How can I improve this?

[graciousness]

I took this photo of my husband and little one in Venice Beach, California over a year ago and whilst I was happy that I took this photo and thought it's ok, I am also disappointed that I had not focused this properly. Husband is not in focus, but baby is. I didn't realise that it wasn't sharpened properly until I came home and uploaded on my imac.



Whilst I can't do much on my husband's face, what can I do to improve the colour on this? It was sundown and they were watching the sunset, hence, the colour is immensely orange. Also, in my attempt to try a little bit of sharpening on husband, I may have over sharpened the entire photo a little bit?

Is this too vibrant or saturated and take it down a notch?

Erase husband and replace with a more camera-friendly and debonaire man like, lets say........Christopher Reeves (my superman hero! I wanted to marry him when I was little )?

I don't know...I don't know what else to ask. I really want to see how much more I can improve this photo cause I really like it and want to be able to save it.

Please help. Cheers!

EXIF/Details:

P Mode (the only mode I knew till 2 months ago)
Hand held
Location/Time of day: Sundown at beach
Lens: 24-105 L Canon
Camera Canon EOS 30D
Exposure 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 60 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[RichardTaylor]

If you have the original raw file it may make things a bit easier.
I would adjust the white balance using your husbands white(?) shirt as a reference. That will cool the whole pic down.

Then see how it looks and then take the vibrance down a notch if you feel it needs it.

[graciousness]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

If you have the original raw file it may make things a bit easier.
I would adjust the white balance using your husbands white(?) shirt as a reference. That will cool the whole pic down.

Then see how it looks and then take the vibrance down a notch if you feel it needs it.

Many thanks again, Richard. You're going to be my new hero at this rate......

I didn't think about white balance. Yes, I do have the raw file so thank goodness for that. I don't know why I don't touch white balance in post - processing; goes to show you my lack of knowledge.

I shall do so and see what happens!

Just a question regarding the focus, my brain has been tryign to understand depth of field. So it's f/5.6 on this shot, and seeing that this is too shallow for this photo, where shoudl the aperture be? f/11? Or being that this is close-up (this is an uncropped photo), should it be all the way to f/22?

[RichardTaylor]

Have a look at this site.

Online Depth of Field Calculator

If you were about 2-3m away I would be shooting around, at that focal length of 60mm, F16 at the very least, if you want them both sharp, but watch the background, and focus on your husband as there is more DOF behind the subject than there is in front of it.

If both subject are on the same plane then F5.6 should be fine

[Isiliel]

The moment I saw your image, before I read the text, I easily understood that they were watching the sunset. I wouldn't want to change that.
To my eyes, it doesn't feel that much saturated.
Btw, nice shot.

[graciousness]

Many thanks for that! Sometimes I think I'm too harsh on myself, esp after seeing other people's photos and comparing. I forget that sometimes, you just have to let the photo speak and unfold the story for itself.

Thank you for the reminder.

I do want to improve, however, and I thought this photo does need that. Perhaps not in the colour category, but need to understand what went wrong when I focused taking this shot. I'm glad that I now understand that I've incorrectly used the wrong aperture hence the shallow DOF.

[Lorry]

Hi,

I thought they were watching the sunset too..very nice photo...:-)