Help me fix my photo please

[Patti Edens]

Originally Posted by dangerouslymoody

lighting? color cast?? i have tried some 'quick fixes" in photosmart (HP) but some turn out looking kinda grainy :( Thanks in advance for any help

Yes, work on the lighting (brighten) and color cast. The grainy(noisy) look will happen when you try to lighten up an underexposed photo. I don't know if elements has a noise reduction feature or not, but if it does, you could try that. If not, you probably need to get something because you'll likely need it at some point. I think there might be some free noise programs out there.

I tried a couple using Photoshop - I adjusted the levels by putting the white eyedropper on something in the photo that I knew should be white (dress or cake) and the black dropper on something black (tux.) Is there something similar in Elements that uses eyedroppers?

I ran Noiseware Pro to get rid of the noise but I had to use a mask and mask out the noise reduction for the dresses or it took out all the texture. I cloned out the chair in the second shot. - Just playing around. Oh, and I also tried to get rid of some of the flash glare on the door by using the "burn" feature in PS. I think Elements has that too. I overdid it. It is easy to overdo. Just put it on a very low setting and do it very gradually.

[DangerouslyMoody]

Thanks guys!! That is exactly what I was needing!! I will fool around in the program to see where the WB correction is and color temp stuff!!! I need to reload PSE on my new computer so I will probably wait until tomorrow to mess with it. I will let you know how it goes!! :)

[Angelo]

Autumn,
We are all anxious to see the photos after you make the adjustments.

[CBass]

Here is what i did with elements 5.0 .. first i went to enhance and adjusted the sharpness, then i adjusted the lighting with shadow/highlight (play with it a bit) then i went to adjust color hue/saturation. In the edit change from master to yellow then play with the saturation till the white comes back. You can play with the lightness also or go into the brightness/contrast. Last i did a little color dodge at 12%, there is more you can do but this was less than 5min fix.

PS i lost the green in the base but if i spent more time i could make a layer and bring it back out but to be honest didn't feel like spending a lot of time lol spent most the day editing some of my own shots lol.

[CincoJoe]

I don't use elements but I believe that you can do most things that photoshop can do as far as curves, levels, etc. The first thing I did was run some noise reduction on the photos because they were pretty noisy. Then did some some curves balancing and played with saturation some. On the last one I softened it up a bit just to see how it would look. Like I said, I think you can accomplish all of this using elements and some practicing. Check out some of Scott Kelbys books as well. They are very user friendly.

[abril1127]

I used Elements for several years. I would say to play with your Levels and curves once it looks good there then adjust your brightness then your colors.
Good Luck!