How do I fill light only in the people

[ashish20000]

Hi All
I am a total newbie in post-processing and learning interesting stuff everyday on this forum. I have PS CS-5, PS Elements 8 and Lightroom 3. Can you please guide me toward a tutorial or post a new one where I can make the attached picture look normal without losing other details? I tried searching online but did not find anything specific to fill light in a part of picture. It was shot only in jpg but in future I will be using Raw format also. I have a Nikon D-3100 with 18-55mm VR. Thanks a lot.
Ashish

[jgbkab]

Did you use a flash? I asked because I see the reflection in the woman's spectacles. Also, there may be something that you can do with the magic wand and brightness to salvage it but I'm by no means an expert.

[TraceyHill3]

Originally Posted by ashish20000

Hi All
I am a total newbie in post-processing and learning interesting stuff everyday on this forum. I have PS CS-5, PS Elements 8 and Lightroom 3. Can you please guide me toward a tutorial or post a new one where I can make the attached picture look normal without losing other details? I tried searching online but did not find anything specific to fill light in a part of picture. It was shot only in jpg but in future I will be using Raw format also. I have a Nikon D-3100 with 18-55mm VR. Thanks a lot.
Ashish

Try selecting just the people in Photoshop and put them in a new layer then brighten just that new layer.

[autofocus]

a classic example of a bright backlit subject where fill flash or a reflector would have made a huge difference. But here you go..a quick fix


combo by montalbano photography, on Flickr

* Create a new levels adjustment layer
* Bring up the levels with the middle and right slider, plus move in the left slider slightly until the folks look better
* Make a mask - hold alt key on pc and click on mask icon on bottom of layers palette (rectangle with a circle in it)
* image levels will revert back, so using a white brush carefully paint over the folks. If you make a mistake, change brush to black and paint over your mistake
* flatten image
* a final curves adjustment (S shaped line) in the blue channel

[ashish20000]

Originally Posted by jgbkab

Did you use a flash? I asked because I see the reflection in the woman's spectacles. Also, there may be something that you can do with the magic wand and brightness to salvage it but I'm by no means an expert.

Yes I did use the flash because the people were looking dark in the viewfinder. For some reason the picture still did not come out right. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
Ashish

[ashish20000]

Originally Posted by autofocus

a classic example of a bright backlit subject where fill flash or a reflector would have made a huge difference. But here you go..a quick fix


combo by montalbano photography, on Flickr

* Create a new levels adjustment layer
* Bring up the levels with the middle and right slider, plus move in the left slider slightly until the folks look better
* Make a mask - hold alt key on pc and click on mask icon on bottom of layers palette (rectangle with a circle in it)
* image levels will revert back, so using a white brush carefully paint over the folks. If you make a mistake, change brush to black and paint over your mistake
* flatten image
* a final curves adjustment (S shaped line) in the blue channel

Wow! Thanks a lot for helping. I will try to do all these adjustment on other similar pictures. One small thing, the colors look artificial in the edited version. Is it the best we can get or there are other ways to make it look more normal. Thanks again.

[jgbkab]

Originally Posted by autofocus

a classic example of a bright backlit subject where fill flash or a reflector would have made a huge difference. But here you go..a quick fix


combo by montalbano photography, on Flickr

* Create a new levels adjustment layer
* Bring up the levels with the middle and right slider, plus move in the left slider slightly until the folks look better
* Make a mask - hold alt key on pc and click on mask icon on bottom of layers palette (rectangle with a circle in it)
* image levels will revert back, so using a white brush carefully paint over the folks. If you make a mistake, change brush to black and paint over your mistake
* flatten image
* a final curves adjustment (S shaped line) in the blue channel

Great job. I need to practice this because I probably would have chucked the photo. Good thing I keep my raw files.

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by ashish20000

Wow! Thanks a lot for helping. I will try to do all these adjustment on other similar pictures. One small thing, the colors look artificial in the edited version. Is it the best we can get or there are other ways to make it look more normal. Thanks again.

I did the edit on my laptop which is a non-calibrated screen. If I were doing this for a client, I'd be working on my calibrated CRT. That said, the colors look pretty natural on the laptop, and the only thing I did was a slight curves adjustment in the blue channel. I felt the original had a little excess magenta, so I wanted to offset it. If it doesn't look right on your screen skip that step. Don't forget, this edit was done on a low rez image, so things would be better if done on the original. On a side note, I can't believe the flash did not help. Did you have the flash output dialed down by chance?

[Chip]

Originally Posted by autofocus

On a side note, I can't believe the flash did not help. Did you have the flash output dialed down by chance?

What was the shutter speed for this photo, and was the pop-up flash used? I wonder if the shutter speed was higher than the max synch speed (which I think is 1/200)?

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by Chip

What was the shutter speed for this photo, and was the pop-up flash used? I wonder if the shutter speed was higher than the max synch speed (which I think is 1/200)?

Hey Chip, I'd bet it was shot in full auto mode. I tried to get and EXIF on the photo, but no luck