my dog

[jhoo]

hello, i took this great picture of my dog but i was a little too close and it was dark in my room so i used the flash, causing the fur on her chest to be too bright and showing no detail
i was wondering if anyone could touch this photo up and make the hair on her chest more defined and maybe even get some detail on her nose if its possible
also could somebody tell me how to get rid of noise? no matter how hard i try whenever i take a picture indoors i always get a lot of noise and the pictures look terrible

im posting the original and the edited version i tried (but it made her fur look yellow and dirty) i will post a link to the full size picture (2160x1440) so you can have a decent copy to work with

full size original
http://home.wi.rr.com/squirreltopia/.../pennyorig.jpg

the first is the original, only smaller, and the second is my edit

[Leah]

To answer your final question first (I'll take a look at the images when I get home) - if you go to the Help Requested forum you will see a post at the top headed "Important: Attaching Files or Images to Threads or Posts". That should tell you what you need to know.

[jhoo]

ah ok, i got it now
i didnt even see that thread up at the top (but i wasnt really looking)
thanks

[jhoo]

so nobody is going to take a shot at this? it seems pretty easy to do, i just cant get the color right

[Leah]

I did take a look at this, but I can't do much better than you did. The trouble is that most of the detail in the partly-blown-out areas is in the blue channel, but that channel's also quite artifacty so it's difficult to use it to bring out the detail.

[Duv]

Concerning your Noise problem, you might try downloading the demo version of Neat Image. Attached is what I ended up with. As with Leah, I found the whites too blown out. Actually, if you change to LAB mode and run your mid levels slider all the way to the right on the Luminosity channel there is detail available but I have no idea how to reasonably extract and use such a radical levels selection. Your next close up pic of your dog, maybe try a diffuser or bounce light.

Cheers
Dave

[bigkidjr]

i couldn't do any better with your picture either, but since it was just too adorable to pass up, i made a painting of it for you, instead.

enjoy -- bk

p.s. sorry if this is the wrong forum for this, but the picture was just too good to let it go...

[T Paul]

I’m not sure what kind of camera you used or what speed of film, but noise is a fact of life in digital cameras. Here are a few ways to reduce the amount of noise in your digital images?

1. Avoid slow or long exposures as they introduce noise.

2. Avoid using high ISOs. Typically try to use the lowest possible film speed for your situation (e.g. ISO 100).

3. Purchase a noise reduction software. You'll find that a good noise reduction software usually does a pretty good job of 'cleaning' up the noise to an acceptable level in most of your noisy images.

If you must use a high ISOs (e.g. to capture fast action in low-light situations you will probably have some noise in your shot, but you will have the shot and that’s what really matters.

Here is what I did to the image:
1. Duplicated image
2. Used PhotoShop CS' shadow/highlight adjustment to bring back some lost detail Image>Adjustments>Shadow/Highlight
3. Used a combination of the lasso tool, healing brush and clone tool to remove the shadow of the photographer from the blanket
4. Ran the image through Neat Image to reduce the noise.

~T

P.S.
Next time try bouncing the flash off the ceiling if that's a possibility. If you are using a built-in flash, tape a couple of layers of tissue over the flash lens to soften the light. A small piece of frosted plastic is even better, if you can find one.

P.P.S
PhotoShop CS' Shadow Highlight Adjustment is a fantastic way to darken your highlights and lighten your shadows. However, if you do not have PhotoShop CS, this can be also be accomplsihed with careful selections and curve adjustments.

[Duv]

Similar to T Paul, I used Highlites/Shadows and also borrowed some lower snout white and shadow detail and attached to blown out white on upper side.

cheers
Dave

[jhoo]

i used a digital camera
a kodak DC4800 to be exact
im not sure but i think i used an ISO of 400 because my room is so poorly lit, thats why its so full of noise
but i may be wrong and had it set to auto, so the ISO could have been anything up to 400 which is the max the camera can do

[T Paul]

One of the cons of the Kodak DC4800 is that it produces noisy images with visible (sharpening / CFA) artifacts and moiré on fine detail.

Kodak DC4800 is prone to Red Channel Noise, Purple Fringing (Chromatic Aberrations) and the presence of unnatural jaggies on diagonal lines and visible moiré patterns on repeat detail.
~DPReview.com

[Mark Adams]

Okay, my first effort here. Please be kind.

Used the Gimp to:

Blur and unsharp mask the noise on the wall in the background.

Cloned the blanket to cover the shdow in the foregrond.

Painted out some of the blue cast in Penny's right eye, patched highlight.

Built a contrast mask to bring some detail back to the white patch on chest and tongue.

Touched up highlights on nose to help appearance of focus and moisture.

Painted in some details that would be where the whiskers disrupt the coat as they emerge from it.

Not much you can do about that blown out area on her snout, other than "create" something.

Mark

[T Paul]

Very nicely done Mark!

~T

[jhoo]

Originally Posted by T Paul

One of the cons of the Kodak DC4800 is that it produces noisy images with visible (sharpening / CFA) artifacts and moiré on fine detail.

yeah, i know the camera is far from perfect, but i cant complain, i got it for free from my friend because he thought it was broken
but i opened it up and found there was a loose screw hanging out inside that was shorting out something, causing it to turn off randomly

[T Paul]

Hey you can't beat free! My first digital camera was the Kodak DC4800. I got it to do web photos, and at that resolution it did a great job.