Post Processing Help/Advice

[richtersl]

I have a photo that I'd like to present as a wedding present to some friends. It's a photo I took of them dressed up in their American Civil War re-enactment outfits. The intent is to enlarge it to 11x14 and place it into a 16x20 frame for them.

I need some help figuring out what to do with the photo. I'd like it to be in sepia, but when I do that, the already washed out sky really gets washed out. OK, so a crop would be in order, but then the couple looks odd with their legs lopped off.

I have PhotoShop.

:help

Original:

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/114231121-M.jpg


Attempt 1 (crop plus Optik Verve Labs (http://www.optikvervelabs.com/) plug in ); sepia toning comes from a fill layer that I applied.

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/114231115-M.jpg



Attempt #2 (my own playing around); ditto with the sepia toning.

http://lrichters.smugmug.com/photos/114231094-M.jpg


Thanks!

[cletus]

Lovely shot!

There are a couple things I would try.

First I would try to see if I could get a B&W conversion that kept the sky from blowing out. There is a hint of blue in the sky so maybe try using the channel mixer for your conversion. Set the blue channel to zero (or even less than zero). That might darken up the sky a bit.

Second, you should be able to use the magic wand or a similar selection tool to select the sky. With the sky selected try darkening it up. There are a number of tools you could use. I would try Levels first.

Good luck!

[edgework]

Lovely shot!

There are a couple things I would try.

First I would try to see if I could get a B&W conversion that kept the sky from blowing out. There is a hint of blue in the sky so maybe try using the channel mixer for your conversion. Set the blue channel to zero (or even less than zero). That might darken up the sky a bit.

Second, you should be able to use the magic wand or a similar selection tool to select the sky. With the sky selected try darkening it up. There are a number of tools you could use. I would try Levels first.

Good luck!

I know that the Dan Margulis school fiercely resists local selections and corrections in favor of global moves. I'm a proud member of that school myself, except, of course, when it makes sense to do in a couple of simple step what would otherwise take several, with worse results.

Use the path tool and click 12 times, at each corner along the roof and the background horizon. Bingo. Sky's selected. Darken with a curve for simplicity, or, to be flashy and sophisticated (and pay due homage to the Dan Margulis school anyway) copy the red channel into a layer, put it in luminosity mode, mask with your path selection and then darken that. Skies always have more detail in the red channel and darkening with a curve will emphasize the edge between the cloud and sky. Beyond that, there's not a lot to be done, sky being, well... sky.