Perfect timing for Constructive Feedback Friday. This is a picture I took on Christmas eve this past year. Getting the lighting and everything just right was not going to happen as one of these kids was not about to sit for more than 2 seconds and had a meltdown shortly after this was taken. Therefore, I got one shot. My mother in law has asked for a copy of this picture since then (this is all her grankids) and I just haven't been able to edit it so that it looks right.
Specs are:
Sony DSC-H7
Flash - used
focal length- 14.1mm
Exposure - .125s (1/8)
Aperture - f/3.2
ISO - 125
Fixed Red eye - made all the eyes look black. They are actually blue - light blue even.
Removing some of the color:
With a touch of sepia and a bunch of other things I can't remember doing (this is my favorite edit, though).
All editing was done using photoshop elements 5.0
It is my goal to have a copy of this for her for mothers day (or else beg mother nature and a certain five year old to cooperate so I can take a better one today). What would you do to fix this photo?
4 comments:
I like your favorite edit best too :-) I dont really know what else to tell you about editing etc - I'm not an expert that's for sure!! :-)
Your favorite edit is my favorite, too, but I definitely think you need to fix the eyes.
Take another picture you have of the same people and copy (cut and paste) their eyes into it. (I've done this many times before, so I can't imagine it's not something you're capable of, too.) LOL I definitely think the background looks the best in this edit, too.
P.S. If my DIL made me a picture like this one, I would be THRILLED!
You have beautiful children! And you beautifully captured them.
The bummer is, you've got some stuff working against you - an indoor shot in the winter (which plays havoc with your white balance and "noise" level) and flash.
My gut is to just convert it to b/w, which automatically takes care of the color problem and the red eyes. I just did a quick conversion & crop in Lightroom. Email me if you'd like me to send it to you. :-)
Oh, and if you can get your 5yo to cooperate, I would totally try to take another one ... OUTSIDE!
This is a tough picture with this many children. I agree with skeller about the white balance and noise.
However, you might want to try a white balance lens cap: http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/white-balance-lens-cap it truly works like a dream. Now as far as the noise, you could also look at a plugin, Noise Ninja.
I do think running your picture through filter-sharpen-unsharp mask with settings: 150, 1, 10. Then click on image-mode-lab color. I then click on the channels on the by the layers, highlight lightness, click unsharp mask again, then image-mode-rgb color. I think elements can do that as well.
I would look at doing the same on this as I do on most, run a burnt edges or light edge detail action when you are about complete with editing.
You have very sweet children and you captured some great expressions.
Happy Mother's Day.
B Dad
Post a Comment