Amanda01.jpg

the original is here

micheal, i changed your link from -O (original) to -L so it would be easier for folks to see the pic. i added a link to the original for you.

now, what photo editor do you use?

Andy:


Photoshop CS. The originals were shot JPEG high...i didn't shoot them raw because I was tight for space.

Originally Posted by michael972 Amanda01.jpg the original is here

I corrected the color by threshold, selected the whites of her eyes to lighten them by desaturation, and selected the iris color for increased saturation, used the healing brush a bit, and dodged and burned the corners to reduce the brightness near the edges. And added a small black border - any better?

Marked Improvement....

Originally Posted by pathfinder I corrected the color by threshold,

You know, I've spent a lot of time on color correction, but I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I don't know what this means. I use curves and choose a few points that I know somthing about. If there is a white and black point, that makes it easy, but skin, sky, vegetation, etc all can help.

But people keep writing about threshold correction. So I'm guessing this is one of the ton of things I don't know.

Originally Posted by rutt You know, I've spent a lot of time on color correction, but I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I don't know what this means. I use curves and choose a few points that I know somthing about. If there is a white and black point, that makes it easy, but skin, sky, vegetation, etc all can help. But people keep writing about threshold correction. So I'm guessing this is one of the ton of things I don't know.

Sorry John but I think you do know about it....- I did find the black and white points - that is described somewhere I think as threshold correction as what you do is click on a "New fill or adjustment layer" button in the layers pallette and then click "threshold" in the drop down menu. That is why I called it threshold I guess. In this image there were nice black points in the tree and white points in the shorts.

I also used the healing brush and burned in the corners a little as well as a little emphasis about her eys as requested.

Originally Posted by pathfinder Sorry John but I think you do know about it....- I did find the black and white points - that is described somewhere I think as threshold correction as what you do is click on a "New fill or adjustment layer" button in the layers pallette and then click "threshold" in the drop down menu. That is why I called it threshold I guess. In this image there were nice black points in the tree and white points in the shorts.

Actually what I do is quite a bit more powerful, but not nearly as simple (from the sound of it.) Because I use curves, I can not only change the color balance of the white and black points, but also of any other point. That means it also can work if there is no black or white point, but if you know something about the color of other things (skin, sky, grass, etc.) On the other hand, it can be time consuming. So it would be nice to have another technique.

Originally Posted by rutt Actually what I do is quite a bit more powerful, but not nearly as simple (from the sound of it.) Because I use curves, I can not only change the color balance of the white and black points, but also of any other point. That means it also can work if there is no black or white point, but if you know something about the color of other things (skin, sky, grass, etc.) On the other hand, it can be time consuming. So it would be nice to have another technique.

I guess, I still don't get it. I followed your instructions and the result is a layer mask and the the view is black and white (no gray). Fine. Now what?
Are you just using the threshold adjustment to find the lightest and darkest points and then using curves to make them true black and true white? Or is there something else?

Originally Posted by rutt Actually what I do is quite a bit more powerful, but not nearly as simple (from the sound of it.) Because I use curves, I can not only change the color balance of the white and black points, but also of any other point. That means it also can work if there is no black or white point, but if you know something about the color of other things (skin, sky, grass, etc.) On the other hand, it can be time consuming. So it would be nice to have another technique.

What I've started doing I learned from Scott Kelby's book, and it's a hybrid of what you all are talking about.

1) Add an adjustment layer using threshold, drag threshold down to find the darkest point of the image.
2) Select Color Sample tool, and click in the dark area.
3) double click on the threshold layer and this time adjust it all the way to the right, finding the brightest point in the image.
4) Using Color Sample tool again, click on that bright point.
5) delete the threshold adjustment layer
6) open curves (I've set my shadow RGB levels to 20/20/20, my gray RGB levels to 128/128/128 and the highlights to 240/240/240)
7) select the shadows dropper, and click in the little target left by the color sample tool.
8) select the highlights dropper, and click in the second target that was left byt the Color Sample Tool (they're numbered!)
9)You can clear the samples now, up at the top.
10) this sets your shadows and highlights to a neutral point.
11) use the midpoint dropper to set the grays in that area, if you wish.
12) now you may want to boost the overall RGB in the middle to boost midrange values.
13) make any other adjustments to the curves that you want.