Please tell me this can be saved

[luckymeghan]

Hi all!

I absolutely love the expressions in this photo, for sure the best of the day.

However, I am obviously having a problem with the lighting (no other photo came out like this, the rest were all lit wonderfully!)
Please, someone tell me how I can rescue this photo! I'm hoping there is some PS miracle that can be done...



I am embarrassed to show my ignorance by posting this, but it will have been worth it if I find out this photo can be fixed.

Thank you!

[SusanH1970]

There was a lot off, but I think I may have been able to fix a few things. Normally I'm a fan of "get it right in camera first", but sometimes beautiful moments like these can't be captured perfectly in-camera. I hope this edit is okay with you, if not, please let me know, and I'll take it down immediately.

[fotokids]

ya beat me to it Susan...VM

[IABoomer]

Looks like the white balance is just a little off. A white balance adjustment in an image editor, or maybe pulling down the red level a little would probably remove the color cast.

This is just quick and dirty. I'd guess someone with more post-processing practice could do more with it, or guide you further.

Edit: looks like I'm third in line

[SusanH1970]

LOL....mine was a super quick edit too, and in hindsight looks a tad too green/cyan.

But still....those expressions are priceless! SO worth saving.

[luckymeghan]

A big thank you to you, Susan, fotokids and IABoomer! I appreciate your taking the time to help me out. Seeing your edits gave me the chance to sigh in relief! You all made it look SO much better!

Susan & fotokids, do you mind sharing the steps took to achieve your final result?

I am going to now show you two of my favorite shots from this session so you can see some actually turned out well... lol!





Oh, I can't believe I forgot to mention... this is my brand new nephew!

[autofocus]

Meghan, fotokids is my wife who happened to be signed on to DPS when I (auto-focus) grabbed the computer...I copied your photo over to PS and did the edit. Now that that confusion is over I'll try to remember what steps I took.
1) shadow / highlight tool
2) overall levels adjustment on highlights and mid-tones
3) selected the gentleman's face and brought it up further in levels
4) backed a little red out in hue / saturation
5) still not real happy, then did an adjustment layer > screen, and brought the opacity down to where it looked OK
6) Backed a little contrast out in brightness / contrast
7) did a little noise reduction/smoothing on woman's face

Probably still could use some minor finishing touches, but only worth doing on the full resolution file

Hope this helps

Vinnie

[abarickman]

Hi there. I would dump the color and make it black and white as a first step. The color adds nothing in my opinion. Then I would try a gradient from left top to right bottom to even the exposure some. Hope this helps.