BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

Photography Question 

Tara R. Swartzendruber
 

how to fix photo


 
  Homecoming
Homecoming
f6.3, 1/60, ISO 400, sb800 set to iTTL

Tara R. Swartzendruber

 
 
Does anyone have a suggestion of how you would brighten up this photo so it looks it's best. I have photoshop CS4. It's a jpeg.
Thanks!!


To love this question, log in above
October 09, 2010

 
chrisbudny.com - Chris Budny

BetterPhoto Member
Contact Chris Budny
Chris Budny's Gallery
  Tough one... You could carefully brighten the 2 students a number of ways (screen layer, tweaking its opacity... Dodge tool (not my fav)... Curves, etc. but I suspect you won't pull much in the way of useful details out of the blackness surrounding them.
If you can shoot in RAW, you'll find Adobe Camera RAW offers some slick, easy exposure-adjusting tools during RAW conversion (that I find easier/more effective to use, than the exposure adjustments in Photoshop proper.)
Whatever edits you end up making to this, I'd suggest a pretty tight crop to eliminate most of the blackness, and make the photo about the 2 of them, not the surroundings. If you shoot more like this, try zooming in (or getting physically closer) so that the subject fills more of the frame to begin with---perhaps not going for full-length body shots, but headshots, or head-to-waist...
Just my two cents!


To love this comment, log in above
October 09, 2010

 

Tara R. Swartzendruber
 
 
  Homecoming tweaked
Homecoming tweaked

Tara R. Swartzendruber

 
 
Thanks. It was so dark out and they wanted full body shots, so I felt a bit confined with the options. I would love to know if I should have done something different with my setting to help this out (besides RAW, which I should try, but haven't.) I really couldn't set up another light source, so that wasn't an option. I just had to go with what I had. I agree about the cropping. I did brighten it up some with a combo of layers and curves, but I'm not sure it's the best. Would appreciate a critique. Thanks!


To love this comment, log in above
October 09, 2010

 
- Carlton Ward

BetterPhoto Member
Contact Carlton Ward
Carlton Ward's Gallery
 
 
  ACR screen capture
ACR screen capture

Carlton Ward

 
 
Hi Tara, If you are using Photoshop - start shooting raw - now :) I do 90% of my editing in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) and the 1st slider is exposure and just work down and by the bottom, you should have a vewry nice photo and then I sometimes select the tab for Curves and do a slight adjustment and I am done.
Carlton


To love this comment, log in above
October 09, 2010

 

Randy A. Myers
  Your fix looks good. The situation is bad having black unis on a black track at night. The camera you used is capable of a higher ISO and I think you should have bumped it up to a minimum of ISO 800. This will get a little more reach with a flash. The best solution is to get as close as you possibly can. Flash doesn't go as far as most people think for sufficient lighting. To calculate this use the formula Guide Number = Aperture x Distance for your flash's base GN. Doubling your ISO increases your Guide Number by a factor of 1.4 thus giving you more reach with sufficient light. By all means, shoot RAW or at least RAW+JPG. Much easier to get quality out of a manipulated RAW file.


To love this comment, log in above
October 10, 2010

 

Bob Cammarata
 
 
 
Tara,
I played around a little with my Capture NX Software (..which you should have with your D-700).
The "D-Lighting" feature on Capture NX really helps to balance uneven lighting.
(A slight Curves Adjustment and sharpening were applied in addition to the D-Lighting.)


To love this comment, log in above
October 10, 2010

 
Log in to respond or ask your own question.