Need Help to Improve Photo

[surelybwh]

I'm not sure if there's much to be done with it. If I could, I would like to improve it's looks. Any suggestions?



A Larger Version is Here

[Seltzer]

hmmm.. did you have rather high ISO settings or something of the sort? my guess is that was what caused the grainyness..
you could try running it through a few smoothing filters or despeckling but those may not help so you would have to go for a more "artsy" look
good formatting and lighting, etc, but it looks like the camera just didn't quite pick up everything.
do you shoot RAW?

[surelybwh]

Originally Posted by Seltzer

hmmm.. did you have rather high ISO settings or something of the sort? my guess is that was what caused the grainyness..
you could try running it through a few smoothing filters or despeckling but those may not help so you would have to go for a more "artsy" look
good formatting and lighting, etc, but it looks like the camera just didn't quite pick up everything.
do you shoot RAW?

I guess I should have said that I didn't take this picture. It's somewhat old (well over 6 years), it's probably even scanned from a photo. I was just hoping to take out some of the graininess. I played with the levels some, and it did help some. Was hoping for a bit more.

Thanks for the input.

(And yes, actually, I do shoot RAW.)

[wulf]

It can't easily be made to look natural but it can certainly be made much stronger.

I used the curves tool to adjust the values curve - the original looked so light because there was no information towards the left of the histogram and this compressed it down.

I then applied a few other filters:

- a translucent copy set in overlay mode and blended down

- despeckling, then subtle blurring and again adjusting the translucency

- cloning out a white spot on the shoulder area

- unsharp mask

Wulf

ps. All changes done with The GIMP

[surelybwh]

Thanks, Wulf.

I've tried to work with the curve in Photoshop, but I can't seem to make it work right. Always more to learn.

[thenimirra]

Originally Posted by wulf

It can't easily be made to look natural but it can certainly be made much stronger.

I used the curves tool to adjust the values curve - the original looked so light because there was no information towards the left of the histogram and this compressed it down.

I then applied a few other filters:

- a translucent copy set in overlay mode and blended down

- despeckling, then subtle blurring and again adjusting the translucency

- cloning out a white spot on the shoulder area

- unsharp mask

Wulf

ps. All changes done with The GIMP

wow that's a great job Wulf! I wasn't the original poster, but I really appreciate you detailing exactly what you did to improve the photo. I'm taking a class right now to learn Photoshop so it definitely gave me some pointers. Thanks!

[wulf]

Originally Posted by surelybwh

I've tried to work with the curve in Photoshop, but I can't seem to make it work right. Always more to learn.

If I had to limit my post-processing set up to just one tool out of the whole range that an advanced program can offer, it would almost certainly be curves. I love the way you can quickly tweak contrast and colour balance, either making a picture look more natural or ending up with anything from "vintage filmstock" to "freaky solarisation".

Did we have a discussion on manipulating curves somewhere? I haven't got time to look now but perhaps someone can dig one up or start a new one.

Wulf

[surelybwh]

Originally Posted by wulf

If I had to limit my post-processing set up to just one tool out of the whole range that an advanced program can offer, it would almost certainly be curves. I love the way you can quickly tweak contrast and colour balance, either making a picture look more natural or ending up with anything from "vintage filmstock" to "freaky solarisation".

Did we have a discussion on manipulating curves somewhere? I haven't got time to look now but perhaps someone can dig one up or start a new one.

Wulf

Thanks, Wulf. I'll do a search for it.

[surelybwh]

Well, I really liked Wulf's version, but I wanted to try my hand at it. Here's the result:



I didn't do everything that Wulf did, but I like this one better than the original. I looked through my books and found some helpfule information on curves.

Thanks to all!

[wulf]

Excellent - it is a good idea to try things out yourself because that is how you develop your skills. Have you got other scans that need similar work? If so, that will be a good opportunity to reinforce and develop what you have learned.

Wulf