image enhance request - sad news

[Nacoya]

hi folks,

it's been a while. I've been busy setting up my own photography site and forums.
I need your help big time on something and it's important.

A friend of mine in the US has sent me an image of his seriously ill 81 yo mother. She has had a severe stroke only a day after this was taken. An opertune snap of an old lady who wouldn't sit to be photographed and potentialy the last he will ever take. It is not looking too good.

I basically need to get this the absolute best i can for him.

~ here ~ is the image as it stands

~ here ~ is my attempt so far, but it needs to be a lot better same old story though it may look passable to me on my monitor but utter crud on others. My crop is about right so if anyone can have a go for me with a similar crop i'd be much obliged. It doesn't need to be big. A balance between quality and size is as much as i can hope for.

huge thanks in advance

cheers.....

I can supply an email address to send any attempts to.

[Daviskw]

I think you have done an excellent job given the picture. Cropped and framed well, glare on glasses repaired nicely, noise reduction good too.

For me I would just lighten the picture a bit more. I did do something in my version that you may consider although it would be a major change. Older people often have that slack jaw look when having a picture taken, including me, or they are talking. It is not always the way they look so I took the liberty of using the liquefy command to change the look of the mouth. If you had another picture of her with a smile you could alter your picture to make a pleasant alternative.

One other thing.. unless he is having the picture matted you may give consideration to the crop ratio so it will fit standard frames.

You are a good friend for helping good luck

[Nacoya]

thanks for that

that's an idea i hadn't thought of. It does look better with that tweak.

cheers

[Littlecoo]

I too bumped up the levels a bit to brighten, liquify around her jaw...she looked like she was caught by surprise. I also added a warming filter to give a bit of glow as well I also duplicated the layer; on the top layer I extracted the forground (the lady and bed) softened the edges; subtle box blur the bottom layer to give a bit of depth and bring the forground out...just an idea I had.
Good karma to you for this lovely gesture for your friend.

[Nacoya]

hi,

now that i really like, well done

did you modify the larger image and resize to get under the posting limits..if so can you send me the larger one ?

[Littlecoo]

No, sorry... I used the cropped example you gave because I liked how you'd cropped it (and compressed it for posting). I can do the same with the larger one but all I did I explained in my post anyhow...but I am happy to do it and send if you wish.

[Nacoya]

ta,

i'm going to let him see it as is and see what he thinks.

i'll let you know..

cheers

[Nacoya]

hi,

just a follow up to let you know that my mate is thoroughly delighted with what you achieved littlecoo and has said that is more than he could have hoped for.

So job done and thank you very much,



cheers,

[Littlecoo]

You are most welcome

[philbach]

Another quick and effective way to lighten a dark image is to copy the layer and use screen blending mode.

Many digital cameras result in very dark photos if the shot is shot more than about six feet away. If your digital camera has slow sync flash mode the exposure will be longer (more chance of blur too) and usually better

[manta1900]

I think that's was that you saw!