Thursday, December 8, 2011

Models: Editing & Making The Most Of A Poor Quality Photo

Sometimes an image you take is bad for whatever reason.  Though it takes up a great amount of storage space, I don't delete bad captures.  I tuck them away and once in a while, I'll go through a batch, pick one and see what I can do with it.  

So, with a desire to explore my editing skills or lack there of in some cases, I pulled out the below photo of a model I worked with.  It was underexposed, slightly out of focus and outright fuzzy.  There were also an enormous amount of shoe prints on the floor.  While that's relatively easy to remove, I found it a challenge to do so while maintaining her shadow.  I sharpened her facial features and softened the harsh shadows on her torso.  I added a bit of grain to balance the fuzziness.  I'm still working out what I'm going to do about the area around her knees and the top of her feet.  There's something about the shadows and the fuzziness that just look kind of funky.