help required

[Roberta]

I have a couple of shots form my first and last wedding.........I can deal with cropping and blinging the couple, but I have tried blurring the background but it did not look great. Did not try a dark blur thoug.
I know not the best of shots, but they wanted casual, unposed etc. The sun was getting low outside and I think the fill in worked.
Any Ideas other than give up photography would be appriciated

[Floribunda]

Re: help required

Never consider giving up Roberta!
I'm not good enough to help with this one, but others will - there are some great photographers on this forum.
I love the way she is glancing at him - a photo well worth persevering with.

[Janet]

Re: help required

I've had a quick play with it...just cloned out the branch at the left hand side, straightened, cropped and framed...I'm afraid my PP isn't good enough for the background, but I'm sure it can be improved by someone who knows what they're doing, and given the full size file to work with.



Unfortunately I've straightened the couple and got a wonky horizon! Where are the PP experts when you need them?

Janet

PS. Quitting isn't an option....

[Dogcow]

Re: help required

Disclaimer: I am not the best Photoshop expert in the world, not even on this forum

But the basic adjustments you should make (apart from cropping and straightening) are:

1. reduce the highlights and just a tiny bit the shadows
2. Enhance the definition
3. Beef up the Mid Contrast and the Low Tonal Width
4. And is necessary you can Lighten up the faces with a modest Dodge

A Q&D application of these effects will give you this:



But with spending more time on it you can refine this.

As I do my adjustmenst in Aperture and not in Photoshop, I am not quite sure if the naming of the adjustments is equal in both programs.
But surely there is someone out here who does know.

Best of luck!

Karel

[Barrie Norman]

Re: help required

This was achieved by some careful dodging and cloning in PSE took about 10 mins, but I recommend that you chose your background more carefully and avoid backlighting your subject.

[theMusicMan]

Re: help required

There's nothing wrong with backlighting an image, but if you are going to take a shot with a very heavy backlight, you must remember to meter for the background so that you have the exposure for that spot on... then use your flash to provide the required 'fill-in' light for your subjects.

That way you will have both the background AND the subject correctly exposed.

[OlyPaul]

Re: help required

Had a play in Elements 9 for you .

[theMusicMan]

Re: help required

Had some time to have a play... maybe this is the sort of thing your couple like...

Difficult when working from a small lo-res jpg... but fun!

[Ellie]

Re: help required

I did the same sort of thing as the others and got rid of the background by selecting/invert/filling - done in a hurry, it's a bit messy.

The black frame wasn't a particularly good choice though, it's too heavy and overpowers the image. I think OlyPaul's white vignetting works best.