Can you help fix this image? Warning...kids involved

[HappyFotographer]

I took this photo of the kids this morning, and would like to print it, but the sunny patch in the background is really, really annoying me.



Can I fix this? Is it doable.

The image is shot in RAW if that is of any help.

Cheers
Deb

[redline]

try a feathered selection of the bright area then burn in a stop or so of light, you could also try bring up some saturation for the kids.

[HappyFotographer]

Redline, thanks.

The kids (well the whole image) is actually richer in colour on my monitor, they always lighten up when I post on the web.

Cheers
Deb

[krpolak]

Quick job, quick step by step:

1. Masking, in this case I used twice ''color range selection with indication on the middle and edge of bright grass. Filling new layer with darker green (taken out of photo) and then playing with multiply mode set up brightness. Then you can change hue to match a tone or use one more layer with color mode. Also it could be good to have one more, greyscale leyer in multiply mode with high contrast to bring back texture (I havent done it here)

Dont forget to cut green colour popping up on children bodies. I have forgoten do it on their hands

2. Then masking edges, grab a piece of grass beside, drop over and with sofr eraser cut its edges so it blends easly. You can see, I have done some parts (right from boy's head) other partly or not at all, to show effect.

3. Once it is done, apply warmth filter. Or do it in RAW procesing software before.

4. Play a bit with curves (just a bit) and then apply a touch of saturation.

5. Slight sharpenig also will help, especially if you will mask only children.

6. Dont forget to convert to srg space if you want to publish it on the web

Regards,

K.Polak

[johndec]

Deb,

You could clone it out altogether. I only had a small patch of suitable grass to use so it didn't come out all that flash but if there is some more grass in the uncropped pic, it would fairly easy to make a decent job of it.

[HappyFotographer]

Fantastic, thanks everyone.

This is my attempt while I was waiting for some replies



Does this work for everyone?

Krpolak, thanks for the detailed instructions, I will study them in depth.

And John, I didn't even think about cloning from the uncropped version....duh!

Deb

[frink]

Looks good
I'd be inclined to maybe selectively blur the background a bit just to hide the clone job a bit more and to bring the subjects out a bit more. Also the skin tones look a bit cool to me, perhaps make the white balance a bit warmer? Personal preference I guess.
Excellent shot and cute kids

[HappyFotographer]

Yes Frink, after seeing Krpolaks version I realise the image is a little cool, will play with that a bit more.

And thanks for the comments on the kids, pity I couldn't get them all to smile and look at me at the same time! I actually tweaked the corners of my daughters mouth a little, as she really had an unhappy look on her head.

Cheers
Deb

[Aussie Dave]

Hi Deb
good to see you got out there and took some photos today of the kids

Here is my little effort, going from your 2nd posted image, with the highlights cloned out:



I masked the kids and then used the Filter | Blur | Lens Blur, to throw the background more OOF.

Using the mask, there are infinite possibilites (putting another background behind the kids, changing the background to B&W, etc...)

Keep on experimenting

[Matt. K]

Aussie Dave
Simple and effective. Good job!

[Nnnnsic]

I like yours Aussie Dave, except the hands look a bit sick...

I decided I'd try this and cloned out the highlights and gave it a nice sepia-toned treatment, mostly because I prefer monochromatic images to colour ones...

[Raydar]

My take



Cheers
Ray

[HappyFotographer]

Thanks for everyones input, enjoyed them all and learned heaps along the way.

Here is my latest version, original reposted for easy comparison. Comments welcomed.



Deb

[big pix]

.........deb, looks like a keeper to me......well done.....

[Nnnnsic]

That new one is excellent.

The only thing I'd change would be to maybe go back to the Raw file (if you have it) and return a bit of that detail in the youngest one's clothing.

[shakey]

Here's my attempt at correcting the background problem.
In your last post I really like the skin tones correction. Much more natural than the bluish pale cast of the first. I've worked on your original image and I haven't done any colour correction to the kids. All I've tried to do is to make the grassy background realistic without the intense light coming in from the side. Combination of the selection tool and the clone tool. Nothing fancy. In your last image I agree with leighs comment about the baby's clothes but I also think that the backgound looks artifically blurred rather than gradual blurring one expects as the depth increases. Just MO though



shakey

[HappyFotographer]

Shakey

great job, I used the clone tool as well, but yours is so much neater than mine was.

Will play with Owen's (the baby) clothes and agree the bluring may be a bit too much, but it will do for me.

And Ray,

I forgot to ask how you fixed up the image. It's great to see how different people attack problems.

thanks
Deb

[MATT]

This is what I love about Digital.

The origonal wasn't perfect, but with some photoshop action the resulting pic is perfect.

Good work.


MATT

[Raydar]

Shakey

And Ray,

I forgot to ask how you fixed up the image. It's great to see how different people attack problems.

thanks
Deb

I used the clone stamp to get rid of the high light of the sun, then used the patch tool to blend it all together to give it a more believable look.
Nothing fancy at all

Cheers
Ray:P

[HappyFotographer]

Hi Ray

I used the clone stamp to get rid of the high light of the sun, then used the patch tool to blend it all together to give it a more believable look.

Thanks, I didn't use the patch tool to blend it together, will remember that little trick for next time.

Nothing fancy at all
Cheers
Ray:P

Nothing fancy about me either Ray, keeping it as simple as I can.

Deb

[Raydar]

Sorry I forgot to add, I used the lens blur filter to throw the back ground out a little as well.

The patch tool is a good one to get to know, it can save the day when all ells fails.

Cheers
Ray

[Matt. K]

Deb
Well done. Very appealing treatment.

[redline]

heres my take