edit this?

[Leon]

took this last weekend, how would you edit it?

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ljdvin6l4ijp48/IMG_0195edit.jpg?dl=0

[Phil]

The challenge is on

 

The only issue I foresee is that you're using CS2 but the majority here will be using newer versions. If we keep the editing to the basics it should be fine.

[fuzzyedges]

Leons original sized for this forum. drop box is 4.19meg this is 1meg so there will be some loss

 
My edit for what its worth using just basics

 
1) I first used the crop tool (this looks like a car scissor  jack in the icons. (If you right click on any icon then move the curser over the remaining icons it will show you what each Icon is) this was to take away the bare leg of the infant (my preferance)Just adjust the rectangle to where you want it and press enter
2) From the top row of headings
     I sharpend the image       Fliter--sharpen---Unsharp mask   /   threshold 0 radius 2.5 amount 70 (look for tuition on unsharp mask and play with these settings its a great way to sharpen )
3) From the top row of headings
     I altered the exposure       Image---adjustments----exposure   /  everything zero except exposure which I increased to 0.20
4) From the top row of headings
     I altered the levels             Image-----adjustments----levels    /   You will see a histogram named input levels, Under this is three boxes with numbers and between these and the histogram are 3 small tear drop sliders, use these to alter the levels mine were adjusted to 44- 0.8- 230
 
Image--adjustments---??? adjusts the single image you have on the screen
From the top row headings    Layer----adjustments--??? adjusts an image layer above your original image
Sounds complicated but from the top row of headings select   window---and tick layers a box should appear with a thumbnail of your image with a pad lock on it, named layers
From the top row headings layer---new adjustment layer----hue/saturation
(This will appear in the layers box above the original one with a thumbnail and another blank box The blank box is called a mask
These are layers, the active layer is the one in blue, anything you do now will only be done in the active layer
A layer can be switched on and off by clicking the eye on that layer)

In the adjustment box, that has appeared above the layer box, I adjusted the saturation to -20  as I thought now that the faces were over saturated

From the icons I selected eraser (looks like a rubber) press F5 on your key board and a selection of brushes will appear select 100 (experiment here)

At the bottom of the icons there is two squares one white one black if white is over black using the eraser will remove pixels from the active layer and show the layer beneath

If black is over white it will replace those pixels you have removed Handy when you make a mistake and want to put things back

Along the way you will find many ways of cutting things out but the eraser is quick but a bit crude

Moving the eraser over the image shows the lower (background image) more saturated image to show through by not touching the faces leaves them saturated at -20

Right click on the active layer in the layer box and select flattern image

Now you can save and bobs your auntie

Hope the commands are the same in cs2 but they do form the basic for

cropping

sharpening

levels

layers

masks

hue / saturation

erasing

brushes

[Guest]

The biggest problem I have with this image is the overly orange tungsten cast effecting hair and skin tones and it is a lot harder to deal with as a jpeg where the white balance has been baked in rather than a raw image.

 

Any way in Elements 12 a levels adjust followed by a hue and sat adjust targeting the orange tones then a brightness and contrast adjust.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2015 by OlyPaul

[Phil]

Have to agree with Paul, the colour cast is making it very difficult to work on so it's not the ideal image to start with if you're wanting to learn PS. As Paul has proved it's not impossible but the problem areas need to be targeted independently of the rest of the image which means getting involved with layers and layer masks.

I'm hoping someone will come along and tell me I'm talking rubbish.

 

Have you a dull and dreary car image you can stick up?

 

I did have a play with the pic but wound up going down the mono route which defeats the object of this exercise.

 

[ChrisLumix]

I really don't like any of the edits, at all. 

 

But as has been said, it's a very difficult image to work with : a bit over-exposed, the lighting has resultd in 'sweaty' patches on the skin, the baby's face is a bit burned out, and there's that colour cast.

 

I actually thought fuzzy's FIRST picture (actually Leon's original) was the edit, but to my eyes - apart from the colour cast - it's the best version here.

[fuzzyedges]

It would seem you are all missing the point of the post

Its not how good you can do it

Its how do you EDIT an image Any image

Thats why i took time to show various ways

 

Whether my edit is any good is irrelevant

Using elements is not what Leon has, so becomes confusing

Leaving it as the original shows Leon nothing

pointing out deficencys of the image shows Leon nothing about editing

Turning it to mono without showing how is irrelevant

 

Mine is just a basic use of photoshop and then touches layers and masks which are the heart and soul of photoshop

 

Leon wishes to know how to edit using cs2 or am I wrong and he just wants an edited image of the couple and the child

[Phil]

Leon wishes to know how to edit using cs2 or am I wrong...

 

Nope, that's how I see it too, which is why this image isn't the best to start learning the basics of PS, there is far too much rescuing needed.

[fuzzyedges]

Agreed but the whole post was set up by a comment from Phil

With the express desire to show Leon how people would edit any image with cs2

To do that you have to know about cs2

So its about editing not about portrait work landscape or anything else

I could of course be wrong in which case please point it out

[fuzzyedges]

Nope, that's how I see it too, which is why this image isn't the best to start learning the basics of PS, there is far too much rescuing needed.

It that case I would suggest someone else puts up an image that is suitable for learning the basics of PS as thay will know what that image contains to be edited to a high standard and can explain it

[Phil]

Right, give this one a whirl. It's clearly under exposed so needs some tweaking. Basics only please with an included workflow.

It's yet another shot of Jodie jumping the other day. Straight out of camera with no editing done at all.

The first download is the JPEG version. The second is the Fuji RAF RAW file for those with the ability to open it.

 

JPEG

 

RAW

[Leon]

I did post a bad image purposely, I knew the colour was off that's why I posted it.... 

 

I sat for two hours trying to get rid of the yellowy cast.... I thank you all for giving it a go, I thought it was too far gone to rescue.  Ihad thought of the mono version but I saw this as giving up.

 

and as for phil..... dreary dull car photo from ME!!!! how dare you....

[colinb]

I did post a bad image purposely, I knew the colour was off that's why I posted it.... 

 

I sat for two hours trying to get rid of the yellowy cast....

 

Leon it should take you no more than 2 minutes pushing ONE slider - sorry but I'm not going to waste hours typing stuff its not how I teach.

Edited April 16, 2015 by colinb

[Guest]

Leon

firstly advice for future shots

 

1) get them to stand further forward from the curtain you can then use an aperture to blur the background

2) shoot Raw

3) Always under expose a little as you can boost dark detail you cannot save burnt out bits

 

what I did was

 

image adjustment

color balance + 16 to blue on the yellow / blue slider

brightness/contrast  brightness -14 contrast -6

vibrance  vibrance +14 saturation -3

Exposure  Exposure +0.14  Offset -0.0061  gamma correction 0.93 

 

what I got was this

 

[ChrisLumix]

It would seem you are all missing the point of the post

Its not how good you can do it

Its how do you EDIT an image Any image

Thats why i took time to show various ways

 

Mine is just a basic use of photoshop and then touches layers and masks which are the heart and soul of photoshop

 

I agree with your first comment(s) and we should have shown Leon the simplicity of what Photoshop can do, not its complications. And that's where I take issue with your other statement. Too many Photoshop gurus pontificate about layers and masks as if that's all you "should" use Photoshop for.

No! Leon's CS2 may be a tad long in the tooth, and it may nevertheless still be a very powerful image editor .... BUT IT ALSO DOES THE SIMPLE THINGS TOO! And that's what I believe Leon needs to start with, not all the fancy dan stuff that - given time and inclination - he can work towards. I speak as someone whose first exposure to Photoshop was 5 years using Photoshop 2.5 which didn't even HAVE layers!!!!

 

I did post a bad image purposely, I knew the colour was off that's why I posted it.... 

 

I sat for two hours trying to get rid of the yellowy cast.... I thank you all for giving it a go, I thought it was too far gone to rescue.  Ihad thought of the mono version but I saw this as giving up.

 

and as for phil..... dreary dull car photo from ME!!!! how dare you....

 

Yes, probably not the best image to post to begin to learn the simple things about image editing. It needs selective AND global processing to do it justice, though as a composition, as a portrait, it's absolutely fine. It fails only on the technical level.

[fuzzyedges]

where I take issue with your other statement. Too many Photoshop gurus pontificate about layers and masks as if that's all you "should" use Photoshop for.

Look again at my edit

You will see I have stopped at 4) then gone on to layers and masks after a space

Leon is just starting on the edit trail the first 4 steps are basic the last lines are a taste of what photoshop is able to do

To ignore layers and masks is beyond me as they are very very useful for detailed work in certain areas of the image and i would go on to say there are things that you can only do with layers and masks

Colin I am sure Leon will be ringing you once he has tried himself and found a few questions to ask but until he tries a few tutorials and attempts he may not have many questions to ask

I would be interested in which single slider you pushed to get rid of the orange in the ladies hair it didnt seem that easy to me

[ChrisLumix]

Leon is just starting on the edit trail the first 4 steps are basic the last lines are a taste of what photoshop is able to do

To ignore layers and masks is beyond me as they are very very useful for detailed work in certain areas of the image and i would go on to say there are things that you can only do with layers and masks

 

I didn't say "ignore" - I just said you can do loads in Photoshop (easier stuff, e.g.) without ever using layers and masks. In fact, in all the years I've used Photoshop - while I've certainly used layers a lot - I think I can say I have never used masks. You say "there are things you can ONLY do with masks"; presumably you mean returning to a selection to correct or refine it? Well, if you duplicate your background layer and save every selection you make ('Save selection...') you can get away with never using masks.