The mother of the darling boy in the photo expressed concerns with the harsh lighting, washed out colors, and dullness of her son's beautiful blue eyes. I wanted to see what I could do... so after about forty five minutes this is the end result and I am happy with it.
Here is how I edited the photo (using Photoshop CS3):
- Upped the exposure and gamma slightly
- Used the "stamp tool" to get rid of the spots/stains that were on his face. I don't like getting rid of 'beauty marks', but I couldn't tell if its just little boy dirt or not so away it went
- Cropped the photo. Now I debated whether to crop off the ear and over exposed area, but I just felt it wasn't salvageable and looked blown out compared to the rest of his face if it stayed.
- Used the "stamp tool" again to fill in a small amount of over exposed area that was left where his cheek and hairline is.
- Created a layer mask of a "cooling filter" to make the teeth less yellow in appearance.
- Created another layer and adjusted the colors of the eyes to make the natural blues appear.
- Used the "dodge" tool on the eyes. Midtones at 12% was selected.
- Used the "burn" tool on the eyes, nose crease, lips, eyebrows, chin, collar, and hairline. Midtones and Shadows at 12%.
- Altered the color balance for the entire photo. Mostly more greens, less reds, more blues, and slightly more yellows.
- Increased saturation of green, lessened of reds and magenta.
- Increased the contrast about 50% and the brightness slightly.
Do you like the end result?! I am anxious to hear your comments!
To see all the entries and more of "Fix-It Fridays" please visit "I Heart Faces".
I love how close you cropped it... and your overall fix.
ReplyDeletewow, love your edit! the crop really "did it"!
ReplyDeleteIt turned out fantastic! I love the close crop and the color of his eyes!! Thanks for working on my photo this week!!!
ReplyDeleteNice crop
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I went on the site and I love yours compared to some of the other ones I saw. I think you did a great job cropping and I love how now the blue eyes really pop!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the end result. The crop is perfect, and the new lighting makes this photo a real keeper, compared to the original. You're not just a fantastic photographer (because I've been looking at your gallery!), you're awesome at post-processing. :)
ReplyDeleteSomething is wrong with me, but I find the original much more interesting...It tells a story of a darling little boy who got all dressed up for a wedding or church and had his cake or cookie reward that ended up on his face. His tie is adult sized(from Daddy)and I can picture Mom or Dad tying it for him. It is late in the afternoon...he is full and tired and happy.
ReplyDelete