Photo Help

So. My BFF who lives in Phoenix made me the cutest pirate flag for the boys' room and I got it this weekend, so excited. :thumbup:

I asked her for some pics of her girls so I could make her 2 or 3 frameable layouts for her living room and she sent me the pics. :thumbdown:

The quality is miserable. MISERABLE. The grain is so big, it's like cottage cheese. It's almost like they were tiny and she resized them big, I don't know what she did.

Now, I don't know if whoever is reading this is familiar with my gallery... but... I'm used to the pics I take with my dslr, and I can't bear to even look at these photos under my Lightroom 2 loupe... it's... revolting how bad they are. Not just the grain, but the highlights are blown on almost all of the faces.

HELP!! What do I do??

Some examples:

Um...wow......

Maybe try a levels adjustment? And then an S curve?

oye, bryn. being a photo snob is a terrible plight. i feel you and i am sorry to report that i have no help to offer. i am photoshop handicapped.

I had some photos of my son that were really bad. Im not an expert of course but after playing around for about 30 minutes I went from this:



to this:




I know the photo isnt great in the finished layout but I LOVE this photo of my son. Its just so him at that age...playing in the mud making mudpies and just being a boy.

I think those photos can be saved. They wont be terrific professional looking photos Im sure. Alot of times the photos that mean the most to a person are not the posed professional looking photos but those that capture a special moment even with the blemishes and noise and bad lighting...it just brings that day back. So if I was to try to do something like this I would just try to do the best with the photos she sent and try to capture the moment and make it something she will cherish

Try the Shadows/Highlights on them? I hate pics like that.

ETA and Noiseware! I love Noiseware lol

Yeah! I'm using Noiseninja and I've frakked with the s-curve and the exposure, it makes it this mucky brownish color.

I asked her about the photos, she said she took them with her old camera and I convinced her that she and the girls need to do a new photoshoot this week with her newer camera.

I'll try to keep playing with them, though, I felt so bad about investigating the quality of the pictures, I hope she doesn't think I was putting her down, I was just trying to figure out if she messed with the file to make it easier to send to me!

Was it wrong for me to ask her, should I have just worked with what I had??

I am a photo snob!! /cries

When did that happen!!

Not wrong if the photos didnt inspire you and you couldnt get anything done when working with them. I know if it was me Id rather you ask for another set of pictures or suggest another photo shoot then to do something that you werent happy with and you didnt feel represents your best work. Hope she can either come up with some photos that would work better for you or can get some great photos with a new photo shoot.

Voodoo_Bryn said:

Was it wrong for me to ask her, should I have just worked with what I had??

I am a photo snob!! /cries

When did that happen!!

Click to expand...

awww. it's ok to not want their faces glowing. your poor friend probably was just thrown for a loop, cause she doesn't get your need for optimum photos. it'll be ok.

Could you try B&Ws? I'm also photoshop handicapped when it comes to picture editing, but I wondered if that would help??

Yeah, I agree, it's probably a lot quicker for her to take new photos for you

They are so overexposed that even with lots of work, they won't look very good. Black and white conversion will help some, but they are pretty blown out.

She emailed them to you, right? If she did, did her email compress them? That happens A LOT, particularly with hotmail. If you think it did, you could ask her to send them again as a "file" attachment rather than a "photo" attachment.

i'm a photo snob too, lol. ever since i got my dslr i don't know how i coped without it before!

i think it was okay to ask her to take new ones. they were not really fixable with that much noise and blow out.

Yah those are badddddddddd. I don't know if they are even fixable. I would have asked for new ones too.