Help needed with Shadows on the face

[kimbakaye]

Hi all. I have this picture that I took of my son but that shadow are HORRIBLE. I can't re-shoot right now because I need to get this submitted for a yearbook tribute page. Can someone tell me.show me how I can adjust this in photoshop? I am still very new at all this and when i try to play with it, it comes our looking splotchy and un-natural. Help please....

Also, I tried using a fill flash when taking this to help with the harsh shadows but obviously it didn't work. What can I do next time to help with this?

Taken on June 17, 2010 at 12.14pm PDT (edit)
Posted to Flickr January 23, 2011 at 1.32PM PST (edit)
Exif data
Camera Canon PowerShot S3 IS
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 12.9 mm
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash On, Red-eye reduction
X-Resolution 300 dpi
Y-Resolution 300 dpi

[fernampo]

Hi Kim!

Well, solving your shadows issue now would need some work. Is B/W a possible option? It would make things easier to get done!

It was a really sunny day, probably near noon, as shadows show us. When this weather condition happens, i think in 3 solutions (from best to worst, IMHO!):

1) Go to the shadow. You can go under a tree or something like that and your face will still get enough light!!

2) Use a reflector to reduce hard light shadows. I think you have already heard about this stuff.

3) Use fill flash. As you said, you did it and it sure avoided an even harder shadow.

Hope the tips are useful!
l

[ctcook]

As stated above fixing this in post production will be difficult. The only thing I can think of to try would be to copy to a new layer, change the blend mode to screen, alt click to create a layer mask, switch to a soft brush and with white meticulously paint (while the layer mask is selected) the shadows away. This won't git rid of the shadows completely, but it can lessen the effect. Again, this would be a tedious undertaking to get it just right, but it might be worth a try.

[SusanH1970]

Honestly, unless you want to spend hours doing work, you really are better off re-shooting. Shadows like this are way too harsh and would take meticulous, detailed work to get rid of. A fast fix in post processing really isn't possible.

A quick fix would be to put him into open shade and reshoot, preferably with a reflector (even a homemade one such as a white posterboard, or even in a pinch wearing a white shirt when you shoot) to put some light reflection is his eyes. If you have an overcast day, even more power to you; it's like a big softbox in the sky.

Wish I could be of more help, but some photos can't be fixed. Your flash did fire, judging by the pinlights in his eyes, but I'm guessing it was the popup flash? That's not nearly enough to overpower the sun. Unfortunately, the popup flash is pretty useless in most cases.

ETA: Just saw your EXIF and realized you did this with a point and shoot, so yeah, the on-camera flash didn't help. Reshooting in open shade (watch for dappled light) or on an overcast day will help, especially with something to reflect light into his eyes. Again, sorry to burst your bubble and wish I could be of more help with fixing this, but it would take more time and effort to fix this than to reshoot.

[ctcook]

I agree with Susan, the only reasonI mentioned the technique I did was do to your need to submit an image, probably before you could reshoot but if that's an option go with the reshoot.

[kimbakaye]

Thank you all for the feedback. I will have to choose a different shot I guess. I wish I would have been paying more attention to the shadows at the time. Live and learn. That's what this is all about. Thanks for the tips for next time.