Postprocessing Example

[GoingUp]

http://www.cheddarcheesemedia.com/yonker/corrected.html

Photo was shot in raw on a 40D. Photo was a bit fuzzy due to slow shutter speed because of crappy light.

I first corrected the color in Adobe Bridge then imported it into photoshop.

I duplicated the layer twice for a total of 3 layers.

Top layer - Original set to lightened blending
Middle Layer - Highpass done at 70 pixels. (In the filter menu -> Other -> highpass) Then right click on the layer and select blending options, then set to soft light.
Bottom Layer - Original

I put a vector mask over the top two layers and painted the vector mask black to prevent anything from showing through. I then painted the two people in the middle layer with a light gray on the vector mask to make it semi transparent, but only on the people. With vector masks, black conceals, white reveals.

The top layer, I just painted the eyes with white on the vector mask to make them come through on top of everything else lightened up.

Once that was done, I flattened the image then used the clone tool set to about 40% opacity and the healing brush as well, to get rid of the bags under their eyes, touch up the faces a bit, and get rid of the distracting roots in the picture.

 

[troytime]

i think you overdid it

 

[Jawo]

If you like oversaturated pictures, it looks good. Otherwise its a little too rich, but like the healing on the faces.

 

[soydios]

I'd say that the woman's face looks a little yellow, otherwise I like the punch that the post-processing adds in this situation. But who am I to judge, I still haven't gotten comfortable with layers in Photoshop.

 

[punchkin]

I don't like the "after". Color balance looks yellow to me as well in the before picture. What sort of white balance was used, and did you use a gold reflector?

 

[Deadtrees]

I, too, like the original one.

 

[Alyx]

I like the new one. This monitor isn't calibrated though, so my opinion might change. I think removing the distractions and darkening the back helped a lot.

 

[pennylane]

Thanks for the explanation. I'll have to play around with vector masks.

I think the blacks and the removal of the roots really helped. It's a tad too saturated for my tastes, but all good. :beer:

 

[angry hampster]

The healing is nice, but the skin tones don't look natural and there's too much contrast. Zero shadow detail.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs
I put a vector mask over the top two layers and painted the vector mask black to prevent anything from showing through. I then painted the two people in the middle layer with a light gray on the vector mask to make it semi transparent, but only on the people. With vector masks, black conceals, white reveals.

I'm not a fan of that super-saturated yellow-filter look, but I know some people are. That aside, a couple comments.

? The greenish-gray tone to the shadows isn't appealing (mostly apparent in the tone below the man's shoulder on his upper arm). If the greenish shadows are what you're going for, I'd remove some red from that area to make it more green, less grey.

? Personally, I'd tone down the hair on the guy's arm - it's distracting.

? Finally, not purely opinion: Vector masks are not transparent (though the edges DO anti-alias). I think you mean layer masks? If you're painting it, it's not a vector mask. It'll show up as a channel if it's a normal (raster) layer mask; it'll show up as a path when the layer is selected if it's a vector mask. A layer can have both a raster and vector mask. For a demonstration, select a layer and hit the "Add Layer Mask" button on the layers palette TWICE. The first mask applied to the layer will be raster, the second will be vector.