How can I make this photo better???

[damnit81]

I have had a play around with this photo myself in photoshop, but as I am new to photoshop I don't know how to do all the creative stuff!!!
So any help in improving the photo would be great.
I wouldn't mind getting rid of the bright light that is coming in from behind the fencing.

Any advice would be great and much appreciated as well as any tips on where to do certain things on photoshop too. I am thinking about doing the course that is offered on photoshop!!!

Many thanks

Samantha

[craigpauli]

I have had a play around with this photo myself in photoshop, but as I am new to photoshop I don't know how to do all the creative stuff!!!
So any help in improving the photo would be great.
I wouldn't mind getting rid of the bright light that is coming in from behind the fencing.

Any advice would be great and much appreciated as well as any tips on where to do certain things on photoshop too. I am thinking about doing the course that is offered on photoshop!!!

Many thanks

Samantha

Hi Samantha, I'm not crash hot on doing editing either but I had a go at editing your photo. First I went to image>adjustments>curves and played with it to try bring the highlights down and bring the shadows up a tiny bit. I then cropped it to remove the fence and bring the child more into the right side of the photo.

[Kaye]

Hi Samantha,
I have also done a quick edit on your shot whilst I was cooking dinner!
I am hoping you like the crop. You will learn lots about composition of your shots in the Course as you go along, so that when you shoot your shot, you will consider the composition at the time rather than cropping.

In Photoshop CS4, firstly I used Auto tone (Image > Auto tone)... and reduced to 66%. (To reduce this, you go to Edit).
Then, Image > Adjustments > Curves and also Levels. I adjusted these to lessen the background brightness a little.
Also I used: Image > Adjustments > Shadows and Highlights. This brings out more detail as well as working with your shadows and bright areas.
Used Burn tool from the tool bar on the left to darken some spots more.
Used Dodge tool from the tool bar on the left to brighten parts, eg the eyes.
Used Clone tool from the tool bar on the left to clone out some parts of the background that I messed up and also used this for some of the larger white spots on the face. (The Healing Brush tool can also be used for this).

Photoshop cannot be learned overnight, but there are a few things you could start with, eg. When you go to Image > Adjustments at the top left of the screen, this is where you find some necessities like Brightness & Contrast, Curves, and Levels. These can make a huge difference to a shot.

Re the toolbar on the left of screen, I feel that Clone tool is a good one to start with (but not easy to master). Your choice of brushes will be important for this. For most of my shots I choose just one of the regular round brushes, normally the '200' brush, as it is not too severe. You can also make the brush smaller or larger. You must first be in Clone tool, and then you will find Brushes at top left of your screen.

The other tools that are fairly easy are Dodge tool and Burn tool in the left toolbar.
I think this is enough to learn for now. I will post my edit:

[nikkie]

Hi Samantha I only have the downloaded trial version of Photoshop cs5 so I had a look in paint shop pro x3 as I know that program better then I tried it in Photoshop so I can give you the right information

this is how I did it took about 2 minutes just make a selection using the quick selection tool I think its called and make a selection around ever thing but the child making sure the out side of the child is selected closely go to brightness and contrast tone down the brightness and contrast until you get it to the shade you want it to be you might notice that the area of the outside of the fence wont change much if at all don't worry when your happy with that undo the selection grab your quick selection tool again and make another selection around the fence and do it again if you want the container darker you will have to do the first step as above undo the selection and select the container in the background and do it again this is the fastened way I found of doing this good luck


This is a great photo it tells a good story

[coffee]

I started with my usual workflow. Then softened the background to focus the subject, gave the face a little depth. Original and my my edit side by side.Very dramatic expression Samantha.

[jmtc]

Hi Samantha
I love what Kaye has done, the crop following the rule of thirds leads to an interesting picture. I cannot show you what I might suggest as I am on holiday
and dont have PS on my lap top, but I would blur the background even more. trace around the child using magic wand and using Gaussian blur, blur the background enough to through it out of focus, thus all the focus will be on the amazing face of the child. If your not sure how to do this in PS try Youtube - its a minefield of information. Well do for spotting a beautiful subject
Jim

[Hype]

Thought I would have a crack at this stunning photo. Very well done on capturing this by the way.

I cropped to 10x8.

Selected the girl and used the refine edge in CS5 to capture more hair. (Great tool)

Created a layer with the girl and the background masked

Gaussian blurred the background layer

(I think thats what jmtc was after doing also)

Saved the image then took in to Lightroom 3. (I like the editing option in LR3)

Added a slight sharpen and then reduced the noise.

Played with the tones etc and added a vignette.

This is the black and white edit.



In LR3 I added split toning to the new B&W edit to achieve this next shot.

Highlights:
Hue 51
Saturation 40

Balance +61

Shadows:
Hue 283
Saturation 42



Hope you like them.

[pipedesign]

Hi Samantha,
Suggestions are so subjective based on what each photo means to the viewer, but IMO Kaye's crop is the first major step. The vulnerability of the little child is highlighted by the rusty iron doors behind and the reduced amount of white pushes the eyes to the child. A similar effect could have been done by cropping to the other side and show the child in front of a wire fence. This is a slightly toned down reflection of detention and captivity whereas for me the iron door hints overpowering force and captivity.
Blurring the backround works for me too. It again focuses on the subject but almost makes the steel doors more menacing - like the are lurking there as an ever present threat of isolation.

I am not qualified to give any suggestuions on PS side of things but all those made above make me wish I had PS and could make time to create with it!

But tell me, isn't this site great to get other ways to look at things?
I just love it and everyone that gives their comments ..... so there (in the absence of a group hug I blow kisses all round)

[damnit81]

thank you everyone for your helpful advice...
and yes pipedesign this forum is fantastic and I also blow big kisses to everyone...
I am sure I am about to make this little girls mum's day with the photos I have printed for her.
This little girl is just gorgeous to photograph, she is my favourite subject!!!!
I will be posting more photos for people to help me out with as you are all fantastic!!!!

Thanks

Samantha

[StephenK]

Absolutely Wonderful photo Samantha!

Re-sized it with the law of thirds in mind
Colorized with a hue and saturation layer (sepia preset)
Cleaned-up some of the spots in the image
Ran it through the Alien Skin Snap Art 2: color pencil option
A couple of blank levels layers, used for setting blending modes in order
to fineness the lighting depth of the edit.

Again love the image... very nicely captured! :^)