How to best edit 'people' photos

[steelerdirtfreak]

I usually only shoot motorsports, specifically short track dirt cars (sprints, late models, stocks, modifieds, etc.) and I'm fairly comfortable editing those photos.

However, I've just been asked to take a series of photos of people from our church and I've discovered that I really haven't a clue as to how to edit (post-process) these types of photos.

I use Photoshop Elements 2 for my editing; I do have the curves plug-in added.

Here is an example from this past Sunday; the first photo is the original, unedited. The second is my attempt at editing, and I'm not happy with the result at all.

Here is what I did:
1. cropped to 10x8 size (part of requirement for this project is 8x10 size)
2. Used auto-levels
3. used curves to get it to where I thought it might look ok (I really just guess with curves, dragging around til I think it looks ok)
4. applied Scott Kelby's tip for simulating a 80B filter
5. applied unsharp mask

What should I have done differently? Is my edit as bad as I think it is?

If anyone would like to take the original and edit it, feel free to do so, but I'd sure like if you post your result that you also tell me what you did and perhaps even why you did it. I've had a couple of shooter friends tell me specific settings to use on a couple of past shots, but not why to use those settings, and so I don't understand how to really adjust to different types of photos.

I welcome any and all advice.

Original is here:
http://oyleractionphotos.com/images/DSC_0783-test.jpg

My edit is here:
http://oyleractionphotos.com/images/...lover-test.jpg

[ZJChaser]

I am no expecrt at all on people photography but here is my quick go at it.
I don't know what options you have in elements but I used a levels layer, and a curvers layer. I also made a second layer of the image and desaturated it and set it to blend as soft sight and drop its opacity down to 30%. I'm still not terribly happy with it. Your edit looks to hae a yellow tint to me.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...testcopy-1.jpg

[another view]

First and most importantly, I'm not looking at it on a calibrated monitor, so I'm not really sure if what I'm looking at is correct.

The retouched shot (again this is as I'm seeing it now) looks a little over done. I tend to prefer softer contrast and color with people shots, but that's not necessarily everyone's choice. My method would be to crop, then use the levels tool (not auto) to bring in the black and white points to the edge of the curve - but maybe not all the way, especially with the white (again, my taste). The filter (sure it's not an 81B?) looks good but maybe there's a little too much of it. I'd back it down about half way. Depending on the result I might bring down the overall color saturation too.

[drg]

Paul,

The issues that I am seeing with your photograph are not a post-processing issue as much as with the original image. The camera has locked on to the brick wall background and rendered the eyes and faces of the two people out of focus. That isn't something you are going to fix in Adobe Photoshop.

The incrediblly industrial white painted brick background is not the best choice for anyone with light colored/graying hair. A plain wall would be better than the light brick. Remember, try not to have anything coming out of a subjects head that doesn't belong there!

A small detail or two:

The wooden rail inset in the wall is unattractive peeking out behind the lady.

The man's tie should cover the buttons on his shirt, and those buttons with that camera should appear round and the holes in them are easily countable. The pattern in his shirt should also be in focus.

You have a purple artifact in the lower right portion of the photograph, probably from straitening the image.

One other detail, if you are going to have a portrait oriented photograph as a final, try shooting it that way to begin with. Sometimes a photo benefits from a change, but with a posed shot such as this, it is often best to make the image as close a possible to finished result from the start.

The editing you have done is fine, it just isn't all that this photograph needs. Hope this will help with future work and even a 're-shoot' of this one.

[SmartWombat]

Watch the histogram when you're shooting, I think the background fooled the exposure.
That will give you less correction to do later
Focus is completely off, I can't sharpen that away unfortunately
Looks like AF locked onto the brickwork.

How did you light this?
I see an apparent shadow on his face from the glasses that doesn't look like it's from on-camera flash.

Flash WB doesn't look right, so I guess the light was reflected of something off-white.
I ended up at 4950 tint +8 for WB

Other than that, there's not much I can offer.
My PS skills aren't good enough yet.

[steelerdirtfreak]

Thanks for everyone's help so far and to ZJChaser for the edit.

I can see that I am going to have to get with this group and try to arrange to set up a different time and area to shoot these photos. A little more about this particular shot and the circumstances. It was taken on Sunday morning, 5 minutes before the service started (was supposed to have been 30 minutes before but bad weather and a long drive got this couple there at the last moment). And since this is our pastor, we had to shoot fast because it was time for him to go to work! The only place we could get somewhat away from the hustle and bustle of arriving congregants was this small 10' x 10' alcove, dimly lit with a 60 watt light bulb and an 8 ft ceiling. I used my SB800 - straight on blew the photo completely out so I ended up shooting straight up to the ceiling with a Lightsphere on. Because of the configuration of the room I was about 6 ft from them while I was shooting.

What kind of focus setting do I need to use for this type of photo? It would seem that the one small area of the wall right between the couple was where the focus centered on. So how do I get both husband and wife equally in focus? And yes, I admit that AF and the different types of settings do confuse me to a degree.

The wooden rail is actually the mantle of a fireplace and is the only thing in this room not painted white.

I can't believe I didn't catch the purple from the straightening.

And yes, it was the 81B

So, what I've learned so far:
Find a better place to shoot
Make sure the time is not rushed
I need to still learn how to set the AF better
Make sure that I pay attention to subject's details, such as tie needs to be straight.

I really appreciate the feedback and look forward to even more learning.

[drg]

Select an AF point that is on the eyes and keep yourself and the camera in the same plane as both people. If there is a stair case, that might make a better background, a bookcase in an office, even the chancel area of the sanctuary would be attractive. Left and right and up and down tilt can all make the image focus shift and be undesirable in a portrait. Tripods can aid with that tremendously.

The fireplace might work if you seated the couple in front of the fireplace, just make sure that you don't have their heads overlapping the mantle. Shoot from a low vantage to allow the fireplace to frame them and even if it has a white brick border, it could still be quite attractive. Just be aware not to tilt the camera plane while shooting as this can cause other areas of the photograph (such as the feet or hands) to be blurred or distorted.

Good luck and will wait to see you next results.

[rovowen]

To all the photographers that critiqued this photo.
I did not take this photo and would not even begin to be able to critique it.
But by just reading all of your imput has helped me to look for things in the future.
Being a Newbie, I never even noticed the buttons showing or the reflection in the
glasses. I would never have caught the purple, except that it was pointed out.
Thank you for even helping those that even read this forum

Thank You
Newbie Here

[freygr]

I usually only shoot motorsports, specifically short track dirt cars (sprints, late models, stocks, modifieds, etc.) and I'm fairly comfortable editing those photos.
clip.....

I use Photoshop Elements 2 for my editing; I do have the curves plug-in added.

Here is an example from this past Sunday; the first photo is the original, unedited. The second is my attempt at editing, and I'm not happy with the result at all.
clip...
What should I have done differently? Is my edit as bad as I think it is?

No I feel the edit is OK, but next time try to use a different back drop. Cinder Block walls give it an industrial look.