beginner question

[brendatn]

I am very much a beginner. I am trying and reading every thing I can . Went to the beach and wanted pictures but it was late in the day and about to rain. Protecting camera was priority over grandkids. I am now trying to fix the pictures. I have an old version of Photo Elements and Photoshop and may download the trial Photo Elements 7. I have about 20 to fix. Can anyone give me a formula that would bring these out? Gave one as an example. Thanks

 

[Bravotwofive]

I am not good at this at all, but I'll give it a shot....

 

[KmH]

What format were the images captured in? JPEG? RAW?

The images needed some fill flash to make your grand kids pop. What version of Photoshop do you have PS7, CS2, CS3?

 

[willma88]

Heres is a really rough one I did in Adobe Lightroom, Its a much easier program to use compared with Photoshop, for touchups-its perfect!

Sorry for the ring shadow look of the kids, again its 1.15am here in sydney, and i am desperate for sleep! Good luck! Need more help, just post them!

 

[brendatn]

That is what I am trying to do. I have an old version of Photoshop 6.0 and Photo Elements 2.0. I have a Sony Alpha 300 camera. I am really trying to learn. I bought the Gary Friedman book for the camera and it is helping. I am going to download the trial photo elements 7. I had a few developed and the skin was way too dark and looked over exposed. The auto correct was a joke. You made the skin lighter which is what I want without washing them out.

 

[brendatn]

Here is one more. They have a nice tan but not as dark as this shows. This is one that looked good on the computer but developed dark. Thanks

 

[willma88]

OK. See the reason why I use Lightroom instead of any other programs such as photoshop and elements is that it is so simple to use and has a very useful brush correction feature.

This feature allows you to select certain areas of the photo to add contrast, hue, brightness and change exposure. I was able to do this with your picture. By adding contrast, lowering the exp and bright. of the water to compensate for a brighter view of the kids.

Maybe give lightroom a go?

 

[willma88]

Oh, and in terms of skin coming out too dark, maybe the problem isnt with your editing but with your moniter calibration. In essense your moniter is not displaying the correct colours of the picture, therefore, the editing that you do on it is not the image colours that will be printed out.

Try searching for image calibration tools on google to calibrate your moniter.

 

[Dwig]

...Can anyone give me a formula that would bring these out? Gave one as an example. Thanks

I took a look at your first image in PS (I currently use PS/CS4, but any PS will do), looking at the Histogram. All of the image data is piled together in the middle, nothing in the deep shadow area and nothing in the extreme highlights. A basic fix would start with:

1. Display the Histogram panel and note that all the data is lumped in the middle. Leave this visible.
2. Access Image/Adjustments/Levels... (or if your version of PS has it Layers/Adjustment Layers/Levels...) and drag the highlight and shadow pointers until the data curve in the Histogram panel expands to just barely fill the full width. If you have one of the newer versions of PS, the histogram will also be displayed as a background image in the Levels control panel or dialog (varies from version to version).
3. With the Levels control still visible, drag the center pointer around until the skin tones look their best. This was moving it noticably toward the shadow pointer with the image I experimented with.
4. You will probably want to then access Image/Adjustments/Hue-Saturation..., or the Adjustment Layer version, and reduce the color saturation. This seemed to be the case with the image I experimented with.

 

[brendatn]

Thank you for your reply. I will try this and I might download the trial Lightroom and see if I can use it.

 

[willma88]

Goodluck with it all mate!

 

[redtippmann]

Didnt know if you wanted the 2nd one edited so I tooled with it in LR.

 

[Baaaark]

Please keep all arms and legs inside the photo at all times...

Seriously, try it. Or try cutting the photo off at the waist

 

[musicaleCA]

...Can anyone give me a formula that would bring these out? Gave one as an example. Thanks

I took a look at your first image in PS (I currently use PS/CS4, but any PS will do), looking at the Histogram. All of the image data is piled together in the middle, nothing in the deep shadow area and nothing in the extreme highlights. A basic fix would start with:

1. Display the Histogram panel and note that all the data is lumped in the middle. Leave this visible.
2. Access Image/Adjustments/Levels... (or if your version of PS has it Layers/Adjustment Layers/Levels...) and drag the highlight and shadow pointers until the data curve in the Histogram panel expands to just barely fill the full width. If you have one of the newer versions of PS, the histogram will also be displayed as a background image in the Levels control panel or dialog (varies from version to version).
3. With the Levels control still visible, drag the center pointer around until the skin tones look their best. This was moving it noticably toward the shadow pointer with the image I experimented with.
4. You will probably want to then access Image/Adjustments/Hue-Saturation..., or the Adjustment Layer version, and reduce the color saturation. This seemed to be the case with the image I experimented with.

Ditto. I just tried the same method, except I used a levels adjustment layer (does pre-CS4 have these?) and masked the levels adjustment out a bit on the background to bring it back a bit and bring up that "pop" factor on the kids (using a large radius gaussian blur on the mask to get rid of the patchy-ness of the my brushing). The hue/saturation adjustment layer had to be adjusted so that the range of colours reduced by the "reds" setting was expanded to get closer to correct skin tones; I ended-up with 289º/345º, 25º\49º . I also brought the brightness of the eyes up a bit with a brightness/contrast adjustment layer (again, masked on the eyes and blurred). The eyes really needed fill flash; a RAW file of this image might take the pixel-pushing better without over-saturating the reds. Here's my result:

Edit: Hmm...I think I brightened the kids a bit too much with Levels...Ah, well. You get the idea.

willma: LR rocks for quick and easy adjustments, but can't beat the control of PS (for example, masking and gaussian blur).

 

[NikonNewb]

i've found that cloudy days are actually the best for taking pictures. you dont get those sunny blown out highlights beginners have trouble with.
and i know you didn't ask but instead of centering the kids try placing them to the left or right of the frame. it is more visually pleasing. you could try cropping this photo that way.