I love this pic I took at a friends wedding in June... but how do I improve it?

Quick Idea, the brick wall seems to dominate, so I adjusted levels and slightly gaussian blurred the wall - 10 sec fix. Need to ensure the cuteness and innocence of the pic remain

Straightened the image and cropped tighter with a small levels adjustment. The image looks good not much needs to be changed :)

Agree with Cas thats a great idea.
I wouldnt do too much to this picture at all its a great composition, and retouching too heavily may spoil it. Super job!

the wall provides great contrast when the levels are set, so then blurring it, defers the foreground but still provides a great contrast - go figure

PhotoB,

Love your picture too! :thumbsup:

A different take - You might want to check out this link/tutorial, it came to mind when I saw your pic.

www.photoshopuser.com/how/

Have fun,

Annabel

I was wondering why no one tried to remove that water drain thingy on the daughter’s side of the image.

Or you could use a very slight blur and instead of the often done deasturate, use a color, I sued a tone of blue and orange to give a cool and warm look. Once masked you can play with whatever suits. I also removed the pipe from the wall this time.

LOL I did not see the post above as I was busy editing so just funny I removed what was mentioned :)

Wow!! Thanks for all the suggestions! And you know, I never even saw the pipe in the wall. :lol:

i always ask myself, 'what's the real picture i want in this image?'. and for me, in this picture, it was pretty obvious. so, i cropped for it.

i then doubled the size.

i then sharpened and used the digital cameral noise cleanup tool.

i then ran Fast Fix on it for a bit more contrast and a slight increase on saturation.

then i framed it.

Craig

i then sharpened and used the digital cameral noise cleanup tool.

I never knew there was such a thing... in that in photoshop?

i've no idea. i'm using paint shop pro 9.

Craig

You could try either of these?

The first is a basic tidy up: colour balance, reduce saturation of wall, straighten horizon, sharpen, recolour dresses

The second is based on the first, but applies a glamour look (Diffuse glow, then two increasingly blurred Overlay layers)

Cheers,

At the expense of sounding like an idiot , I wish to say that I feel it so important to keep the memories of a picture and the settings around them as actual as possible. So glad people kept the wall , it was there , it was part of the day!!

To do some work like removal of the spout and a little repair of some of the stones to me are good. To add some blur and a bright mood for glamor is so cool. I just find some restoration of places keeping photo's real is the way to go!!

I am so novice to all of this but I for some reason believe in keeping things actual. Silly I guess
sometimes one may not be able to do so!!
Neb :rainbow:

neb,

cool. :)

Craig

I thought this would look good in Greyscale. I kept the Green channell and discarded the others. I then adjusted curves to add contrast.

Thanks Craig.
This is such a wonderful and precious picture , it speaks volums for the human soul. It is just a simple and beautiful expression of love, no one could have set this up as well as you captured the moment of such a touching scene!!

Sometimes we get into restoration we tend to not look into the actual beauty of the moment and picture!!

Neb :rainbow:

Thanks Craig.
This is such a wonderful and precious picture , it speaks volums for the human soul. It is just a simple and beautiful expression of love, no one could have set this up as well as you captured the moment of such a touching scene!!

Sometimes we get into restoration we tend to not look into the actual beauty of the moment and picture!!

Neb :rainbow:

:pleased: Thanks Neb.

How about something different?

I did a painting in corel painter9, beautiful picture, i also love the background, a harsh stone background with a tender beautiful moment, leads to a very memorable memory indeed i would have thought!

legacy,

nice edges and framing. i like that.

Craig

LOL so you hated the painting but you like the edging and framing LOL too funny, thanks!

i guess that wasnt very clear. the 'i like that' was referring to the overall. the 'edges and framing' was just an extra on top of the other.

Craig

Sometimes we get into restoration we tend to not look into the actual beauty of the moment and picture!!
:nod: :nod: Neb, you are so right! :nod: :nod:

Rô

Thats ok Craig i found it funny, :)

Thank you Ro. I am a firm believer in keeping photo's alive in the real of the time. As I learn to restore old pics better it is my heartfelt goal to keep them as origional as possible. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Love Neb :rainbow:

Very good work by everyone , especially the rationale that went with each improvement.

This question is for Kraellin and Legacy Art. Where did you get the great frames ???

Cinderella

Cinders - I made the frame myself, Duplicate layer of your picture, then get the poly lasso and do a smudged looking frame around your picture,. Click Select and then Invert the selected lasso, get the eraser and rub out the part we don't want, meaning the outer part of the picture. Once that as gone you just add another layer, put a backing of your choice i like adding a canvas with texture, then merge, once you done that you get the smudger and blend in your painting or photograph with the canvas background, there ya have it! as for the frame i just add stroke a colour of choice.

Hope this helps i am no good at giving tutorials.

cinderella,

my frame was a stock frame from paint shop pro 9, only i modified it a bit. i cut it down in size to better fit your pic.

Craig

Thought I would give it a try. I think this helps to narrow the focus of the photo.