Help with mixed lighting - DPChallenge Forums

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

06/01/2006 05:17:58 PM · #1

I took this shot at a wedding using available light, which as you can see was mixed. Does anybody have a suggestion as to how to clean this up?
Thanks,
Mark

//www.kuehlphoto.com/chris.jpg

Message edited by frisca - changed large image to link.

DanSig

06/01/2006 05:23:15 PM · #2

with only 3 mousclicks I got this...
//www.dansig.net/wedfix.jpg

open curves, select the white droplet and click on the whitest part of his tie, select the black droplet and click the darkest part of the suit, and then some sharpen.

Message edited by karmat - large image to link.

hankk

Canon EOS-5D

06/01/2006 05:43:34 PM · #3

Looks like its a bit green, and too warm.

Use the WB tool, and click on the guys shirt, tie or the womans dress. Find a white that makes the skin look good. (Teeth and eyes are not always white).

If that doesn't work, bring the green channel down, and set the color temperature a bit cooler.

06/01/2006 06:12:56 PM · #4

(changing mine to a thumbnail so I don't get yelled at...)

After adjusting white balance, I adjusted the levels of the people and background separately, global contrast & brightness adjustments, applied a soft filter and erased back the details of the couple, a little smart sharpen, in selective color brought the whites globally brighter, light desaturation of the eyes and teeth, some smoothing of the skin and finally bumped overall saturation and eased back a bit on the skin tones red values.

Message edited by author 2006-06-01 21:10:10.

06/01/2006 07:48:42 PM · #5

Thanks folks! Brad - how did you "smooth the skin"?

06/01/2006 07:55:25 PM · #6

Hi Mark,
I created a new layer via copy and applied a light gaussian blur over the whole image, faded it back to desired effect, then used a soft-edged eraser tool over the areas I didn't want smoothed out, such as details, jewelry, flowers, clothing, facial features, hair, etc. Flattened image and then zoomed in close for a bit of very light cloning with a soft-edged brush to even out some of the skin tones. Then used a soft-edged brush in the blur tool at about 10% opacity and manually smoothed out the skin.

06/01/2006 08:10:11 PM · #7

Great! One last thing...How do you get rid of the sweat reflections on their faces?

06/01/2006 08:16:46 PM · #8

That was done by zooming in close for a bit of very light cloning, approx. 10-15% opacity, with a soft-edged brush. Take a little here and put a little there, but very slowly.

Message edited by author 2006-06-01 20:17:12.

06/01/2006 09:45:52 PM · #9

Okay, I lied. I have a couple more questions, since yours look so good, but I can't quite match it in Photoshop...Why did you do both sharpen and blur? What does "ease back the skin tone red values mean"? Thanks again!
Mark

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

06/01/2006 10:05:05 PM · #10

Maybe selective sharpening would have been a better way to describe the overall effect. I most often with make a new layer via copy, make a change a bit in excess, then go to edit, and fade the last effect/filter until I like the results. In the case of say the sharpening, I wanted a touch sharper definition in the face and some detail areas, but not in the background, so I did my typical smart sharpen of 100/1.1, then faded back a bit, then used the eraser to remove the sharpening in the background, keeping the soft focus look it had, thus helping the depth of field some too. This could have also been done selectively by using the sharpen tool and manually sharpening areas, but at times is harder to control.
In the case of the saturation tweaks, after getting the skin tones where I liked them, I felt the shot overall could use a little bump in the saturation levels. Again, new layer via copy, bumped the saturation master levels, then used the eraser tool again to remove the increased saturation of her skin.

oOWonderBreadOo

Canon EOS-5D

06/01/2006 10:42:47 PM · #11

Brad- has anyone told you lately that you are awesome??? :0)