People Critique ⇒ Wedding shot, help needed

[minniev]

As mother of the groom I left the photography to the photographer at the resort where my son's wedding was held a few days ago. They don't like other photographers in the mix anyway, and I had enough going on without the camera. I did sneak a few shots, and this was the better one. I had to underexpose to keep from losing the brights since the setting was a west facing beach at sunset, pretty but challenging. The first proofs from the resort photographer shows he had the same problem but solved them with overbright flash, not my style.

I'd appreciate any help with this one, either suggestions or edits (with some description of what you did). I'm not a people photographer, and I don't retouch people so I'm in over my head. I'm attaching the original and my first edits which are in lightroom on the ipad, haven't got into PS with it yet.

[Psjunkie]

I think you'll do fine with a bit more work in Ps...still need some more brightness or lightness to the couple and in my opinion de-emphasize the back ground...they are the show so just a hint of back ground for sense of place is all that's necessary

[Duck]

To understand how to correct a particular problem you must first analyze what the problem is. In this case it is an imbalance of exposures between the subject in the foreground and the background. Understanding this, you can then look at the two parts and analyze them individually. In truth, the background is pretty nicely exposed. It's the couple in the foreground that are underexposed for the scene. The obvious solution is to do a global adjustment and boost the exposure so the subject is properly exposed. That means the background will likely start to blow out. Without some clever editing, this can often satisfy the problem but not here. We need to take it to the next level.

With the problem identified and a possible solution available, there are two fairly easy solutions; use a global adjustment to brighten the image and get the underexposed subjects looking proper then use a local adjustment on the background to lower the exposure and balance the scene, or use a global adjustment to lower the background exposure a touch and add local adjustments to the subjects and balance out their exposures... Or if you're up to the challenge, do a little bit of both globally and balance out what's needed with local adjustments. This was my solution.

Here is the final adjustment I did in Lightroom (no photoshop involved), with an added recropping for drama.

Below are several screenshots of how I achieved this result. Enjoy.

I used the "Basic" and "Curves" modules to 'normalize' the image.

The "Circle Gradient" was used on the faces to brighten the exposure.

A "Linear Gradient" was used to 'cool' the background and lower the exposure at top and bottom. The "Eraser Brush" removed the effect from the subjects.

[minniev]

I think you'll do fine with a bit more work in Ps...still need some more brightness or lightness to the couple and in my opinion de-emphasize the back ground...they are the show so just a hint of back ground for sense of place is all that's necessary

Yes, you are right. I am a landscaper so when I add people I make them props instead of the subject.

[minniev]

To understand how to correct a particular problem you must first analyze what the problem is. In this case it is an imbalance of exposures between the subject in the foreground and the background. Understanding this, you can then look at the two parts and analyze them individually. In truth, the background is pretty nicely exposed. It's the couple in the foreground that are underexposed for the scene. The obvious solution is to do a global adjustment and boost the exposure so the subject is properly exposed. That means the background will likely start to blow out. Without some clever editing, this can often satisfy the problem but not here. We need to take it to the next level.

With the problem identified and a possible solution available, there are two fairly easy solutions; use a global adjustment to brighten the image and get the underexposed subjects looking proper then use a local adjustment on the background to lower the exposure and balance the scene, or use a global adjustment to lower the background exposure a touch and add local adjustments to the subjects and balance out their exposures... Or if you're up to the challenge, do a little bit of both globally and balance out what's needed with local adjustments. This was my solution.

Here is the final adjustment I did in Lightroom (no photoshop involved), with an added recropping for drama.


MinnieV_J.jpg

Below are several screenshots of how I achieved this result. Enjoy.


MinnieV_J001.jpg
MinnieV_J002.jpg
MinnieV_J003.jpg

Thanks so much for the examples and the discussion which amounts to a small class! As is often the case, I could diagnose the problem but gave up too early on the cure. Your explanation and example will help me finish the job. I actually tried to use the range masks in LR on this one (LR is all I had with me, on my ipad) but I'm not very capable with them yet. They do show promise, but I'll need more practice. Do you use them?

[Duck]

[...] I actually tried to use the range masks in LR on this one (LR is all I had with me, on my ipad) but I'm not very capable with them yet. They do show promise, but I'll need more practice. Do you use them?

I have used range masks but on very select images. They do have their use but only for special types of adjustments. In principal,it works in a similar way to blend if in the way selections are made. In a way, but not exactly.

[minniev]

[...] I actually tried to use the range masks in LR on this one (LR is all I had with me, on my ipad) but I'm not very capable with them yet. They do show promise, but I'll need more practice. Do you use them?

I have used range masks but on very select images. They do have their use but only for special types of adjustments. In principal,it works in a similar way to blend if in the way selections are made. In a way, but not exactly.

Thanks. I've just started trying to figure them out, this is the first time I've tried on anything other than landscapes. The radial filter is my tried-and-true solution for most things on the ipad. Adobe keeps promising they will bring "real" layers to the mobile platform but alas, not yet, and the early reviews from the beta testers indicate that the solution is not "real", meaning that it is probably like what's in Procreate or similar.