Is this salvageable?

[scott_lewis]

I completely blew this shot, no arguments. But I love the composition. If it can be saved, my meager skills are not up to the task.

http://www.mediafire.com/?1qih4s9hb2d3qrh

Nikon RAW (NEF) format.

Thanks in advance.

[runner450]

I like the composition...if only I could work on NEF files...

[katodog]

Wow, that background is hideous, not the most ideal conditions to shoot in, huh?? Lucky you, you got to shoot in that same crap lighting scenario, mixed light, spotlights, and reflected light. Plus that background, woof, that's just nasty. Even if you could light the place yourself that background and background lighting would kill you.


It's salvageable, maybe not to the extent that you'd like, but still enough to make a decent image out of it. The only thing that really hurts an image like this is the low-light noise, even with RAW it's gonna be hard to remove all of the noise in the shot without causing either slight artifacts or losing a lot of detail.


Here it is from PSCS4 and then a few adjustments in PSPX2...






This is one of those types of images where you have to keep playing with it until you get it the way you want. I'm running it through Lightroom now, to see if it'll work the image a bit better.

[katodog]

I like the composition...if only I could work on NEF files...

You don't use Photoshop or Lightroom?

[JLew24asu]

Originally Posted by scott_lewis

I completely blew this shot, no arguments. But I love the composition. If it can be saved, my meager skills are not up to the task.

http://www.mediafire.com/?1qih4s9hb2d3qrh

Nikon RAW (NEF) format.

Thanks in advance.

hopefully I can remember to look tonight or you can give this thread a bump. I'd like to see what I can do with it.

[runner450]

Originally Posted by katodog

You don't use Photoshop or Lightroom?

My CS4 needs a plugin to view NEF, same as it did to view CR2. oops.

[JLew24asu]

Originally Posted by runner450

My CS4 needs a plugin to view NEF, same as it did to view CR2. oops.

what plugin? my CS4 doesnt need one

[runner450]

Originally Posted by katodog

You don't use Photoshop or Lightroom?

Originally Posted by JLew24asu

what plugin? my CS4 doesnt need one

Oh - It's a TIFF...not a NEF...I can view/edit the TIFF

[JLew24asu]

LOL whats a TIFF? he attached a NEF file. which is viewable in PS4 and/or lightroom without a plugin

[katodog]

Crap, now we're gonna have to have a fight about Nikon RAW too??



So, anybody care to comment on the crappy edit I posted?

[scott_lewis]

I know its going to take a significant amount of work, so I'm not looking for anything fast and I greatly appreciate the effort.

Looks you're running into the same thing I did -- really bad noise and really undersaturated background while losing a lot of detail, especially her face. But you did a hell of a lot better than I did

Now that I've brought it up, I'm going to try again myself. I haven't tried in a month or so...

[Headsick]

http://home.comcast.net/~HEADSICK/recovered.jpg
This is full size, and about 10mb in jpeg form...

[Headsick]

Btw, I did the above edit in CS3 in about 20 minutes. I'll play with it again when I get home and see if CS5 can do any better.

[JLew24asu]

I think this could be better if someone knows how to brighten up just the area around her face. is that possible?

[kjonnnn]

My Attempt. Regular and Denoised..