Seriously Don't Know Where to Begin

[emmaphlema]

This is possibly the most difficult image I have had to adjust. I'm at a loss. The shadows are killing me. The colors are all over the place. Grey in kid's face. Ugh.

[Doug Nelson]

Re: Seriously Don't Know Where to Begin

Was Steve's advice in the show helpful?

[genf]

Re: Seriously Don't Know Where to Begin

A quick application of Dan Margulis' Picture Postcard Workflow yielded the following result.
A slight color correction (too much blue overall, but mainly in the shadows, too much red in the highlights), a strong Shadows-Highlights ("Bigger Hammer") to lighten the shadows, color boost while masking the skin tone, and some masked curves to balance the left and right parts of the background.

[chillin]

Re: Seriously Don't Know Where to Begin

Quick selective curves work.

[philbach]

Re: Seriously Don't Know Where to Begin

Well I just worked on the boy. I made a new layer and used apply image to bring the red channel of the background layer to the new layer. It appeared that the red channel was the best channel to use. Then using standard black and white brushes I corrected the luminosity part of the image. When I was done I turned the blend mode of that layer to luminosity which brings back the color. From there I worked on a new layer in color blending mode.

[rbodnarjones]

Re: Seriously Don't Know Where to Begin

Here's my go at it.
1. Targeted curves adjustment,
2. selective color adjustment and
3. Targeted dodge using another curves adjustment

[plugsnpixels]

Re: Seriously Don't Know Where to Begin

Nice work all!

I think what we need here is a photographer with a better eye for light and timing! ;-)

[Cupcake]

Re: Seriously Don't Know Where to Begin

My take on this picture.
Light painting on the faces.