My first post - hope I'm doing it correctly

I'm in the process of putting up a gallery wall of images I've taken of children from the various places where I have traveled. This one is one of my favorites but I would like it to pop a little more. I have Photoshop Elements but don't really know much about using it. Any suggestion with specific directions will be greatly appreciated. #1566718

if you only have elements and no filters I would go to image/adjustments/curves/ options/ select snap natural midtones and enhances channel contrast

but I am sure some of the guys will have you do something different I would encourage you to try all and post them separate you will be surprise how much you will learn from it. if you don't know how to add images to this thread let us know and we will walk you through it. #11000176

One thing to remember is we are looking at a very small jpeg image on BP. Hopefully you are looking at a full size camera raw image to do your editing. I am using CS6 CC and have not ever used elements so I am just going to give some general observations and let folks like Dale, who also uses Elements, to provide you with specifics because they are different for the different software. I do almost all of my editing in Adobe Camera Raw except for some selective area work. Camera Raw is also available in elements. To me the technical areas of this shot look pretty good. IE. Good exposure and white balance so you can leave those corrections aside on this shot. To me the reason you are asking for a bit more pop is that although everything is pretty good it is just the slightest bit flat. To correct that I would add a bit of color saturation using the Vibrance slider and some contrast using the contrast slider. These adjustments may blow out the whites a bit so finish up by lowering the Highlights slider. The changes will be subtle but should give you a bit more pop if you view the original and the edited version side by side you should note the improvement. Even if this is a jpeg image you can use the Camera raw adjustments just not nearly to the extent you could on a raw image.
#11000222

So here's where we will get some differences in opinions. I was going to suggest the same as Rita. For me, the mom's face is taking my attention off of the child's. But I LOVE her beads, so I was going to suggest a tighter crop on the child, maybe leave the mom in but up to her chin. Maybe a 4x6 would work in a portrait orientation. This would put the child's face towards the upper third.

I agree it could use a little pop. Ask Dale about adjusting levels too.

You can always post two crops and we can see what they look like and compare them. You may find you like one better than the other.

Can't wait to see this edit! #11000286

Like you, I use Photoshop elements and if some of my suggestions leave you scratching your head, let me know and I'll create a tutorial explaining it all.

I agree with others that a crop would help but disagree as to the result. I would like to keep your original creative vision while at the same time tightening up the composition. Try a 3x5 vertical format crop starting in the upper right corner, with the left lower corner ending up just at the left edge of the child's blouse.

Add 50% multiply blend and mask using a radial mask starting in the center of the boys face and ending in the upper right corner.

Then apply a hue/saturation layer and de-saturate about 50% but mask the change from the boy. Both these changes will retain your vision while making the boy the featured point of interest.

Finally, apply a small bit of sharpening to just the boy. This is a very creative image and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work. Well done. #11000813

I have to ask you to be patient with me - editing is going to be a challenge but I'm looking forward to learning. #11001311