Curvemeister Forum

This additional exercise is a bit different...

I want you all to work on this image but rather than posting the finished image...
I want you to write down your work flow and  post that back to the board. 

I'd like an analysis of the image, a proposed solution and work flow that gives me a way to correct the image.

have at it...
Greg

Great idea Greg,

I think I'll do it in 3 parts - analysis, hoped for solution and actual implementation

Outstanding to me: image is underexposed. I use  PS CS3 and can open a .jpg file in camera Raw.
Step 1 Editing in camera Raw:(i) Pushed exposure slider to +2.20 (ii) Fill light slider to 40 (iii) Boosted the mid tone contrast by clarity slider to +30
Step 2 Editing in PS -> CM in Lab mode: (i) Set the shadow, highlight and neutral (ii) check skin tones... which is OK here (iii) saturation slider to 1.30 to boost the colour
Step 3 sharpening and save image

Analysis

It would appear to be a dull overcast day with no shadows.

There is obviously a black point somewhere, no real hilight and the tones are all in the bottom of the range.  A quick look at the histogram, using Levels, confirms this - so obviously some lightening is required to use the full tonal range!

White balance looks okay-ish.

There looks to be an annoying blue/white spot, in the water, than must be removed.

I believe the camera has focused on the rocks rather than the boys.

The focal point of the picture is the boys and the background is not particularly interesting and can be subdued relative to them.

Regarding composition - the top boy's eyes look to be almost on a 3rd, but I do not find the placement of the boys particulary attractive and would prefer them more to the right of the image.

Does the image tell a story?  A couple of brothers (?) down at the edge of a mountain river (on holiday?).  Really just a family snapshot.

Proposed solution

For a snapshot, I'd adjust the master rgb channel to set the hilight to a reasonable value and that would be that, as the colours could automatically improve.

However I shall assume that this is more than a snapshot and worthy of some time being spent on it.

Curve to lighten image in LAB and add some colour back, check face colour is okay.  Do not expect to find a hilight or neutral - use the face instead.
 
Check focus, especially the faces

Proabaly go back in RGB for more control over tones.

clone out the blue/white spot.

Distort the image to move the boys to the right by expanding the left and contracting the right.

Maybe blur the background a touch.

With pictures this dark,the duck,merry go round,I found creating a new layer in screen blending mode in PSE provides a good foundation for color manipulation.I went to brightness in HSB  and slid the right threshold to the first blips of the histogram.I lifted saturation and checked skin color and closed image.Ireopened image and tried some skin pins but they affected the rocks also.Greg Groess,do not look at following images!

I accidentally sent this picture twice ,does anyone else see a slight difference in brightness?

Actual post-processing

Every step is ALWAYS done on a new layer.

CM - LAB pull down lightness until top boy's forehead is at 95L, boost colour to 3.49

FocusMagic - 2 pixels of focus

Image looks okay-ish but a little contrastly and dark, so lighten mid tones using master RGB.

clone out the spot

widen canvas, fire up 3rd grid and scale it to place top boy's eyes on a 3rd.
Expand left side of image and a little at the top before cropping the right side off.

Guassian Blur 1.3 and mask to just keep the boys in focus plus a little of the rocks adjacent to them.

Image will not be posted as requested!!

I accidentally sent this picture twice ,does anyone else see a slight difference in brightness?

not really sorry.

Greg

Actual post-processing

Every step is ALWAYS done on a new layer.

CM - LAB pull down lightness until top boy's forehead is at 95L, boost colour to 3.49

FocusMagic - 2 pixels of focus

Image looks okay-ish but a little contrastly and dark, so lighten mid tones using master RGB.

clone out the spot

widen canvas, fire up 3rd grid and scale it to place top boy's eyes on a 3rd.
Expand left side of image and a little at the top before cropping the right side off.

Guassian Blur 1.3 and mask to just keep the boys in focus plus a little of the rocks adjacent to them.

Image will not be posted as requested!!

Are you for hire??  That was very interesting.. If I had focus magic I think I might have done a fair job on this...
Actual scene: was under a bridge shooting from the hip a bit...I had just exposed for a waterfall in bright sunlight and did not adjust the camera.  I saw the boys and called out to them and hit the shutter...All in all a wasted moment but a good exercise in what most people get from snappy cameras...


Greg