Please help me!!!

[bluettu]

Ok, so I realize now that I did not have my lights set up right. I thought I had created enough of a rim/hair light by using a reflector, but I didn't. My problem is with the blonde headed boy on the right. Half of his hair is shadowed. I can not fix this for the life of me. I have tried everything. I tried cloning it out with the other hair, but it did not look right. Also, the top of the little girls hair is pretty dark too. Can anyone please help me? I would be FOREVER grateful!



I used two softbox strobes. I usually set my external flash up on a tripod and aim it at the backdrop, but it was in the repair shop. I also know that there isn't much sepertation from the top of the dad/sons head from the backdrop because of this. I had originally shot this on a white backdrop which wouldn't have caused this problem. I'm not concerned about that at this point, I'd just like to get the hair fixed.

I still have to do some touch ups around faces and other parts where I didn't blend my extracted pic with the black, and the dad had SEVERE farmer's tan on his arms that I will go back and fix.
I have not fixed any of the color as far as their skin tones go yet, but I wanted to knock this problem out first.

 

[hedonia]

Have you tried just toning down the contrast a little? Unless the parents have already seen it, and expressed disapproval, I don't see the shadow on the blonde kids as a huge problem. Sure, it would be great if it all went the way you planned, but as it stands, I don't think the clients would really notice or care - they're probably just looking at the expressions and posing.

A bigger problem is the "phantom hand" syndrome. I can guess that the hands on Dad's shoulders belong to the boys, but they really are quite "Thing"-like. The little girl's hands look like they're being held down, and the boy in the black shirt must have lost his right one in 'nam =) You're also a touch low and wide, and its creating a bit of distortion (like Dad's hands).

Do you have another shot to use, or have you tried some tighter cropping on this one? I think the exposure looks just fine, and despite the lack of a hair light, there is still some depth to everyone's hair (except dad). You can also try a different blending method, since you shot it on a white background initially. Perhaps if the line wasn't as severe around the hair, it would get that extra separation?

If you can post the original on white, I can give it a shot and show you what I mean.

 

[Village Idiot]

Curves, highlights, and shadows.

 

[goliath]

Difficult one ...

I have tried boosting the shadows to the extreme and there is still some areas on the hair of the 3 kids and the father that remains very dark, without details.

It is possible to clone / heal the hairs from better exposed area but it will be a longer process.

If you have another picture of them in a similar position but with better exposition, you could copy the hair from there.

How much of the dark do you want/need to remove?