Different CONTRAST fore/background

[guava65]

While trying to touch up some photos I ran into a couple that I could not get as clear as I'd like.

One is a picture that is washed out becuase of a what looks like too much sunlight. (white balance(?) maybe. The other was taken in a back lit situation and the subject faces are dark as a result.

I was able to enhance the backlit photo by isolating the subject from the background and changing settings on a new layer with only them. This turn up pretty good results except in that the edges of the enhanced area are harsh. ANY IDEAS on how to blend them better?

I tried the same thing with the washed out photo and was able to enhance the photo but still had a milky haze over the sujects faces. Is ther eanyway to clear the hazy look?



Aloha,
cg

 

[SPYDERIX]

Hi,

There is only so much you can do to photos that either have too much light or not enough. Other than that the most common response is to re-shoot the photos, however that may not even be an option.

It's hard to tell without seeing the images Can you post links to them so we can see what you are working with?

Hope this helps!

Nate

http://www.mainframe-webdesign.com

 

[rickwells]

Firstly, the harsh edge can be avoided in a number of ways. When you select and cut out the subject, make sure to feather the edge. Another way is to duplicate the whole picture on a new layer, do your correction work ignoring the background then erase the top layer background in stages using a brush set at around 20% to 50% opacity.
The 'milky haze' problem. are you working in RGB mode ? Change to CMYK. Click on the black channel to see how much detail is there - if any. If there is detail, select the area to enhance, go back to composite view and use Levels on the black channel only. Make sure you have preview turned on. Increase the shadows and midtones in the black.
Or copy the selected area to a new layer and use the Multiply blending mode.
If there is very little detail in the black channel here's what you can do:- With the black channel selected, Command click (Mac) the cyan channel. This will make a selection of the detail which can be used to put detail into the black channel. This can be done by painting (at low opacity) or using the Burn tool.
Experiment with a mix of all these tips. Good Luck