Searcher Loc: Kent, England

I have had this photo for several years, not because its great, it isn't, not because its a fond memory, it isn't. I have kept it because it is so bad.

Every now and again, I open a copy in Lightroom or Photoshop, and try to improve it, my success rate thus far is zilch.

My feelings are that if I can ever make this image even a little more presentable, my time investment in Photoshop, Lightroom and Elements would have been worthwhile.

Can anyone give me a couple of pointers on what to do?

I know this image is too far gone to ever be good, its out of focus, badly exposed etc., but I would like to be able to
make some kind of improvement to it and learn from that experience.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Can you please post the full sized image?

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SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

Tough subject - best I can do.

Lady

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Searcher Loc: Kent, England

That's a lot better than I ever got, any clues please as to method?

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Good news James, I was able to make all the changes below using just PS CC 2014. Whereas I used the Camera Raw Filter, you would probably use LR for most of the changes. I used 4 separate radial filters on the ladies face, working "inside" areas with the most shadow, but in each case did pretty much the same thing ..... reduced clarity and saturation, slid shadows control almost all the way right, and touched the black control to the right as well. I then saved my changes, went back into PS, used the selection tool to select only the ladies face, then went back into the Camera Raw Filter so I could use the HSL tab to work on color - increased saturation and luminance in orange and red, decreased yellows and greens, then back to PS. I have discovered a trick that blends tones together - I make a selection using the lasso tool, then choose Fill, 60% with color adaption (new in PS CC 2014) turned on. This produces almost a gradient, so I was able to blend colors in her cheek with shadows and it didn't have any hard edges. I was still not happy with the coloration in her forehead and other shadowed areas however, so I created a new layer, used the color picker to select an area in her cheek, then used a brush tool set to about 40% opacity, to paint over the effected areas. This was pretty much her whole face, but it looked ghastly. Ahhh, but then, I changed this layer to a mask, inversed it until I had a black layer mask, then used a white brush to brush in the orange in only the areas I wanted it. Again, this brush was set to about 40% opacity, so it was subtle. When I was through painting, I played with opacity of this whole layer until I got a combination that looked somewhat natural. I then merged the layers. Now she had much better color in her face. I used the Dodge tool in a few places. Finally, I highlighted her right eye (left in the image) and sharpened it almost to 300%. Again, I used the lasso mask and 40% fills to blend in the shadows with colored highlights, then did a final save.

Oh, and started out by cloning out the large black shadow rising from her head.

Bob Yankle Loc: Burlington, NC

Duplicate entry - please disregard.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

Not much I can say about this. I have been playing on and off for about two years, and never got close.

Your instructions are great, when I get back from my trip in a week or two, I shall digest your workings and try for myself.

Thank you Bob.

CajonPhotog Loc: Shreveport, LA

Workflow??? Oh my, all over PS CC 14, camera raw filter, hide all masks, dodge & burn, shake reduction ( helps for sharpening), etc. Took about 30 minutes to an hour, but who keeps trasck of time when you are having so much fun. Hope you like.

Lady edit

Bobbee

I just had a wedding and in the group shots after the ceremony the first couple of group shot the flash's on stands were firing unbelievably HOT. Ended up excluding them from the rest of the shots. So I got bad shadow casts on 2-3 people. I went in and using a combination of Raw Editor, PS Doge/Burn/Clone and Professional Portrait I got the faces nice but not perfect.

kubota king Loc: NW , Pa.

Since I use to do hand drawn colored portraits many yrs ago . And I have been coloring B&W photos for years . I just used the paint brush with different colors and color modes inside PS CC . I was painting using a Wacom tablet . I reworked both people some just to show what can be done in 10 to 15 mins to get this result . Tommy

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Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

My friend, Searcher, if you are asking for information about how to improve the original image that you have posted here, I should think that if the original had been shot RAW, you could work it over in Lightroom by increasing the exposure, dialing down the highlights, and dialing up the shadowed areas... Of course, several other presets should be used to work the photo over completely, but I should think that, if you work on it a bit with brushes and a vignette, you can bring this photo up into a realm of acceptance..

~Doug~

~Doug~

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

Hindsight shooting is my favourite, every image comes out perfectly.

When that photo was taken, I did not have a camera capable of taking raw images, I had very low camera skills, light was something that blinded me but so long as the sun was behind me what could go wrong?

I still do make mistakes, but not quite as bad as the one depicted. As I said in my opening post, I kept the image only to learn some extra pp skills from it.

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

Good day to you Searcher, this was that method I sent you. On the second layer I used an air brush.

Not great not good but maybe somewhat better.

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Searcher Loc: Kent, England

My skills lie in understanding how software works, my photographic skills are based on recording images in controlled environments - I consider myself an expert with forensic medical images. Conventional and artistic photography is something I am learning - albeit very slowly - and the same applies to Post Processing. It is one of the reasons I was so hell bent on getting this section going.

I have learnt so much by reading every post, sometimes trying to emulate some of the experts on this forum, both in the field of capture and PP.

I also believe this section is not always about posting the best of images, but examples of poor workmanship (with no excuses required or given) with a view to learning new techniques.

It is often said that you cannot make a silk purse from a sows ear, and this thread never had that intention, I chose the worst image I have with shadowed faces, and because of the kind of membership here, have learned some things that books and videos just don't get into.

From the many PMs' I have received, I know I am not alone in my thirst for knowledge, I also know there are many willing to share their skills with the less fortunate, long may it continue, and my thanks to all who contribute.

Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

Searcher, here is a quick fix up.. ~Doug~