Looks like it time for me to start learning

[hmiles619]

Alright, I'm an absolute noob when it comes to Post processing....

I own my version of CS3 that I use for expensive crops and small color adjustments but now it's time to start taking advantage of my tools.

Let's take a look at this well below average snapshot of my future family (fiancee's brother and his family) that I took a few months ago. First of all, I know the picture is near crap. I took it facing the towards the light, the sky is washed out, the family is squinting, it's a little out of focus and the shadows are bad. I knew the picture would turn out like this, but I was just taking orders on this day, and I couldn't get them to wait a few hours for the light to get better in the evening.



Now, they want to get it printed, I know I'm not going to turn it into a work of art, but lets make it presentable....

The first thing I want to do is give the sky some color. I'm pretty sure that I can do this by layering, but I don't even know where to start with that. By adjusting my blue levels in raw I can make the sky look decent, but of course my future family is now a family of smurfs....



How would you suggest to take on a picture like this?

[janetg]

you could go about making a mask - by selecting the blown out color...control j - to make that a new layer, select that color range. using your replacement sky select all - copy, go back to your selected new layer from the blown color - and hit paste into.

this is a rough rough version of what it could look like - and yes i know there are areas that were not selected, but i only spent like 10 seconds on it.

[mycroft007]

Originally Posted by hmiles619

Alright, I'm an absolute noob when it comes to Post processing....

I own my version of CS3 that I use for expensive crops and small color adjustments but now it's time to start taking advantage of my tools.

Let's take a look at this well below average snapshot of my future family (fiancee's brother and his family) that I took a few months ago. First of all, I know the picture is near crap. I took it facing the towards the light, the sky is washed out, the family is squinting, it's a little out of focus and the shadows are bad. I knew the picture would turn out like this, but I was just taking orders on this day, and I couldn't get them to wait a few hours for the light to get better in the evening.

Now, they want to get it printed, I know I'm not going to turn it into a work of art, but lets make it presentable....

The first thing I want to do is give the sky some color. I'm pretty sure that I can do this by layering, but I don't even know where to start with that. By adjusting my blue levels in raw I can make the sky look decent, but of course my future family is now a family of smurfs....

How would you suggest to take on a picture like this?

Don't be so hard on yourself. You have no hard shadows, which make it hard to believe they were facing the sun. Looks more like it was behind them.

One thing I would try when it comes to the sky. Use the color selection tool to select the sky. You can mess with the sensitivity to select just the sky and area around their heads. Since the sky is white, you are going to select some stuff you don't want to. Don't worry about that to start with.

Once you have the selection, duplicate the layer and create a layer mask. That the little button in the layer's pallet that has the circle on it. You selection will become the layer mask. Now you can paint out anything you don't want in your sky selection.

Once you have just the sky masked. Change the layer's blending mode to Darken. If there is any detail in the sky it will show up then. If not you could mess with the hue to get a blue tone. Or if you were feeling real brave, get a picture with the sky you want, and paste it into that layer, which will make the sky blue.

[JMM]

When shooting a situation like this I either move the family to a different, evenly lit setup, like sitting them on the ground or ...
Meter for the sky overexposing it by one stop. I use a hand held light meter. Set you camera to spot metering linked to the focus spot. Set you flash to ETTL 1/2 to 2/3 underexposed and focus on faces. This will elimate the problem of overexposed sky and underexposed people... for those of us who still shoot film and cannot afford the luxury of fixing problems.

[Donb10]

The unique thing about adobe photoshop is that there is more than one way to achieve the final results.

I selected just the luminosity in the photo to enhance the range. This method is described by Katrin Eismann in her book "Restoration & Retouching". After selecting the luminosity, it is placed on it's own layer and then the selection is reversed and the blending mode is changed to "Screen". This lightens the darker part of the photo which can be adjusted with the opacity slider.

As far as the sky goes, you can select the sky with the magic wand tool, add color in several different ways, or use the gradient tool to darked existing sky. I added sky from another photo. This works best if the photos were taken with the same camera.

If you start learning adobe now, you'll never finish, it just gets better.

[guitarbug]

Originally Posted by hmiles619

Alright, I'm an absolute noob when it comes to Post processing....

I own my version of CS3 that I use for expensive crops and small color adjustments but now it's time to start taking advantage of my tools.

Let's take a look at this well below average snapshot of my future family (fiancee's brother and his family) that I took a few months ago. First of all, I know the picture is near crap. I took it facing the towards the light, the sky is washed out, the family is squinting, it's a little out of focus and the shadows are bad. I knew the picture would turn out like this, but I was just taking orders on this day, and I couldn't get them to wait a few hours for the light to get better in the evening.



Now, they want to get it printed, I know I'm not going to turn it into a work of art, but lets make it presentable....

The first thing I want to do is give the sky some color. I'm pretty sure that I can do this by layering, but I don't even know where to start with that. By adjusting my blue levels in raw I can make the sky look decent, but of course my future family is now a family of smurfs....



How would you suggest to take on a picture like this?

I almost died laughing when I read this ". By adjusting my blue levels in raw I can make the sky look decent, but of course my future family is now a family of smurfs.... LOL, To freaking funny!

[kachina]

My 30 second shot at it. I know the sky cut-out is horrible.

I used a series of canned actions to cut out the sky and replace it with a gradient layer, lighten the faces, and brighten the colors. I then applied a 15% angel glow. I would normally use another sky shot instead of a gradient layer but I'm supposed to be packing to leave town early tomorrow.

[boldimagery]

I will say that there is nothing wrong with a white sky. That can be a good thing. I think in this situation it helped with the photo. There was a lot going on with the background I think a colorful sky with clouds would have been distracting. I do not necesairly think the current background is distracting. I think it gives the viewer a since of place.

Here is my version of the image... A few contrast tweaks.... a litte dodge on the guy''s face... a little vignette that is it my friend...

[barP]

it wouldn't help here, but a very quick way to get some pop in a washed out sky is to use the selective color adjustment. go to the blue channel and slam the blacks all the way to the stops. you can also do it with cyan. no masking required (unless you have other blues you don't want affected)!

wp.