Family photo for xmas - help me improve it.

[trexxert]

This picture i took today in a small appartment with kind of bad lightning conditions - and a very standard kit objective. It was really hard to get the litte baby smiling, just a bit.
I did use an external flash, but still there is a tiny bounce-shadow on the wall... should not be to hard to fix, and it might go away just be converting it to b/w.
Anyways it is supposed to be a christmas present for my mother in law. The subjects wants it in black and white. I thought you guys could help me with a little touch of magic.
I havent any specific ideas, so feel free beside that it should be black and white, and it will be devoloped at size 13 x 18 cm @ 300 dpi - so it needs a little cropping. Otherwise feel free to help me out here!

The fullsize photo is available at: http://www.bottern.dk/IMG_5905.JPG

/trexxert

[Enkay]

No offence because a lot of people are doing it but... you're not even asking for people to help you learn how to improve your skills. You didn't even give it a shot yourself. You're just asking for people to do for free what they usualy charge for under the pretence of helping...

And then I wonder why people are almost offended when I want to charge them for my time. I'll gladly show you the methods I would use to enhance that picture for free, but if you actually want someone to do the work for you why don't you just pick a user who's work you like and prices accomodate you and buy the service?

Sorry for the rant but this forum should be about learning how to improve our skills with photoshop, not doing freebies.

[Wolfman]

I have to agree with your comment.

[superkoax]

easy way out for a freebie touch up is: copy to new layer...convert to black and white...open levels in adjustment layers and push up the white and mask out the humans! then the background will be white and everyone is happy merry touching!

[trexxert]

I am here to learn. Period. I have been working on my own version all night, link below. So if it wasnt to obvious in my first post, I would like to know the workflow.... & i am definitely NOT relying on that people would do the work for me.

http://www.bottern.dk/trine1.jpg

[superkoax]

trexx: I would just go for that one! Looks ok! People who is not into retouching doesn't see the details as people who like to retouch do!

[trexxert]

......but i would like somehelp with the dark circles below the females eyes. Greatly appreciated.

[trexxert]

superkoax -> u'r right about that!

[superkoax]

ok...copy the picture onto a new layer and use dodge tool set to a very light exposure around 3-5 % on midtone range and start to lighten the areas...don't take away everything and make it look natural, that means don't overdo it

[superkoax]

something like this? 5min with dodge!

[trexxert]

yeah that looks great, will try it myself tomorrow, heading for bed now. cheers.

[Enkay]

To remove dark circles under the eyes I would suggest 2 methods.

1. Make a "soft light" layer, and use the brush tool with a light color to paint over the circles. This is pretty much the same as using the dodge tool but it gives you greater control... especially in case you mess up.

2. Make a new layer and use the healing tool ("use all layers" checked) to cover up the circles by using the good skin right below said circles.

[superkoax]

heading for bed? you have the whole night in front of you!!! It's only 12.13 am !!!! Come one!!!

[Wolfman]

Here's your last version with under eye fix using Enkay's advice.

[grannysdc]

Dang I go away for an hour to work on the pic and there are already 14 posts.. I must be Old and Slow


Did what Enkay said, Version 1, except filled the new layer with 50% gray so if I messed up I could use gray to correct the Black(to darken) or white(to lighten) paint strokes.. and blew it way up(enlarged) to enable painting just where I wanted.. Lots of strokes at a low percent and small soft brush
Brought the shadows out with a masked screen layer
Did a Little healing
Some selective history brush use on some highlights and shadows using the screen and multiply modes set at a low percentage and building up
Levels/curves/sharpened

Larger B/W version.. (click here) ... Larger Color version (click here)

~Original~GrannyBW~GrannyColor~

[shaybshay]

Crop, Remove Color, Convert to Black and White, selective sharpening, selective bluring, quick selection tool for dad's shirt and darken, dodging and burning. Spot healing, eyeball adjustments on everyone, other little minor adjustments here and there. Some added texture for printing may look a little strange at 100% at 1600x2200. I wouldnt print this larger than 5x7 which is what you wanted anyway. I don't know how to get you the large file if you want it, it's 2mb.

About the added texture; if you look closely at the below photo you can see it on their skin. It looks rather garish, especiall at large file size. I noticed when printing If I don't have a little extra of this, especially for smaller prints, the skin looks too smooth and unnatural. Like I said though I wouldnt print this larger than 5x7 and you may want to even back it off a bit. The larger the file the less texture is needed. It's sort of hit or miss and needs a lot of tweeking depending on the print size.

Also I would add that minor adjustments like the texture could mean alot to pros but most normal non photo folk wont really notice things like this. They usually notice the bigger thngs.

About dad's shirt. I found this to be the biggest distraction in the photo. Those thin little stripes can have a crazy effect. Darkening it seemed to help a bit but I would probably find a way to get rid of those stripes all together. I also find that by darkening the shirt it gives the whole photo more contrast.

[hexi]

this is my version

lg manuela

[trexxert]

thank you all for ur contributions, i will comment later on, but rt now i will have to head back for my family who all got some kind of stomach-flu, incl. myself. !! :-(

[superkoax]

trex: Yummy in your tummy, eh? Get well soon! Just remember apple cider vinager mixed out with water can be effective when going trough stomach flue! a tablespoon of thy vinager mixed out with water each day! and slice of bread with nothing on...

[shootphoto]

heres a go at it without the slobber ;-)