PDA

View Full Version : I'm so proud of this!

CindySimon
11-02-2006, 05:14 AM
Here's the original photo I took of my son on his first day of kindergarten. All the others (the ones where the flash actually went off) he's either not looking at the camera or smiling weird. I HAD to use this one somehow.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/csimon01/BenDark.jpg

I used a technique I read about in a past DeZine from The Digi Chick, where you duplicate the layer and change the top layer mode to Screen. That wasn't light enough, so I merged those two, duplicated it again, and changed the top layer to Screen again. I think I only had to do it one more time, play with the layers and curves, then do an Extract and blur up the background. Here's the final result!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/csimon01/superstar_sm.jpg

You don't know how happy I was to be able to use this shot!!! (Kit is Star Shine by Jennifer Layden, stitches are from the SBB Vintage Artistry kit, fonts are Comix, Boris Black Bloxx with the Atomic Cupcake Messy Sponge Paint action, and Avante.)
Darcy Baldwin
11-02-2006, 05:22 AM
WOWzers, Cindy -that's an awesome transformation! I have SO many of these shots that I've deleted..and you mean that I might've been able to save them!?
I'm off to see if the article is archived on the site!
Keely~B
11-02-2006, 05:23 AM
Don't you just want to hug your software sometimes? You did a great job on that. His expression is too cute.
Faith True
11-02-2006, 05:26 AM
WOW, how great is this? Wonderful Job!
BevNPicard
11-02-2006, 05:28 AM
wow! you did a great job fixing your picture.
Kim2002
11-02-2006, 05:57 AM
Nice job, Cindy. I love how excited and happy he looks. Does the photo look really grainy now? I found that the more times I've applied blending modes, the grainier the end result appears. Just curious if others have noticed the same thing.
aggietha
11-02-2006, 05:59 AM
Goodness, this is awesome!!! Im never throwing bad pics again, look at how you can restore them!
CindySimon
11-02-2006, 06:17 AM
It was slightly grainy but I think I did an Unsharp Mask that helped a little. I do Unsharp Masking on nearly every photo of faces I use.
diannerigdon
11-02-2006, 06:41 AM
Nice! And cute too!
opeysmama
11-02-2006, 07:03 AM
WOW awesome!!!
andyapc
11-02-2006, 07:20 AM
that is unbelievable!

I've got about 300 photos i need to try this on.
vshaw
11-02-2006, 07:20 AM
Awesome job. This is the first trick I teach my students. It can be a life saver!
Jana1506
11-02-2006, 08:08 AM
Wow Cindy, nice job! Don't 'ya just love digi scrapping? Being able to safe these priceless pictures is ... well, priceless. :D
growliesgirl
11-02-2006, 08:39 AM
I wonder if this would work on a scanned photo as well? I've got a few from my mom & dad's second wedding before the days of digital that came out dark but looked like great photos, I'll have to try it out. Thanks for posting this, and by the way, your fix looks absolutely fantastic.
PeggyC
11-02-2006, 01:37 PM
Great job! His expression is so cute!
ConnyB
11-02-2006, 01:41 PM
GREAT Job!!! Really wonderful what you made of this picture!
nina
11-02-2006, 01:46 PM
is this article archived?
i would like to get an introduction. i have tons of pictures like yours was cindy.
great job on this
NatalieBird
11-02-2006, 05:38 PM
Ohh WOW what a differance im soo going to try this...LOL
Nettio
11-02-2006, 05:59 PM
Love using layer modes, use them all the time!

If you want to try this yourself, in PS, go to your layer pallette. Duplicate the layer. You should see a box that says "Normal." If you Click on that box it will pull out a menu that has a bunch of different modes to choose from.

The three key ones are Multiply, Screen and Overlay. Basically this is how they work:
Multiply: Hides white, image will darken
Screen: Hides black, image will lighten
Overlay: Hides gray, image ends up with more contrast
The other options do varying degrees of this.

It's pretty easy to do, just play around and see what you like. You can combine them by duplicating layers for more fun effects too. And if you don't like what's happening you can always switch back to Normal and it will return to how it was when you started on that layer.

HTH!
Grace
11-02-2006, 09:24 PM
WOW!! That came out awesome
Diamante
11-02-2006, 09:46 PM
That's so AWESOME Cindy!! I'm glad you were able to recover your picture!! It came out perfect!!

Gorgeous layout too by the way!!
Theresa Hernandez
11-02-2006, 09:46 PM
Oh wow, Cindy, that's awesome!
traciinreno
11-03-2006, 08:55 AM
Great save on the photo! An inspiration to not give up on some of our pics!
pbumbaca
11-03-2006, 11:12 AM
Dang Cindy that's great! Do you know how many dark photos I've deleted! I wish I knew about this before! TFS!
Penny Springmann
11-03-2006, 08:34 PM
Cindy,
Wow! That is fabulous! Don't you love layer modes!