

Swartzy · September 9, 2008

nicoleshilliday wrote:

I'm not exactly sure how to do that....i usually insert the image from my smugmug account....can you explain??

Go to "Customize" gallery, down in the middle area there is a place for sizes displayed...choose at least 3x (click on button box). Once done, hit save....then bring that picture up in your gallery, hit "share photo" then click on the 3x, then simply paste it in this thread.

LiquidAir · September 9, 2008

nicoleshilliday wrote:

I'm not exactly sure how to do that....i usually insert the image from my smugmug account....can you explain??

You can get the original by taking the link you posted and replacing the -L with a -O.

I did this with your image

I used curves layers in Photoshop to brighten the image and adjust the white balance. You have mixed lighting here; I chose to leave it quite warm rather than push some of the whites into the blue, but you could choose to WB this cooler than I did.

Then I used a luminance blend USM layer to pop out what detail I could. The image is a bit underexposed and looks like it was shot at high ISO, so the combination of sharpening and brightening has emphasized the noise quite a bit. A good noise reducion package would do a better job than I have.

Finally I took an 8x10 crop out of the center. I found the edges of the frame to be a bit distracting.

The skin tones are very close to the color of the wood in the background so getting good separation is going to be difficult. I didn't tackle that problem, but you could use some severe layer masks or a more creative interpretation of the image to bring the couple out more.

This is a link to the full rez version if you want to download it:

http://gallery.liquidairphoto.com/photos/368921192_8yLTg-O.jpg

wholenewlight · September 9, 2008

Here's my take with your shot (with your posted size I could do better with a larger version):

1- Created a layer and did a slight curves adjustment
2- Created a dodge/burn layer
- Alt+layer button
- Change mode to "Overlay"
- check box "Fill with Overlay Neutral Color (50% Gray)
Note: here's a Dgrin link to using this technique:
http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=2478&highlight=dodge+burn
3- Select paintbrush of appropriate size and "dodge" shadow areas (use foreground selected as white)
4- Flatten layers
5- reduce saturation
6- Crop and straighten a bit
7- add a dark "vignette" to darken the rafters and forground of the shot

nicoleshilliday · September 9, 2008

Swartzy wrote:

Go to "Customize" gallery, down in the middle area there is a place for sizes displayed...choose at least 3x (click on button box). Once done, hit save....then bring that picture up in your gallery, hit "share photo" then click on the 3x, then simply paste it in this thread.

opps...i even knew to do that! Thanks! i have reposted the photo. Hope that works better.

nicoleshilliday · September 9, 2008

LiquidAir wrote:

You can get the original by taking the link you posted and replacing the -L with a -O.

I did this with your image

I used curves layers in Photoshop to brighten the image and adjust the white balance. You have mixed lighting here; I chose to leave it quite warm rather than push some of the whites into the blue, but you could choose to WB this cooler than I did.

Then I used a luminance blend USM layer to pop out what detail I could. The image is a bit underexposed and looks like it was shot at high ISO, so the combination of sharpening and brightening has emphasized the noise quite a bit. A good noise reducion package would do a better job than I have.

Finally I took an 8x10 crop out of the center. I found the edges of the frame to be a bit distracting.

The skin tones are very close to the color of the wood in the background so getting good separation is going to be difficult. I didn't tackle that problem, but you could use some severe layer masks or a more creative interpretation of the image to bring the couple out more.

This is a link to the full rez version if you want to download it:

http://gallery.liquidairphoto.com/photos/368921192_8yLTg-O.jpg

Thanks! I do like your overall coloring/lighting, but i will have to play with the skin tones.

nicoleshilliday · September 9, 2008

wholenewlight wrote:

Here's my take with your shot (with your posted size I could do better with a larger version):

1- Created a layer and did a slight curves adjustment
2- Created a dodge/burn layer
- Alt+layer button
- Change mode to "Overlay"
- check box "Fill with Overlay Neutral Color (50% Gray)
Note: here's a Dgrin link to using this technique:
http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=2478&highlight=dodge+burn
3- Select paintbrush of appropriate size and "dodge" shadow areas (use foreground selected as white)
4- Flatten layers
5- reduce saturation
6- Crop and straighten a bit
7- add a dark "vignette" to darken the rafters and forground of the shot

Thanks Jon! I like the vignette idea.

How can i make this photo better???

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