Please Help

[mdaddyrabbit]

I took some photos at a wedding today, just because I had to be there more or less for fun. This is one of which I took that I cant seem to get the sharping done right. this is just the way I took it, I would appreciate any one that could process this photo and show me the steps so as I can get better. I am using Adobe Photoshop CS. I have a raw but it was too big to enclose, I will be glad to email it to you if you would have time to help me. Thanks in advance.

[mdaddyrabbit]

Sorry here is the photo.

[Goofup]

All I did was the following:

Whacked off the excess.
Levels- used input settings of 0, 1.80, 235.
Smart Sharpen (CS2)- 150%, .5 radius, More Accurate. (It's not bad as it is though).

Didn't touch anything else, though you could. A bit tighter crop would get rid of the black thing in on the ceiling in the upper left corner and the remains of the post on the right. I would've also cloned out that ceiling fixture right in front of his face and the people in the background so it focuses on the subjects. Your choice.

http://www.pbase.com/goofup/image/45310115.jpg

[Lotto]

How about this? After the usual bringing up the level and sharpening, blur the surrounding, make the main subjects stand out more:lol:

[Bob_A]

Here's my try (levels at 0, 1.6, 235 and a bit of USM)

[mdaddyrabbit]

Thanks for your help and settings, another problem I am having with these photos are I was in dim lighting so I raised the ISO up to 200 and 400 so now when I sharpen and print the out come looks grainny with my Epson 2200. Could some one offer a suggestion?

[Bob_A]

Thanks for your help and settings, another problem I am having with these photos are I was in dim lighting so I raised the ISO up to 200 and 400 so now when I sharpen and print the out come looks grainny with my Epson 2200. Could some one offer a suggestion?

Get a copy of Neat Image and you will have no problem getting rid of the noise. It's very easy to use. You can download it here:

http://www.neatimage.com/download.html

Download the demo, which is the free to use version for non-comercial purposes.

[Hellashot]

The second image is basically right on. It might need a little touch of saturation added, that's all.

[Chazs]

I took some photos at a wedding today, just because I had to be there more or less for fun. This is one of which I took that I cant seem to get the sharping done right. this is just the way I took it, I would appreciate any one that could process this photo and show me the steps so as I can get better. I am using Adobe Photoshop CS. I have a raw but it was too big to enclose, I will be glad to email it to you if you would have time to help me. Thanks in advance.

My attempt was to crop and darken the background. I also used three layers and applied curves to each, one for the flowers, one for the people and one for the background, and then erased pieces of each layer that I didn't want affected. Other than that, not much else.

[mdaddyrabbit]

could you break that down and show me the steps to do that ? Show me how to separate the layers too. Thanks

[Chazs]

could you break that down and show me the steps to do that ? Show me how to separate the layers too. Thanks

Sure.

Step 1 was to drag the photo layer down to the "create new layer" icon three times.

Step 2: click on a layer (the top layer) and select Image->Adjustment-> Curves. Here you just play around with the curves until you get something you like (ie, if your adjusting for the background, make it dark).

Step 3: Select the eraser tool and a decent size brush with about a 60% hardness, and erase everything you don't want darkend. Click the little eyeball on that layer (to turn it off) and select the next layer down.

Repeat these three steps on each layer tweeking different areas. The last thing to do is to make all the layers visible again and play with the opacity for each layer until you get something that looks natural. Also, don't adjust the very bottom layer. Keep it untouched in case you need to make an additional layer to tweek another area.

Good luck.
CHUCK

[mdaddyrabbit]

Thanks to all for the responses, I am printing all that was written for my notes. I really want to become better at editing photos. Chuck thanks for adding the steps for me. Nice to have sa little help when you are lost.

[Bob_A]

Sure.

Step 1 was to drag the photo layer down to the "create new layer" icon three times.

Step 2: click on a layer (the top layer) and select Image->Adjustment-> Curves. Here you just play around with the curves until you get something you like (ie, if your adjusting for the background, make it dark).

Step 3: Select the eraser tool and a decent size brush with about a 60% hardness, and erase everything you don't want darkend. Click the little eyeball on that layer (to turn it off) and select the next layer down.

Repeat these three steps on each layer tweeking different areas. The last thing to do is to make all the layers visible again and play with the opacity for each layer until you get something that looks natural. Also, don't adjust the very bottom layer. Keep it untouched in case you need to make an additional layer to tweek another area.

Good luck.
CHUCK

Thanks Chaz ... a nicely presented post.

[Chazs]

Thanks to all for the responses, I am printing all that was written for my notes. I really want to become better at editing photos. Chuck thanks for adding the steps for me. Nice to have sa little help when you are lost.

Glad to help out. There are certainly other methods and refinements (adjustment masks, history brush, extract tool, etc), but this simpler technique works fine 99% of the time. I'm still taking baby steps with photoshop myself. ;)