Over Exposed...

[lissie]

I have a huge request. Has anyone got any ideas on if or how I can fix this photo... I shot a family portrait on Saturday and one of my photos was badly overexposed.. I would love to save face by fixing it rather then doing a reshoot but I have a bad feeling after reading other over exposed threads this might not be possible.. If anyone can help I would be forever in your dept.

[Kraellin]

hi lissie, and welcome to retouchpro.

umm, might want to post that image

Craig

[lissie]

Opps Forgot the Picture

[lissie]

Now I stand out as a newbie Hey Sorry Craig So is there any hope for me or not?

[Kraellin]

hi lissie,

dont worry about it. i've been a newbie all my life

i did a little work on your pic. a bigger size would be better if you've got one. but i wanted to show you that all is not lost. this could be better yet. still quite light in several places.

Craig

[Cassidy]

Duplicated image and set blending mode to multiply and then merged the layers before adjusting saturation and brightness

[lissie]

Thankyou so much craig Can I email you the full size one? I just want to show my boss tomorrow he doesnt have to sack me.. I would also LOVE to know how you did this....

[lissie]

Ill be back in a few hours Iam being forced to go to the movies to watch wallace and gromit

[lissie]

Ok Play time is over Iam back.

[Kraellin]

hi lissie,

what i did i credit mostly to Flora, one of the moderators here. i made a new raster layer and airbrushed in skin tone colors where the white was on the various skins of the people. i used a few different colors depending on where and what i was airbrushing.

i also used the lighten/darken tool to darken some of the clothing and skin.

i cheated a bit on the woman's blouse and speculated a light blue-ish color and airbrushed that in also and smudged it around a bit. same on the baby's clothing and the boy's, though, not much on the boy's.

i also added a curves adjustment layer to try to bring the brightness down and a small application of the contrast/lighten adjustment layer.

all in all, it's still pretty bright and could stand a bit more work.

the reason we like larger sizes was very evident in this pic. as you zoom in to work on various areas, the pixels are quite jagged. one pixel holds more data than we like it to hold and it makes it harder to adjust things.

also, i'd recommend cropping this picture if the family is the part you're really interested in.

Craig

[lissie]

I have to have room incase I have to make a 8x10 out of it I agree with the cropping close on a family portrait but I like to leave more room then not enough once bitten twice shy