REQUEST: Good ideas to make my band photo look PRO

[dsvnsson]

Hi! I´m looking for help/instructions to make my band photo look more pro/cool. Also it has some mistakes i would like to vanish:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/58 ... 3pieni.jpg
1. The sealing should be turned from white to black and still look as natural as possible. Does this mean the singer´s hair will vanish?
2. The pockets I would like to be black, like this:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/35/coptaskut.jpg
3. One version which has the first two and all the basic gizmos adjusted, contrast, black&white points etc.
4. Additional with colouring/effects, something like one in below or else you think may be suitable for this kind of photo.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/402/cowgirls.jpg
IN CASE someone decides to do these by himself (I´m sure it will take max 10min. for you true gurus , links for original pics are below. The divine individual who mails me examples will have my infinite respect! pentti.maikkula@gmail.com

JPG:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NAFJVDRS

RAW/CR2:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J2BFQB3J

[Kathy_9]

I like to play with images, so here's a couple renditions. I couldn't get realistic looking black pockets so I skipped them.

[dsvnsson]

I like to play with images, so here's a couple renditions. I couldn't get realistic looking black pockets so I skipped them.

IMG_7233AA.JPG

IMG_7233BB.JPG

Thanks alot Kathy! The second one looks promising. Maybe too much effect, 25% less could be perfect. Could you do this to the original images or tell me the software and instructions to do it?

Maybe the sealing should be white after all...

Also other ideas are still welcome. Sound editing is more my ammo, so maybe I can do some of that in return?

[Kathy_9]

I did the editing in PSP (of course) and applied a Topaz Adjust 4 plug-in. If you don't have it, you can download a free trial to see if it will give you the effect you are looking for. There are many presets within the filter and sliders for exposure, color, detail & noise that you can play with to tweak it just the way you like.

Here's a link http://www.topazlabs.com/adjust/

[LeviFiction]

I attempted tackling the "turn the background" white thing. I wasn't sure if you wanted only the wooden ceiling part (as you seemed to indicate) or the black part because you had mentioned the hair disappearing.

It looks better small than it does large because there was a lot of smoothing of jagged edges. I have to say though, the fact that brightness/Contrast can destroy your image comes in very handy when the hair is just barely blending in like it is here.

BackgroundGone.jpg (25.16 KiB) Viewed 4624 times

As for Kathy's adjustment, she loves those Topaz plugins. And understandably as they are very very good. I would like to know what the effect is called for those of us that need to do it manually (A trial only cuts it if you want to do it only a few times. XD )

I personally think the characters popped more when I used a radial gradient behind them. But it wasn't pretty.

[Kathy_9]

Levi - I used one of the presets (Spicify). Here's the same filter with the original ceiling.

[LeviFiction]

This is as close as I could come with what little I know how to do. It doesn't have quite the same kick does it?

Image1.jpg (36.45 KiB) Viewed 4617 times

[Kathy_9]

Topaz is kind of hard to beat. Those folks really have their act together and the nice thing is they don't charge for updates.

[dsvnsson]

Hi! I´m looking for help/instructions to make my band photo look more pro/cool. Also it has some mistakes i would like to vanish:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/58 ... 3pieni.jpg
1. The sealing should be turned from white to black and still look as natural as possible. Does this mean the singer´s hair will vanish?
2. The pockets I would like to be black, like this:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/35/coptaskut.jpg
3. One version which has the first two and all the basic gizmos adjusted, contrast, black&white points etc.
4. Additional with colouring/effects, something like one in below or else you think may be suitable for this kind of photo.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/402/cowgirls.jpg
IN CASE someone decides to do these by himself (I´m sure it will take max 10min. for you true gurus , links for original pics are below. The divine individual who mails me examples will have my infinite respect! pentti.maikkula@gmail.com

JPG:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NAFJVDRS

RAW/CR2:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J2BFQB3J

Here´s the original sized jpg with the pockets darkened:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1L47W127
All ideas asked above are still welcome, exept the sealing could be original