Photo Fix needed

[littlekiwi]

I took this photo last night and turned off the flash as to not to scare my dog - I've had a fiddle with it and can't seem to truly improve it but would love to save the photo if I could.



I use Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop Elements 6

[adrianka]

I tried a bit and came up with this:



Basically I used Curves to make the picture visible, and then I kept duplicating it and playing with Overlays.

There's still a lot of grain, but I suppose that's hard to avoid with a dark picture.

[littlekiwi]

thats about the best I could come up with as well

I might wait for another cold night where he is tucked up like that and with a bit more artificial light ( I only had a lamp on) I might get another shot that is better.

[Starlight-Princess]

I had a try and this is the best I could come up with...


Star x

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by littlekiwi

thats about the best I could come up with as well.

No wonder - I think one can expect no marvels with a photo as dark as this (maybe if it was shot in RAW, but I don't shoot in RAW, so I wouldn't really know). You'll do better next time.

[sprauncey1]

Even RAW you would have problems, its not a miracle worker! yep low light = noise because as you expose (make lighter) the program has to interpret what isn't there and this creates noise and exaggerates the noise in the original dark version.

Don't worry, we've all been there and had "those photos" that were dark but we loved. You could also work it like above and then run an artistic filter on it, make it look like a sketch or a painting.

[adrianka]

Originally Posted by sprauncey1

Don't worry, we've all been there and had "those photos" that were dark but we loved. You could also work it like above and then run an artistic filter on it, make it look like a sketch or a painting.

That's what I thought also, I think it would look great with an artistic filter. Sometimes bad photos make most interesting LOs!

[mummytothree]

You could also just scrap it and add the journaling explaning the photo. I have scrapped "bad" photos (lots and lots of times) because they were all I had and guess what...a bad photo doesn't take away from the memory. Infact sometimes the bad photo actually adds to the memory!!!

No matter how the photo turns out the memory will still be "beautiful"!!!!

[SeattleSheri]

Yeah, I'd probably just take a new photo. After you run curves, use the noise reduction feature to get rid of some the color noise ... or consider a B&W conversion.

[littlekiwi]

Thanks anyway for your suggestions - as I really wanted the color on this photo I think I'll shoot it again using some more light

[rachaelsscraps]

I did what I could in Lightroom, this is what I came up with




If you like it I can put the full-sized up, I just added the message board size for now to show you.

[littlekiwi]

Thanks Rachel for trying but I think I will retake the photo again one night

[sugirox]

Heres the best i could come up with

[littlekiwi]

Thanks everyone for trying to help me - I guess it is all a learning process (aka have enough light if you are going to turn off the flash!) but I will either turn it black and white or take a new photo

[Giseli Freitas]

I tried too:


w/ 'Glamour' filter in:

[littlekiwi]

I ended up using it for one of this months portfolio challenges instead

[julifish]

I love how everyone pitched in to help! You all are so "sweet"! I think your finished layout turned out beautiful and the picture is perfect!