I have two photos that are un-usable and someone wants me to make them usable. One is shot no-flash during a wedding ceremony with the backs to the photographer. Faces are in a deep shadow....

The second is the couple coming down the aisle. The flash didn't fire on this frame and it is - of course - the one the bride wants.

Both are EXTREMELY DARK!!! I planned on sending attachments but for some reason, it won't let me. :-(

I work in CS and have messed with curves, levels, saturation -- you name it. Have finished with Noise Ninja then a slight unsharp mask. The client (aarrgghhh) wants any graininess to be removed but doesn't like the "painting" look that results in removing massive amounts of noise. I've tried to explain why its virtually impossible but she insists it can be done. After all, computers can fix everything, right?

Any suggestions on handling these photos - and this client - would be greatly appreciated.



I've been able to add some thumbnails this morning.

Try again with the attachements, it could be the size that is wrong... I tihnk there is a 100k limit on filesize.
Have you tried the shadow/highlight option in cs? Without seeing the image it is hard to advise

Nell,

Using curves you can bring it out of the darkness, but you are going to have a major noise battle on your hands. If all else fails, look at the channels and use the best channel and replace the other 2 (ie on the first photo, it looks like the Green channel will be best.) I have no idea what you would do after that since I have never had much luck with replacing channels, BUT I know it can be done. Or you can use that channel and turn it into a black and white/sepia tone.

~Amber~

A level adjustment layer is actually quite effective on these - but as Amber says noise is a problem - particularly with the unity candle. Larger version to work with could help though.

i gave it a shot. i used curves adjustment layer, fast fix plugin, hue/sat/light adjustment layer i had a luminance blend on the curves layer. made another layer of the background and used the hue/sat on it to make it somewhat stark and used a blend of burn on it.

flattened all.

ran stroker's new lum frequencies on the whole to sharpen a bit.

you might also run neat image on this for noise reduction, but it wasnt as bad as i thought it might be when you lighten up a very dark image.

there's more that could be done to this, but that's a start.

Craig

Aye, shadow/highlights will do the trick-- I had a very minor problem with grain, but nothing serious, however the JPEG artifacts dominate the scene, which I tried to get rid of by smoothing a little in the unity picture-- but then you get the "painted" look.

I don't think that should be a problem with full resolution pictures.

Hi all I did for one of your pictures was to rotate the image. Next I copied the layer to another layer using screen blending mode. I kept copying layers using the screen blending mode until the exposure looked ok. I did not use levels or adjustments/shadow highlights. Just another way.

I used ImajeJ. On both the photos I applied gamma correction. Then 'Enhance contrast'. For Aisle.jpg I used multiply filter too.

--
Krishna

Query to all of you.... how on earth have you managed such clarity of detail on those small thumbnails when I can only get blocks even with re-sampling first?

Cass,

Click on the photo to open the larger version of it. The little one is only a thumbnail.

Kirk

Thanks kirk, but I do not get the enlargement icon on either pic

I really like the one with the multiple copys using the screen blending mode.

I just tried that on a photo of mine that is backlit and dark. One new layer fixed what I have been working on fixing with three different adjustment layer.

The more I learn about Photoshop, the more I know that I know nothing.

Kirk

yep the copy and screen is a gem

The more I learn about Photoshop, the more I know that I know nothing.


There's an old saying which goes:

I'll learn more and more about less and less until there'll be a day where I know everything about nothing.

That's been my experience with Photoshop through the years. ;)

Used Highlights/Shadows. The candle image took a second hit. Brought both into LAB to apply color enhancement curves and to blur the color channels to eliminate color noise. Used Surface Blur on the lightness channel but the block noise isn't going to go away. Fortunately at actual size it pretty much blends on its own.

Brought them back into RGB and used add'l curves to the Candle image to add to the warm candle-lit effect.