need help, xmas card print.
 

Hey guys, I need some serious help. I have not played with photoshop in so long and I have never been any good. My wife is wanting me to work miracles on a snapshot in a very short amount of time and I am not good enough! We just found out we are pregnant again and she thought it would be a great way to let the family know the same way I found out...see below. I was planning on setting up lights and doing it right for the xmas pics but she wanted to capture the older son when he found out. So this is what I have to work with...fully auto, jpeg, not much light, red eye, harsh shadows, etc.

I got the red eye taken care of ok but then it went downhill from there. I keep messing it up worse and my monitor does no justice, I can make it look ok then I print and it is crud. I will take it somewhere to get it printed tomorrow if someone can help me out, if someone else is at home working on their photos, that is and can do this easily! The orginal is under xmas.jgp at http://www.hatleys.com/temp/ if someone can help me out please email me at ken.hatley @bankofamerica.com. I will even pay for your time. Thanks so much.
Ken

http://www.hatleys.com/temp/3.jpg

I just played around for a little while... I'm no PS pro though. I took out a few shadows, removed noise, sharpened, adjusted contrast/brightness... threw on a cheap vignette.

I really didn't know what else to do with it. I'm sure someone can do something much more creative, and a heck of a lot more impressive. But hey, Holly is in the other room watching Pirates of the Caribean again, so I'm trolling forums to kill some time.

But the way, Congratulations! And, thank god it's not us! :woot:

http://www.bellesphotography.com/temp/xmas1.jpg

Looking at it again, the vignette needs a lot more tweaking - messed with his shirt too much and threw off the balance of the pic. But, that's probably the least of the problems with what I've done. :undecided

Thanks for trying, anyone else want to take a stab before the wife gets out of bed and wants me to take this to get it printed. We are heading to my Brother's house this evening and she wants to hand deliver this tonight since half the family is going to be there.

Here's my attempt. If you want the psd file to see what all I did, let me know.

thanks for your help. I talked her into letting me take the picutre this time, I think this is much better...any other suggestions are welcome.

http://www.hatleys.com/temp/0.jpg