BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Digital Storage Issues

Joy Fender

What Can Photoshop LE Do For This Picture?


	Maddie and Donna See my comments below Joy Fender

Obviously, the picture is overexposed (right term ?) in the upper portion where the sun is hitting the woman directly in the face. Is there something I could do in Photoshop LE to "fix" this? I am a complete newbie to Photoshop, so bear with me!

The shot was taken with a Canon G3 with the following settings:

Shooting Mode: Program AE
Shutter speed: 1/160
Aperature: 4.0
ISO Speed: Auto
White Balance: Auto

I basically let the camera decide what to do, realizing now that I should have probably set the ISO at 200 and the white balance to sunny.

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August 21, 2003

doug Nelson

Sometimes a digitally acquired image may be like a print from the drug store in that the information is there, but it doesn't show up. Many people try to bypass the imaging software step and print out of the camera or from the hard drive picture file. Many, if not most, images can benefit from some tweaking.

Go to Image/Image Adjust/Levels in PS LE. See if either of the end sliders needs to be moved over so that they touch the point where information is present in the histogram [where the black peaks begin to spike on the right or the left ends]. They may already be correct. Now move the middle slider so that it looks right to you.

Here's an alternative fix, not to be done in addition to Levels. If I remember correctly, LE has Curves under Image/Image Adjust. If so, click the cursor on that too light part of the face. You'll see a place indicated on the diagonal line. Grab that place with the cursor and move it up or down to see if that helps. If you value this image, SAVE an unworked original of it. There may be a way to do this that another reader might be able to tell us.

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August 22, 2003

BetterPhotoJim.com - Jim Miotke

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