CS2 learning PP, C&C please

[l.mccormick]

Working on CS2 and some post processing, not the best job but still learning.

For all of you photoshop guru's out there, is there a good process for removing the glare off of water without really killing the IQ?

I just think the glare behind them really takes away from the picture but couldn't figure out a good way to really adjust it.

First picture is the one I attempted at, second is the original.

[Casper]

I would try this- make a selection of the blown out glare areas and then clone over with the water that is almost blown out. I adjust the opacity as I clone to try to get it to look right.

On second thought,

The original photo seems to have less glare or blown out water. I would try to process the photo twice, once for the water (foreground dark) and again (make a second photo) for the couple (water overexposed). Layer the dark photo over the light and then erase the pixels over the couple to see the photo of them properly exposed. Of course it gets tedious to get the leaves right.

Any chance you could take the photo over? They look nice and it is a good setting. I would expose for the background and use an off camera rear sync flash to light up the couple.

(No claim to guru, I'm still learning.)

Steve

[l.mccormick]

I can easily take the photo over and just started playing with the masking so I could adjust the brightness on them specifically without blowing out the background, found another post about that, so attempting that.

[Rick]

I'm not a guru - just always learning like most of us are.

1. It seems that you are trying too hard to have two subjects in the photo. I don't think you should be so concerned about the detail in the background. I would try and blur it so it's not so distracting from the real subject - the couple.

2. It looks like you wanted to lighten their faces to get that shadow detail, but you applied it to the entire image and blew out the water and some of the leaves. Try and apply it to only the area your concerned with. There are several ways to go about it.

3. Without reshooting and just having this image to work with, I would duplicate the layer and use a levels adjustment to get that shadow detail, then use a mask to get back the original background. If you wanted you could also and another layer in between and blur it as to fake a shallow DOF. That you allow you to get your facial detail, not blow out the water, and direct the attention to the main subject.

If you re-shoot, you might consider some fill flash and a more shallow DOF.

Just a suggestion

Rick