Could someone edit these pictures for me pleaaaase? :)

I

IckyThump

Suspended / Banned
Messages
71
Name
Aimee
Edit My Images
Yes
My family from Jersey want to see nice pictures of my niece, BUT my photography skills and editing skills are seriously lacking, I have photoshop CS4 but I really can't figure it out :( I really need to go to lessons on CS4 if only they existed.

So if someone could take the time to help me out and make these look nicer I'll be very grateful :)
http://i40.tinypic.com/1442xb7.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/4roz09.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/733402.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/67qvk6.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/330tnr6.jpg
 
I recon the mods will be along in a min and do some editing!
 
hehehehehh... as long as that.?

these are too large... 800*600 is the norm for viewers to view, maybe then folk will help'
 
i would have edited sooner, but they were so large it took me that long to scroll down...
 
So you purchased circa £600 RRP of photo/video editing software and you don't have any idea how to use it? Why?

Just had a quick look at the pics and even CS4 cannot refocus post shot........ sorry.........
 
Lynton we were all n00bs at one point or another, it was a gift from my grandmother, I've looked up videos on photo editing and other tutorials, but for some reason whenever I try, they just don't seem any good.
 
Ok, enough hilarity,

what is it you are unhappy with in the pics? What would you like edited?
 
They just don't look any good, I'm just looking to get the picture as a whole somehow improved.
 
IckyThump said:
Lynton we were all n00bs at one point or another, it was a gift from my grandmother, I've looked up videos on photo editing and other tutorials, but for some reason whenever I try, they just don't seem any good.
Click to expand...

Editing is like photography
it takes time and patience
its not something you can learn overnight,
Just keep practising you will get there :thumbs:

I don't "do" people so I am not really going to be that much help
in the "enhancing" dept. sorry.

But play around with shadows / highlights
levels and curves
USM (Sharpen filter)
That should give you a starting point at least.
 
Thats an improvement certainly :thumbs:
 
Here are a couple Ive had chance to look at so far. I have the larger files if you want them.






 
Glad you like them :) A bit of messing in PS and Nik plugins. They are good shots, number 1 is really nice and well spotted.. PM me your email and i will email them, probably tomorrow now.
Thanks
 
That's really kind of you Bob, no 1 is really nice, nice composition.
Maybe someone could point Aimee to some tutorials on getting started in photoshop, and help her a little, that would be nice.:)
 
Aimee

Have a look at a couple of books of on using CS4. Either by Scott Kelby or Martin Evening. Both are excellent authors and have written a number of books on the subject. Both take a step by step approach to photoediting.

Amazon have both their books available, and have a "Look inside" feature which lets you look at the first chapter to see if it's right for you.
 
I had the same problem as you with Photoshop. I had a 30 day trial on Elements 7 and although I managed all the artistic filter bits and curves etc, as soon as I got into layers everything seemed to go wonky.

I enrolled on an evening class at the local school and have improved enormously - can even do layers now:)

It might be worth your looking into.
 
Lynton said:
So you purchased circa £600 RRP of photo/video editing software and you don't have any idea how to use it? Why?
Click to expand...

It's like buying a bike to learn to ride on, or roller skates to learn to skate on, or a car to be taught how to drive in, I suppose.
 
Kaouthia said:
They do.

http://tv.adobe.com/
http://www.photoshopusertv.com/
http://www.creativecow.net/
http://www.youtube.com/

And Google is your friend. :)
Click to expand...

You can also sign up to the likes of NAPP, pick up a book or two and some of us do 1:1 instruction too ;)

I would strongly recommend staying away from buying further plugins (especially ones that run to $700...) until you've at least got to grips with the basics of CS4. It's an incredibly powerful tool used by 99% of professional "digital creatives" and getting to know what it can do will really make retouching easier.

If you're going to be working with pictures of children and people in general then get this book

Restoration and Retouching

It also helps if you have good sharp images to start with, as trying to recover focus, or correct focus is really time consuming and irksome. It's digital, shoot LOTS it costs nothing extra and be ruthless in discarding the soft ones ;)

Consider that the post production work should be a layer of polish at the end, and not a means to recover a poor shot.
 
Kids always look great B&W and wth tighter crop

 
JasonRS said:
I would strongly recommend staying away from buying further plugins (especially ones that run to $700...) until you've at least got to grips with the basics of CS4. It's an incredibly powerful tool used by 99% of professional "digital creatives" and getting to know what it can do will really make retouching easier.
Click to expand...

I feel you have a personal dislike of Nik Plugins.. and always seem to mention the cost. The thing is not all of us have such limitations.
Also I have not on either occasion implied that the OP should purchase it, just informing them of what I used to achieve the picture edit. All of this can be achieved without the purchase of such seemingly expensive products, but i prefer to spend the time doing other things, so the speed gain is worth it to me.

And looking at the re-touching section of your website, with that amount of plastic surgery going on, I would suggest a plugin or two myself :)
 
bobkent said:
I feel you have a personal dislike of Nik Plugins.. and always seem to mention the cost. The thing is not all of us have such limitations.
Also I have not on either occasion implied that the OP should purchase it, just informing them of what I used to achieve the picture edit. All of this can be achieved without the purchase of such seemingly expensive products, but i prefer to spend the time doing other things so the speed gain is worth it to me.

And looking at the re-touching section of your website, with that amount of plastic surgery going on, I would suggest a plugin or two myself :)
Click to expand...

Nothing against Nik Plugins (I've ColorFX myself) or any others when used appropriately, or judiciously.

On the two occasions I've commented on them it's been with regard to the fact that $700 is a hell of a lot when someone's just shelled out £700 for Photoshop and they've stated they don't know how to use it, not "what else should I spend money on and still not understand what the very expensive software I've already got does". I simply don't agree that someone should default to plugins from the off before learning to use at least the basics of Photoshop, and once you've done that, you can create your own actions which are free!!!!

Posting up a series of images that you've hit with plugins is not helping the OP understand how to use the tools they already have, it's simply saying, if you spend some more money, you can have another tool that makes doing this a bit quicker.

And....

None of the retouching on my site has had any liquify / transform or reshaping done to it at all, so not sure where the plastic surgery comment is founded. The before and after images are all there to see, so I'd love to know which one's have had anything more than skin correction, as it's not been done by me?

It's all skin correction, clothing repair and one instance of a new background. So no plastic surgery, just digital makeup. ;)

But hey, I get paid to retouch so must be doing something right.
 
JasonRS said:
You can also sign up to the likes of NAPP, pick up a book or two and some of us do 1:1 instruction too ;)

I would strongly recommend staying away from buying further plugins (especially ones that run to $700...) until you've at least got to grips with the basics of CS4. It's an incredibly powerful tool used by 99% of professional "digital creatives" and getting to know what it can do will really make retouching easier.

If you're going to be working with pictures of children and people in general then get this book

Restoration and Retouching

It also helps if you have good sharp images to start with, as trying to recover focus, or correct focus is really time consuming and irksome. It's digital, shoot LOTS it costs nothing extra and be ruthless in discarding the soft ones ;)

Consider that the post production work should be a layer of polish at the end, and not a means to recover a poor shot.
Click to expand...

JasonRS said:
Nothing against Nik Plugins (I've ColorFX myself) or any others when used appropriately, or judiciously.

On the two occasions I've commented on them it's been with regard to the fact that $700 is a hell of a lot when someone's just shelled out £700 for Photoshop and they've asked how they should use it, not "what else should I spend money on and still not understand what the very expensive software I've already got does". I simply don't agree that someone should default to plugins from the off before learning to use at least the basics of Photoshop, and once you've done that, you can create your own actions which are free!!!!

Posting up a series of images that you've hit with plugins is not helping the OP understand how to use the tools they already have, it's simply saying, if you spend some more money, you can have another tool that makes doing this a bit quicker.

And....

None of the retouching on my site has had any liquify / transform or reshaping done to it at all, so not sure where the plastic surgery comment is founded. The before and after images are all there to see, so I'd love to know which one's have had anything more than skin correction, as it's not been done by me?

It's all skin correction, clothing repair and one instance of a new background. So no plastic surgery, just digital makeup. ;)

But hey, I get paid to retouch so must be doing something right.
Click to expand...

I agree, the best way to learn is with Photoshop itself. But these are produced to save time for those who don't wish to be bogged down with PP'ing all their images manually. Some people just don't want to spend hours retouching as its not what the hobby/job means to them. Each to their own so to speak.
The remark regarding plastic surgery is no more than the wax work one expressed by yourself on my edit of a noisy jpg.
There is skin correction and then there is skin correction!
And your comment about being paid to retouch is something that bothers me on many occasions when looking through these forums, just because someone pays you to do something (photography/retouching or in fact anything) don't mean that the works great, could just mean they don't know any better. That isn't a direct dig at you, but I would always be careful in using that as a gauge of how good you are.
And finally the OP didn't ask for advice she asked for help to make them look nicer and posted the pictures.. which I did and she was happy with them.
 
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