Shadows on Faces

[Natalie]

Hello.
I am new to Retouch Pro and look forward to being a member!
I've been working on this picture for a little while and have not been able to come up with a satisfactory solution. As you can see, some of the faces have some odd shadows covering them. Some have a little bit of information and some don't. I'm a bit stumped as to where I should go with this.
If this is necessary information--I am working with Photoshop CS on a mac.
Thank you and I look forward to anyone's help!!
Natalie

[Noelf]

Unfortunately your picture is extremely small. Can you post a larger copy of it?

- Noel

[Natalie]

Hi, Noelf! Thank you for looking at this so quickly!! I tried attaching a larger file but the the attachment manager told me I had to keep it around 100kb (this file is 140kb). Is there a way around this?
Thanks!
Natalie

[Flora]

Hi Natalie,

Welcome to RP!

Noel is right, the size of the picture you posted makes working on it really impossible ....

As a thumb rule, the biggest size you can get, still remaining in the 100KB limit, is 800x600 pixels (72 pixels/inch) at about 60% quality setting ...

Hope this helps...

[Natalie]

Thank you, Flora & Janet.
I will make it bigger and send it along shortly!!
Natalie

[Ed_L]

If all else fails, crop to only include the areas you're concerned about. Welcome to RP.

Ed

[Natalie]

Hello, everyone.
Thank you for your advice! Sorry I didn't post this earlier--I'm having a problem with Macromedia Flash today (aghhhh).
Anyway, here is the larger file.

[Natalie]

Well, I've come to the conclusion that I just have to swap heads from other images. Does anyone have any advice for this task? So, far, one issue I've come across is matching the grain in the images.

[Noelf]

I can honestly say that this one has me stumped Other than copying faces from another shot, I can't seem to work anything out here.

- Noel

[gamo]

hi...

argh.. i dont think anything can be dont here. The womans face to the right, can be done with some curves and a bit of retouch, but general i think replace is the best to do aswell.

[Natalie]

I agree--there's not much to work with. Oh well, it was a valiant effort Thank you, everyone!
Natalie

[Flora]

Hi everybody,

....This is surely one of the strangest thing I've seen on pictures....

I've tried many angles but nothing really worked

This is the best I came up with .... and it's an absolute disaster .... Sorry ...

If you have a picture with a clear shot of the faces of the 'shadow' people we could try to help you 'swapping' heads ....

[photoshoplover]

Thanks due to cspringer for this excellent tip- does amazing job of specifically bringing out details from shadow on face.

Add new layer to background-fill it with black- blend mode to color dodge-make foreground color white-pick a brush with 10-15% opacity and paint out the shadows.

alternate method: shift-control-N- select softlight mode and check the box at the bottom - set opacity around 50% and paint.

I hope this will definitely enhance the pictures.

[Natalie]

thank you! i ended up using a variety of methods, but i will definitely keep this in the log for next time!!
natalie