Friday Fix-It: My take on photo editing

I do love mesome Photoshop. ;)

I have a soft spot for little boys. I'm sure moms of girls say that about little girls, but boys are just my thing.

So that cutie's pic started out a little... flat. It's a well-composed pic. Such a darling, mischievous little smile. This photo needs the gray fog lifted to reveal that underneath it's a great photo.

Here is how it started:


See that gray film over the shots? This happens a lot in photos, especially indoors. And not just by new photographers. Some lenses and some cameras tend to shoot foggy - often called a gray fog when all those photography forums. This photo is also slightly out of focus. Sharpening it will help.

So here's a fix using Photoshop CS3:

• Always work on a new layer so you can throw it away if it didn't go as you expected. Cmd-J or Cntrl-J.
  
• Open up curves. Using the whitest dropper, click on the lightest part of the photo. Using the darkest dropper click on the blackest black part of the photo. I used the catch lights in his eyes and his shirt. This should help brighten your whites and blacken your blacks.
  
• Adjust the opacity of that layer as needed until it looks right to your eye.
  
• Lighten the photo slightly. Open up Brightness/Contrast. Adjust lightly and sparingly.
  
• Merge layers. Create a new working layer.
  
• Use the heal brush to fix the messy nose.
  
• Dodge the whites of the eyes. Burn the pupil and eye lashes.
  
• Using the magnetic lasso or the quick selection tool, select the eyes - including the pupils, whites, and lashes.
  
• Run unsharp mask on the eye selection until it looks brighter and sharper. If needed, up the brightness and contrast. Do NOT make this sweet boy look like a zombie child, please. I beg you. I am seeing a lot of zombie eyes with heavy-handed photoshopping. You want him to look real, not like Children of the Corn.
  
• Adjust the opacity of that work layer until it looks right and natural.
  
• Merge layers. Create a new working layer.
  
• Using the blur tool, soften the lips. Be careful to color inside the lines.
  
• On a new layer dodge under his eyes and blur the light layer. Reduce the layer a lot - just enough to reduce the dark circles under his eyes. You aren't performing plastic surgery. ;)
  
• Merge layers. Create a new working layer.
  
• Run Unsharp mask on the whole photo.
  
• Run MCP action Powder Your Nose. Lower the opacity as this tends to be too strong for most photos.
  
• Run MCP action Touch of Light. Paint light on his face. Lower the opacity until it looks natural.
  
• Flatten.
  
• Crop the way you like.

Here, again, is the before and after.



What a difference, huh? You can see more Friday Fix-Its (including my Handy Man's edit) at I Heart Faces.

**Clarification: This is not my photo. I didn't take it. The credit for the photographer can be found at I Heart Faces**

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