Emily with sunglasses

She is indeed wearing sunglasses. However, they're crooked.

This appears to be a crop from a larger image. Yes?

Yes they're crooked. This was a capture of real action. It wasn't posed. Yes it was cropped from a larger image but the noise you're seeing is from where I over processed the image trying to get the color from her hair to show up better. The light wasn't good so the color wasn't good. I know it's noisy but for an image that would be printed out in a 5 x 8 form and hung on a wall where people wouldn't be looking close it would work for me. Stand back from your computer and you'll get the idea. The image wasn't that much bigger but of course it was reduced to work on this web page. Still there is noise and it's from trying to crank up the color. I like it this way. Some may not. The thing is trying to get red hair like hers requires bright light which causes her skin to be blown out. It's tricky. But I think this works for an image that won't have people standing right on top of it looking. If I hung it on a wall in a smaller size and away from where people could get a close look I think it works well.

Test

Hello, Jeff.

You might consider just processing the hair to fit your intent.

Creating a mask to just adjust only her hair would be very difficult. Trust me I use masks often to work on photos but this one isn't a good candidate for it plus her skin was pretty dark in the original. Combining that with brighter hair just wouldn't look right IMO.

OK since people don't seem to like the way this turned out I thought I would try again. For one thing I've been working with HDR for a short time and it shows in these images. I think this one is cleaner than the first but it still has issues. I do think HDR is a direction to go. I've had really good luck with it on other images. Skin is clearly another thing. Anyway here's my new try at it and the original I started with.

I fixed her glasses and added some levels adjustment.

LOL nice job fixing the glasses but it still has an artificial look to it. No big deal. I just thought it was a good photo of her but needed some tweaking. It's not easy to create light where there was none. BTW I tried adjusting the levels in the first attempt but the more I mucked with it the more noise showed up. I tried to limit the adjustments on the second go.

d750guy wrote in post #18040729
I fixed her glasses and added some levels adjustment.

Hosted photo: posted by d750guy in
./showthread.php?p=180​40729&i=i30243679
forum: People

What did you do to her mouth though? You're making her look like the Joker!

flowrider wrote in post #18040830
What did you do to her mouth though? You're making her look like the Joker!

I was wondering the same thing. Looks kind of weird.

A lovely girl; however, it looks like a smartphone snapshot.

Did you look at the original? It isn't a smartphone photo. I shot it with my Canon DSLR. The light just wasn't there for a good quality photo. I could have set the exposure I suppose but I was just shooting family members at a reunion when I shot this. It isn't a posed shot. She's sitting under an arbor so she's sitting in a shadow with a sunlit background. The camera adapted for the background and the result was a photo without enough light. I've been experimenting with HDR for one thing and that has created a good deal of the noise. I had much better luck with landscapes in HDR. Still it did add light that even Lightroom couldn't do. I tried that first.

It is what it is - an under exposed image with an attempt to bring out the natural color of my daughter's hair. It added a lot of noise especially to her skin.

The photo would still work well as a 5X8 hung on a wall where people wouldn't be standing too close. The noise isn't noticeable from a short distance away but the hair color is. So I like it. Photography isn't always about the perfectly shot image. It's about capturing a moment too. And sometimes that means just doing the best you can.

Jeff_56 wrote in post #18041212
The light just wasn't there for a good quality photo.

Them's quiting words! Find it or make it! You can do it

LOL yeah I can but I wasn't shooting for the sake of a great photo. It was a family thing. Trust me I know how to work the light kit I have. But if you want to work on the original and show me how it can be done in post feel free. Again I worked on it with Lightroom but there's only so far you can go with that before you get the same problem of noise.