Harsh Sun... Need Help

I had to take this picture for my mom the other day in 1 oclock sun. This was the only place that worked. I knew going in I would have harsh shadows on their faces. Unfortunately this was the only time these four kids will be together for quite a few more years.

Any help cleaning this up would be greatly appreciated.

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I despise shooting in the sun, but when I have to, I have the sun facing the child's back, that way the sun is pointing towards you .

Hope this helps.

Man, I hate that this was the best spot you could find, especially since you can't re-shoot this. The Shadows and Highlights tool in DPP or PS is all I can think of to save it.

I despise shooting in the sun also. I would have got the shadows no matter which way they were facing.

Yeah, I did S&H's to an extent and only got so far. I hoping someone with a little more photoshop experience can clean this up a little better then me.

I don't know too much . But would love to experiment, if you would like, email the file to me
aprilarchambeau@comcas​t.net

A little flash with high sync would have helped you here.

images by Paul wrote in post #10484097
A little flash with high sync would have helped you here.

That's what I do, but you rarely need high speed sync. This shot was done at 1/200, so even the pop up would have been helpful.

At this point, there is not much that can be done as you have dark shadows and blown highlights. If you take it into photoshop and use the highlights/shadow tool to brighten the shadows, you can at least get some shadow detail back, but it won't look anywhere near a nice shady portrait.

It's not so much the bright sun, it's the shadows and the squinting facial expressions that ruin this type of a shot. Those are things that you can't fix in post, unfortunately.

8-(

My quick attempt using a few masked curves adjustments...

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If you have the RAW file, up the fill light, lower the exposure or brightness and up the blacks a little to bring back the contrast.

That's probably what I would do, but might not be the correct way

I wonder if this is any help at all?

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CliffordPhotography wrote in post #10483177
I despise shooting in the sun also. I would have got the shadows no matter which way they were facing.

Yeah, I did S&H's to an extent and only got so far. I hoping someone with a little more photoshop experience can clean this up a little better then me.

Can't help you on the photo at hand any better than what has been suggested but, for next time, use your flash to fill the shadows. If still too bright at your lowest ISO, use high-speed sync to darken the background and get the shot. And, of course, shoot in RAW.

Did you take more than one shot of this group? Maybe another is better.

Get them in the shade and use fill flash next time.
You can do a lot with shadows and highlights and pixel level editing but it will take a very long time to do it well.

Todd Lambert wrote in post #10484145
It's not so much the bright sun, it's the shadows and the squinting facial expressions that ruin this type of a shot. Those are things that you can't fix in post, unfortunately.

8-(

I agree 100%

Here is my try... could have done a bit more with more time... To remove some of the shadows or marks on the faces, I selected them individually and used replace color to adjust.

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