Really would like tips for fixing a group shot

[TnShutterbug]

I took the group shot at my husbands reunion. I have never done such a large group and they didn't take directions well. Anyway the pic turned out really dark and grainy, is there any hope to save the pic? If I get the sizing for posting on here wrong, sorry! I am a bit tec challenged about some things!

http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/r...ent025copy.jpg

[TnShutterbug]

I forgot to mention that I left alot of space so when I am done editing I can add a frame with text- so that is why there is so much extra room.

[mistermonday]

Shutterbug, the image you posted is only 640 x 425 pixels which translates to only about 1.4 x 2 inches in size at good print quality resolution. If that is the highest amount of image data you have, I do not think you are likely to get a decent image after you edit it as the photo is pretty pixelated.
If you do have a larger resolution file, you can use any image editing software brighten the image and shift the skin tones toward yellow as they have too much magenta in them now.
Regards, Murray

[TnShutterbug]

Thanks Murray! I have my full size file ( took it with my D300), that one was resized when it uploaded. I just wasn't sure how large it could be to post on here. I appreciate the advice! I was just at a loss as what to do or where to start.

[mistermonday]

Shutterbug, if you have a D300 file. either jpg or NEF, then you should be able to get a super result. I think you can do almost all of the adjustments in Adobe Camera RAW if you have PS or PS Elements. After you bring it into PS you should check for color noise if the ISO was high. You probably wont have much to do after Camera RAW processing. There is some cleanup to do on the foreground (paper etc on the ground).
Regards, Murray

[Quantum3]

At that size I just can think about the dark areas. You can enlight those by using Image/adjustments/Shadows and Highlights. The gloss on the top of the roof and the thing at the right by using the clone stamp tool and the noie by using noiseware. Skin is quite reddish, so putting some yellow with a low desaturation will fix the problem.

[TommyO]

Shutterbug,
Well, I suppose you know by now that a good group shot is when you let someone else do it !! Seriously though, It seems you got a lot of things right, lighting, camera, tripod, lots of people that can stand up. The missing element...... somewhere high up to stand and take the shot, multiple times. I used to stand on the balcony and put the folks in the yard, course or whatever. This adds the 3rd dimension to the picture - depth, in which you can get all of their heads in the back to actually look good. That's all the folks want, an image they can put on the office wall and tell who is who. It's hard to do that when you shoot from dead front center.

Next, don't add space in the image. Get them tight. We actually want to see if Jim had a miller or a bud in his hand ! We can add all the fancy border stuff later in Photoshop.

And yes, there is a very small file limit here at RetouchPro. Use it for quick images or thumbnails. But, for serious work, upload it to another site and post the link here. We'll go get the big file, work on it, and show you some ideas using the little thumbnails we post here.

[Aleksman71]

You can upload your image here.Choose one from the list.
http://www.findimagehost.com/image-hosting-all.php

[TnShutterbug]

Thanks for all the help everyone! I am just so embarassed that the worse image I have taken for others would be at my husbands class reunion! I will try all the suggestions and try to repost it larger to see what you all think.

[TnShutterbug]

Here is what I did. I am not sure if it is any better or not. After looking at the pic so much over the last few days, it is all blurring together! Hope I have made some improvements. I took out the paper on the ground and made color and lighting adjustments. I still need to work on the glare on the roof. Any or all suggestions welcome. I uploaded in a larger size to photobucket, I hope that helps you all see it better. If not I will try the other sites mentioned. Thanks again for all your help!


http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/r...icreworked.jpg

[TnShutterbug]

Here is the copy with the frame and text. I wasn't able to fix the roof glare to my liking but let me know what you think.

http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/r...framedcopy.jpg

[mistermonday]

Hi Shutterbug,
The image looks pretty good. Not sure if you plan to print it. If you do, then the aspect ratio may be a challenge because of the standard sizes (4x6, 8x12, 12x18 1:1.5). Also your image is wide and not very tall. One thing you might want to consider is a crop and stretch. For example the roof adds no value and is distracting. Below is an example of a crop with aspect ratio 1:1.5. I then selected a rectangle of the concrete at the bottom (above the black border) and stretched it to fill over the bottom. You could now add your title / description text to the bottom area. You could also use one of the Text Arch options to bend the text so that it points inward to the people and helps draw the viewers eyes to the main subject. There are still a few black spots on the foreground concrete that need to be cloned out.
If you still have the original Nikon image and it is full resolution (4288 x 2872) you could upsize the final image to 12x18 and have it printed at Costco for $3.00.

Regards, Murray

[Cupcake]

I would crop the picture like this, then add the frame.

The whole picture should be the size you want to print it to.
5x7, 8x10 or etc.

The words would look better with one of the colors in the picture.
Maybe red.

[TnShutterbug]

The print has to be an 8x10 so that is what I made it in PS. I don't know if there is a difference when I uploaded it to photobucket in the file size. The colors I used are the school colors (black and orange) that just seemed to make more sense to me, I just thought that is how it is usually done, at least here in our area. I agree that the longer crop looks better. I may give that a try as well. Thanks for all your help, I really do appreciate it alot!