Eating Contest

[VernonShaw]

If you could suggest a way to make the faces of the people on the top of the frame closer to the brightness of those on the bottom, I'd much appreciate it. Feel free to photoshop it if you'd like.

[jiminyClickit]

VernonShaw,

Curious how this was taken: is the lightness from flash, or is foreground shadowed by people in front of lightsource behind camera?

If I finish posting soon, I'll do this: On a second layer copy, Select around dark lower left head, arm, hand, etc. Bring up lightness, then contrast till similar to top. Then invert that selection and fine-tune until top matches bottom. On PhotoDeluxe, it's as simple as that sounds. Using a layer allows for blending any areas not selected exactly.

[mdwsta4]

shame that the people actually IN the eating contest aren't in focus nor are they properly lit compared to the rest of the crowd.

[VernonShaw]

There was no flash, and the whole ordeal was lit with the sun coming through the glass doors. So the people in the foreground were shadowed by a group of more onlookers behind me.

[xysmas]

Originally Posted by VernonShaw

If you could suggest a way to make the faces of the people on the top of the frame closer to the brightness of those on the bottom, I'd much appreciate it. Feel free to photoshop it if you'd like.

The easiest way would to have used fill flash to bring out the actual contestants - PPing it is possible but with a hard overhead light like you described, fill flash helps a ton.

Otherwise, it is a pretty cool shot - the people have great expressions, the comp is pretty good, etc.

[steveb]

I agree that this shot has some great potential and it's not bad as is.
All of the facial expressions are great, well worth capturing and are probably the elements that really make this shot. Maybe you could have asked the folks in back to crowd in a little closer?
A little better balancing of the light from foreground to back would definitely help and I'd have liked to see a little more of the action in the foreground of the shot, where all of the "eating" action is occurring.

But overall, what a great moment to capture!

[Sime]

You know, i'd love to see a shot like this (with this many people but all 16 being the same person) made with that "group shot" application... (see thread) Would be hilarious!..

[jiminyClickit]

VernonShaw,

Here's an indication of what could be done if you spend some time selecting the dark areas carefully, as in Post #2:



In PhotoShop, with more options, you can lighten more, if needed.