Post Processing advice...

[TonyD315]

I was trying some things out the other night with some friends and I took this picture. The ISO was increased because it was getting dark. When I looked at it in Lightroom there was a lot of noise. I edited it and messed around with decreasing the noise...just wondering if I'm on the right track??

PS this is uploaded from my phone after I saved it from Dropbox. If it's small or the EXIF data isn't there I will update it when I get home from work.

 

[BackdoorArts]

Noise doesn't seem to be a problem for me. My issue is with the backlit subject. You need to get their face lit somehow.

There are various ways you could do that in PS, and in LR you'd likely need to use the brush tool. I love using the Reflector Efex filter from Nik Color Efex 4 for situations like this as it acts very much like a live reflector at the scene, shining Gold, Soft Gold or Silver light onto the subject. Here's what I got with it, positioning it as if it's coming from the bottom left corner. I then masked off the effect from the scene behind him.

While I was at it I burned in bits and pieces of the background to help accentuate the subject.

There's likely more touch-up work that could be done, but this is the major issue that needs correcting.

 

[TonyD315]

Noise doesn't seem to be a problem for me. My issue is with the backlit subject. You need to get their face lit somehow.

There are various ways you could do that in PS, and in LR you'd likely need to use the brush tool. I love using the Reflector Efex filter from Nik Color Efex 4 for situations like this as it acts very much like a live reflector at the scene, shining Gold, Soft Gold or Silver light onto the subject. Here's what I got with it, positioning it as if it's coming from the bottom left corner. I then masked off the effect from the scene behind him.

View attachment 107902

While I was at it I burned in bits and pieces of the background to help accentuate the subject.

There's likely more touch-up work that could be done, but this is the major issue that needs correcting.

I went in myself and adjusted the noise. The original had much much more. As far as the back light on the subject, that's where an external flash would come in handy am I right? It would save me having to edit it after the fact. That's on my short list of things to get along with a tripod.

Also, what exactly do you mean by burned in bits and pieces of the background? I'm still learning post processing so I'll take all the info I can get.

 

[BackdoorArts]

what exactly do you mean by burned in bits and pieces of the background? I'm still learning post processing so I'll take all the info I can get.[/QUOTE]

It's an old darkroom term than meant you let certain parts of the print be exposed to the light a little longer so the light burned in the exposed part of the image. In Photoshop (and Elements) there are Burn (the hand) and Dodge tools that do the digital equivalent. I find these to be easier to use when I just want to lighten or darken a particular part of a photo, rather than building layer masks. The brush tool in LR can be used the same way, but it's a little more cumbersome.

If you look at my image, the sky and brick building over his left shoulder are darker than in yours.

 

[TonyD315]

what exactly do you mean by burned in bits and pieces of the background? I'm still learning post processing so I'll take all the info I can get.

It's an old darkroom term than meant you let certain parts of the print be exposed to the light a little longer so the light burned in the exposed part of the image. In Photoshop (and Elements) there are Burn (the hand) and Dodge tools that do the digital equivalent. I find these to be easier to use when I just want to lighten or darken a particular part of a photo, rather than building layer masks. The brush tool in LR can be used the same way, but it's a little more cumbersome.

If you look at my image, the sky and brick building over his left shoulder are darker than in yours.[/QUOTE]


I took what you said and went back to Lightroom to work on his face. I used the adjustment brush to select his face and then increase the exposure a tad and also the saturation little. I don't think it's perfect, but I think I'm on the right track...