How to Turn This Pic into a great one? 1

[alehawk]

Hi!
I use photoshop 7 and I am a newbie using it, I got to make a webpage and I need to include some pics in it, the problem is that the pics are not very good but I saw people turn a bad picture into a great one using photoshop.
I must sharpen the image but whe I use shapen I get awfull results over this pic:

http://www15.brinkster.com/momo29/cara.jpg

What process should I use to tuen this pic into a great one, turning this into a pic with good definition?
Thank you!!

 

[deecee]

cannot see the picture

[Hammer]
Nike Failed Slogans -- "Just Don't Do It!"

 

[alehawk]

Try this link

http://www.grupofn.com/cara.jpg

 

[SPYDERIX]

Hi,

There isn't really anything you can do to get that picture looking good. A good camera and a re-shoot is what you need.
You can try sharpen, sharpen edges, and unsharp mask and that's about it.

Hope this helps!

Nate

http://www.mainframe-webdesign.com

 

[Juppo]

Now I had to read that twice to make sure it wasn't an insult, but I agree that you need something good to start to work with.

 

[blueark]

Great photos generally start that way: suitably focused, good dynamic range, detail in the both the shadows & highlights, etc, etc. Photoshop can correct a certain amount of problems, but it can only work with what it's supplied with.

In your image, there is a lot of grain/noise, it's out of focus, and lots of the shadow detail is irretrievable (look at the histogram in Levels and you'll notice that the black areas are clipped, which suggests lost data).

Having said all that, you can improve it somewhat by brightening it a little (preferably with Levels or Curves), and then concentrating on the eyes. After all, it's the first place most people are drawn to when looking at a portrait. Try using using a combination of the burn, dodge and sharpen tools around the eyes to give the image a focal point (use subtle amounts of each tool and build up gradually). You may also need to use the sponge tool to pull back colors that become too saturated.

If you're not too concernted with it looking like a photograph, try applying a median filter to it (Filters > Noise > Median), or even one of the artistic filters. You could even increase the image size first, as many of these filters will hide the artifacts associated with resampling, and my even hide many of the faults in the original image. You won't end up with a great photograph, but you may end up with an interesting image.