help with shadow

[mimiya]

I posted this in another area...but it probably needs to be in this forum instead.

Can someone help me with this photo? I obviously have a problem with my flash. I didn't use a bracket or diffuser-stupid-anyways, is there a way to salvage this?

[sjm]

not a guru here, but this is my fix. I selected the dark area with about a 45 pixel feather then applied curves. I did the same with bride, but darkened it a bit.

[T Paul]

Here are a couple of links that may help you out...

Correcting Areas of Under or Over Exposure

Correcting Exposure and Color

How to Quickly Correct a Washed Out Photo in Photoshop

FIXING WASHED-OUT IMAGES

Painting with light!

Using Adjustment Layers to Alter a Photo

[sdubose99]

My try with three adjustment layers in various blend modes -- multiply to darken her, screen mode to lighten him... I can send you the .psd file if you like -- it's a 4MB file size.

Scott

[T Paul]

Here is a quick attempt.

1. Lasso and duplicate bride. Set mode to multiply and adjust as needed.
2. Lasso and duplicate groom. Set mode to screen and adjust as needed.
3. Flatten image and did a slight colors adjustment to remove a slight color cast.
4. Adjust/color range/shadows. Made a curves adjustment layer and softened the shadows to bring out more detail.

For finer detail and color adjustment you will need to create a few more layers to bring out more detail and reduce the shadows.

[mimiya]

here's my first attempt

O.K., you guys are amazing!! I've only had time to try one suggestion so far. Here is my before and after. I Selected each area (dark, light) separately feathered the pixels at 30, made copies via background, then worked with the curves on each and this is my result. I'm pretty happy with it although I am going to try all the methods suggested. What do you think?

[Blacknight]

I thought that a gradient overlay on a layer copy would work (from black to white, left to right, mode on gradient window set to overlay). That and Curves gave me this in about 5 minutes. I'm sure there are other ways as well, but this is fairly quick and easy.

[sdubose99]

my second try

I thought about this some more and:

- adjusted her skin tones
- blurred the background
- lightened the dark area in the middle so you can now see the outline of her hair

Scott

[KenB]

Here's my try, First I duplicated the background layer and applied a brightness/contrast layer, adjusted the sliders until the groom came out of the shadows to my liking, then I used a gradiant on a layer mask to return the bride to normal. Next to give the bride more normal looking skin tones I used NIK Pen Palette and painted her face with the warm filter and applied a splash of color on her cheek. I did also blur the background a little.


Ken

[mimiya]

ok, so how do I adjust/warm the skin tone on the bride??

[KenB]

Originally posted by mimiya
ok, so how do I adjust/warm the skin tone on the bride??

I used NIK Pen Palette to warm her skin tones without that this is probably what I would do.

Duplicate the background layer and add a selective color adjustment layer, with a layer mask.
In the selective color dialog box, choose reds and adjust the sliders, looking at only the bride, don't worry about changing other areas as you can get rid of unwanted effects using the layer mask. Looks to me like most likely you'll want to increase the yellows quite a bit. Any areas that you want to return to their previous state, just click on the layer mask and paint with either black or white to remove or add back the effect.


Ken

[roger_ele]

Everyone has done a great job, but my taste isn't to view the shadow as a problem, but to darken the other side to balance and give the impression that it was an affect done on purpose, I think he looks wonderful, here are my steps

-duplicate layer in multiply mode, mask out areas i wanted lighter
-duplicate multiplied layer
-flattened
-cloned skin on her face in color mode from better skin portion
-used blur tool in color mode on her face until color smoother
-Color adjustment layer to finish her skin, masked to just her skin

That's it - very pretty - they will love it

Roger

[KenB]

Great idea roger_ele, wish Id'a thought of that.


Ken

[mimiya]

oohhhhh....I like this too, Roger. I'll have to try this also, I think they'd like the result alot!

[sdubose99]

Good idea Roger, here's my interpretation...

Scott