November 07, 2009

Edit overexposed photo of young girl

ORIGINAL

EDITED

EXIF Data:
f/10.0
1/60th sec
ISO 100
Canon 30D
Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM
No flash

This was a RAW file, but, for the purposes of this tutorial, I opened it up unchanged so that I could work on it as if it were a normal jpeg.

The image is overexposed, generally speaking, but in spite of that, there is not enough light on her beautiful little face. I love the look on her face, and the way her hair looks, so I want to save this photo. I have decided that it will work better in black and white since I find the color of her bathing suit distracting, and I want to brighten her face and her eyes.

First, I duplicate the image onto another layer (CTRL-J). Then I go to the menu at the top and choose IMAGE -> ADJUSTMENTS -> BLACK & WHITE. When the dialog box opens, I slide the sliders to adjust the different colors. I want a nice tonal range from very light to very dark. The background of the image, of course, is nearly completely white, except for a few areas of gray that I think I will remove, since I find them distracting.

I add a blank layer (click on Create a New Layer icon at bottom of Layers Palette), and rename this layer Clone Bkgrnd). I select a soft edged brush (B), and with Sample: All Layers selected in the toolbar at the top, I clone out the distracting gray areas in the background.

Next, I duplicated the Background Copy (CTRL-J) and changed the Blend Mode (Drop-down window at top of Layers Palette) to Screen. I like how this brightens her face, but I don't want the whole image that bright, so I add a mask to the layer (Click on the Add A Vector Mask icon at bottom of Layers Palette). I click on the mask to be sure it is active, then fill it with the foreground color of Black (ALT -> Backspace). Then, using a soft-edged brush set at about 30% Opacity and foreground color set to White, I paint over her face to bring back the brightness. I go over her face and neck area twice, then I go over her face again. I then merge this layer down into the Background Copy layer (CTRL-E).

Using the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette, I choose Levels, and I adjust the darks just a tiny bit by sliding the left side in a little. I want to get a few nice dark areas in there.

Next, I duplicate the Background Copy again, and using the Patch Tool, and the Spot Healing Tool (J, or SHIFT-J to scroll through all the tools available in the Patch/Healing tools), I begin to fix small areas on her face. It appears that she was eating chocolate, so I fix those areas around her mouth and on her chin.

I copy this layer (CTRL-J), and on this layer I enhance the brightness of the eyes.

I click on the top layer to make it active, then I use SHIFT-CTRL-ALT-E to blend all images into a composited image at the top of the stack, then I duplicate this layer (CTRL-J) to do some sharpening.

I sharpen the image using High Pass Sharpen (Filter-Other-High Pass) at about a radius of 8, then set the Blend Mode to Soft Light, then I merge this layer down (CTRL-E).

Looking at the image at this point I decide that I want a more High-Key look. Any easy way to accomplish this is a technique used for Extreme Black and Whites: Duplicate the layer, then set the new layer Blend Mode to Screen. Adjust the Opacity of the layer to taste. I like this at about 75%.

I decide that I want a very close crop, so I crop it, and decide that I am happy with the final results.