3 kids and a hammock

[ilike2spike]

This is one of my favorite shots, in spite of the lighting issues. It captures a really choice day with my kids up in Turkey Cove, Maine. Is there anything that can be done to rescue the bad lighting and improve the pic?

[FrankenPengie]

Someone really good could probably replace the background even through the hammock. I am not that person.

[oriolhdz]

Hi ilike2spike:
If you shot in raw mode the tunning you can apply to the image is greater. If you have photoshop try to use the following things:
Shadows and highlights
Levels
Curves
And if you want to sharper the photo use high pass filter on a duplicate layer.
Hope this info works for you!
BTW great shot! Seems your kids were having fun!

[katescasa]

Because the color is not of utmost importance, I would turn this shot into a Black and White. The kids will really pop out with the black and white and the lighting issue won't be as distracting.

[jiminyClickit]

ilike2spike,

Would you say more about the quality and areas of the lighting you don't like, and how you'd prefer the photo to look? Darker background, keeping sunlit spots in foreground? More light in the faces?

[ilike2spike]

Jiminy,

I guess I just want the attention to be drawn to my kids, not the bright sun spot in the corner. Would that be more light in the faces? I am so new to this, that I dont think that I now that answer.

[peeperita]

howdy spike....

i so enjoy an image that leaves me as contented as this one does....

i took a look at your tag line and i decided to try my hand at your photo.....although the results are probably not what you had in mind, i did my best to bring the focus to your children's happy faces.....



my first thought was to pull some of the blue cast that the shadow of the trees put on your children by adding a color adjustment of orange and reduced its opacity until i felt the colors were more true....from there i made a not so perfect selection of the more distracting elements of the background and blurred them on a separate layer....on the last layer i reversed the selection to that of your children and set the blending mode to screen to bring a little more light on them......

i appreciate the opportunity to work on your image....with sincere apology if it is not what you had hoped for.....

thanks

peeper

[ilike2spike]

peeper,

that looks fantastic. I appreciate you explaining to me what you did to get it there. I need to learn those skills.

You never have to apologize to me for trying to help me!

Thanks

Jeff

[peeperita]

whew, i can breathe now.... i worry about editing an image of someone else's children.....

i am glad that it pleases you....

peeper

[kimspics]

what an awesome shot of your kids - I love the composition and the 3D effect with tha angle. I love what peeperita did !!!!! Try this in b&w- you may like as well. Nice job.