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Hi, I'm new here. I'm an average, soccer-mom type of photographer & I've had Elements about a year, but I still get around from tutorial to tutorial in the photo-editing arena. I mostly use Elements for making picture books (I'd say scrapbooks, but my time-limited style is to do *very* simple designs).

Right now, I have a few photos which need to have the background toned down: the subject is in front of a bright window. In the pictures in question, the flash lightened the subject so I would think it's salvageable, but the background is just too bright. I've toyed with cutting out the window and inserting another background, but I was hoping for a more natural-looking solution, one that just tones down the bright whites of the window without severely darkening the images that show through the window.

I'm surprised I haven't been able to find any tutorials on this - it seems everyone would need this at one time or another! There's always going to be situations as a soccer mom where you just have to make the best of a bad photographic situation. I'm hoping this is so simple it doesn't require a tutorial? (and I'm just kinda slow? :))

I'd appreciate any help! Thanks.
K
Welcome to the forum, kmk_01kmk !
You are right: what you are trying to do is a rather common situation.
The reason you have not found a specific tutorial is probably because there are so many situations calling for such an adjustment of only a part of the picture.
Changing the background may be tricky and not very natural.
Without seeing your picture, I would say that the best course to follow would be to use an adjustment layer and its integrated mask.
You'll discover adjustment layers are very flexible and easy to use:
- you keep your original picture unchanged as a background
- you can limit the effect of your edits to a part of the image with a mask. The advantage of the mask is that you don't change the original image, and you can go wrong and go back as you wish if your masking is not precise enough.
- Here, I would suggest a levels adjustment layer, maybe a brightness/constrast one. Menu Layer/new adjustment layer.
- Try to correct your background, ignoring the effect on your main subject
- once you are satified with the corrections, have a look at your layers palette. If you do not see it on the right part of the screen, use menu/window and click 'layers'. The white rectangle right of the adjustment layer icon is for the mask.
- click into the white mask icone to make it active.
- Now to mask, you have to paint black to mask the parts of the image to keep unchanged from the adjustment. If you go wrong, paint white. That is about all.

If you want other members to help you, try to upload an image or give a link to an image if you have a gallery on PrestoPhoto.
Michel B
PSE6, 11,12,13.1 - LR 5.7 Windows 7 64 - OneOne Photo Perfect Suite - Canon 20D, Pana TZ6 - Fuji X100S
Most used add-ons: Elements+


Mes Galeries
Welcome! :biggrin:

Michel is right. it would be easier to offer help if we could see the image.
~kimi~
Gone Crazy... Back Soon...


Gallery ~ a la kimi

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kimboustany.com
I was afraid of that. I don't yet have permission to post the pics which really need help on the internet. I'll have to find something similar in my own collection (I'm sure I have something!).

Thanks for the ideas - I have tried levels on a selected area (not exactly an adjustment layer, but a selection of the offending brightness copied to a new layer) . I think I just don't know what I'm supposed to do with the levels. Nothing I've tried has really made it look any better.
Maybe you could point me to a good tutorial on what you can do with levels?

Here's a couple of images (using "URL", I couldn't get "Img" to work in Preview):
http://www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/49186
The little one is precious!
Not much can be done with the "blown out" white of the window. One quick suggestion is to try a tint.

what I did:
After using shadow highlight adjustment to darken window area, I added a photo filter adjustment layer, selected underwater tone, & unticked the "preserve luminosity" box. ( the default density seemed ok, but it can be adjusted with the slider.) I used a black brush on the white mask of the photo filter adjustment layer to block the effect on the parts not needing the tint.

btw: not much can be done to darken the window, so shadow highlight mainly brought out some leaves & more of the trees

to use shadow highlight adjustment:
duplicate the background layer
go to enhance - adjust lighting - shadow & highlight. make sure preview is set.

Unlike many other image adjustments, when the dialog box appears, it automatically applies a correction to your preview. If you don't see any change, make sure you have selected the Preview check box. The default settings found in the dialog box are meant to correct backlit images, so they may or may not do the right correction job for you as they are set.

If the default/automatic setting doesn't reduce the problem, move the amount & other sliders.
When satisfied, click OK to apply the adjustment and exit the dialog box.
If you aren't using a mask, erase where adjustment isn't helpful.

The shadow highlight adjustment tool is a tremendously helpful tool, not only for overexposure, but to open shadows.

other suggestions:
consider subscribing to http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/ - there are hundreds of helpful video tutorials which are easy to follow.
check the help section of your software and/or do a google search - ex : elements shadow highlight or overexposure

window tine:
window tint.jpg
window tint.jpg (83.35 KiB) Viewed 2177 times


edit: this is an example of a gradient fill layer, as suggested by Rusty. There are many gradient options which could be considered - other colors, lighter or darker.
window gradient.jpg
window gradient.jpg (83.36 KiB) Viewed 2090 times



I hope some of this info helps.
Other members will likely offer suggestions for overexposure.
Betty
Win 8.1, PS CC, Canon bridge P&S
What a cute child!

Just to illustrate again what Betty is talking about, there isn't much you can do when highlights are totally blown out. There is no detail there ... what I'm saying is, there is nothing to darken. Look at these two that I opened as if they were RAW images. For both I took the exposure slider all the way down as low as it would go.
fix1.jpg
fix1.jpg (102.37 KiB) Viewed 2150 times

fix2.jpg
fix2.jpg (107.27 KiB) Viewed 2149 times


There is nothing there, no matter how dark you make it, no detail is going to be brought out because none exists. What you can do is replace it with something. And, that 'something' could be a tint, a pattern, a gradient, another image, even just some noise. However you try to do it, you will no doubt want to use a mask as Michel discussed.

Welcome to the forum. Stick around and you will be surprised how much you learn and how fast you do.

Rusty
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness" - Dave Barry

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. - Robert Capa

www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/19932
Good information, Rusty. The nice graphics are most helpful

original, cropped
origiinal.jpg
origiinal.jpg (76.37 KiB) Viewed 2105 times

A shadow/highlight adjustment layer was used first, then a pattern adjustment layer for hat & a solid fill adjustment layer for the cup.
hat.jpg
hat.jpg (69.12 KiB) Viewed 2104 times

here's what I did:
duplicated the background - from the enhance menu, selected adjust lighting -> shadow highlight, then adjusted the sliders to lighten shadows, clicked ok. erased some of the areas that were too light. used shift + control+alt+E to make a composite layer (stamp visible). used shadow adjustment layer again to darken hat as much as possible. (erased areas that didn't look better). stamp visible. (it is better to set the mode to luminosity on shadow highlight adjustment layers & adjust opacity as needed. It is possible to work on both shadows & highlights on the same layer, but sometimes, it is helpful to work on highlights or shadows separately.)

for hat: (Use the selection tool you prefer)
I used the magic wand & clicked on the blown out area. from the main menu bar (at top of editor window) selected layer ->new fill layer ->pattern & selected woven from the thumbnails. Then used a white brush on the black mask to add to the selection. Lowered opacity. Stamp Visible.

for cup:
used magic wand & clicked on the blown out area. from the main menu bar, selected layer ->new fill layer -> solid color & selected a very light blue. Painted on the layer mask as needed. lowered opacity of the layer. stamp visible. flattened image.

I hope the above suggestions are helpful
Betty
Win 8.1, PS CC, Canon bridge P&S
Very, very nice job, Betty

I very glibly threw out examples of "things to cover with", but talk is cheap. Betty now comes in with concrete examples and include step-by-step explanations.

kmk, this is what I was talking about when I said to stick around here. You can find smart people on lots of similar sites, you aren't likely to find any more helpful that what we have here.

Rusty
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness" - Dave Barry

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. - Robert Capa

www.prestophoto.com/photos/gallery/19932
Wow, folks! This is great information! Thank you so much for taking the time to work with these pictures. I'm looking forward to running through all of the suggestions!

And you're right, Rusty. There are *very* helpful people here. Thank you, thank you!
Great question with great reponses, thanks everyone.
Canon Rebel Xti
Mac Computer
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