Having a lot of trouble with this one - any suggestions?

[reader0428]

Hi,

I did a family session for friends recently and I'm having trouble processing one of the images - I'm pretty new to photography. Here's the original image:



As you can see, it's a bit underexposed and I forgot to change the white balance (did I mention I'm new?).

Here are two of my attempts, neither of which I'm completely satisfied with:

1.


2.


The parents want to put it in a double frame with this shot:


They were shot in different areas of the same park, but it would be nice if they were at least close since they will be in a frame side-by-side.

Here's what I've done (I'm using Lightroom):

• Increased exposure, both of the overall image and on just the boy
• Increased the temperature of the image
• adjusted levels - lights and darks
• adjusted the hue and saturation of the highlights and shadows for a warmer tone

Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance...

[LuckyDucker]

I'm still learning all this too, so thought I'd play with it a bit. Here's what I came up with using your #2 picture.

These were my setting for this one. My monitor isn't calibrated, so hope the colors aren't way off.

increased temp +33
decreased tint -12
decreased vibrance -19
decreased saturation -5

It's really hard matching the greens. But, I think I got the skin tones close. Anyway, good luck.

EDIT: Looking at it closer to the little girl's picture on the same screen, I shouldn't have bumped the vibrance down so much. Maybe a -10?

[Concisus Cognatus]

Hi Amanda. I gave it a shot and here is what I came up with. Hope it's helpful to you. I've also posted the final settings.

Lr2 Settings

Temp: +42
Tint: +9
Exposure: +0.25
Recovery: 100%
Fill Light: 0
Blacks: 2
Brightness: 0
Contrast: +34
Clarity: +19
Vibrance: +27
Saturation: +13

[reader0428]

Thanks Robert and R.D. These are definitely helpful - I appreciate it!

[txmama]

I am giving it a try as well. First I opened it in Camera Raw from Adobe Bridge to adjust the white balance. The I adjusted the Hue/Saturation (Hue: -9, Lightness: 6). I created a layer with just the background and used Hue/Saturaion, tweeking the yellows, greens, blues to try to get close to the little girls background. The last step for the background was tweeking the vibrance by +4, saturation by +5. I then ran portraiture on the little boys face to bring up the warmth just a bit (+2). I also cropped in closer since they will be a frame side by side. Hope this helps. I love their expressions!

[txmama]

I saved the .xmp file as well if you want it.

[MicWayWal]

Amanda,
I use Levels for most of my corrective work. Because the boy has a white shirt you could use that to WB the image. In Levels I used the white balance eye dropper and chose an area on his right collar to sample. This got the exposure and the color in the highlights right. I then used Color Balance to add yellow and red in the midtones. I know you can do all of this in Lightroom. Done.

[The Loft Studios]

Add my version to the pot.....

[snakesat]

i have know idea what i did, but it was fun. I hope you don't mind.

[Steelsun]

Interesting to see all the various interpretations of the same original.

[carrbowl]

Amanda, I know this won't help you with these two photos but it will help you in the future. I got some great advice and I'm going to pass it on. Don't put your white balance on auto. And your photos are a good example why. Your camera changed the white balance similar to exposure....it never quite gets it right. So even if the exposure is wrong...i.e. you have it on cloudy and it's sunny. At least all the photos will be white balanced the same. So when you try to "match" the photos like you are doing here, you can "copy" the adjustments and "paste" them, to the next photo, and viola, the white balance will be extremely close, if not the same.

[LuckyDucker]

That's great advice Renae. I haven't learned that yet. Thanks for sharing.

[carrbowl]

I'm just passing along good advice someone taught me!!! I don't usually understand the technical part of it, but I know enough to understand when it is on "automatic" it is constantly changing....good luck and hope ti helps.

[iCe]

You didn't happen to shoot those in RAW format did you? In ACR you can adjust all of the parameters that are causing you trouble (WB and Exposure) plus a few other helpful adjustments. If not, the examples given above were on target.