How do I 'fix' a photo?

dreamlight66

I have a photo of my daughter I really want to paint but I want to adjust the colour and light. I have tried to fix it with not much success. I think it's a problem with the way I'm seeing colour. Is there anywhere I can send it to get it done for me?

dreamlight66

@Kingston I found this website which lets you play around with images you have stored on your computer. http://www.befunky.com/ I tried adjusting the light and the colour of my picture but I think I'm just not seeing it or maybe looking too hard.

Castillo

@dreamlight66 posting the photo of your daughter will help members give you better advise and some might even tell you how much can be done to it.

dreamlight66

@Castillo Thank you for that, good idea. This is the photo but my daughter won't thank me for it as she hates the pic. It's the face I need to focus on as I plan to change what she is wearing ( she has a hood tucked into her coat and it makes her look like she's hunched over a little). Also, the background will be changed into a plain background so this doesn't concern me. once I have altered the picture I plan to enlarge the face just as Mark has showed us on the tutorial so that it is 'life-size' You help is most appreciated as I just want to get on with it now.

dencal

dreamlight66

I agree with your daughter, not a good portrait photo.

Great opportunity to take some carefully thought out portrait photos. The lighting, background and composition are contributing components of a good portrait.

The time, cost and effort in a painting can be squandered by a casual approach to planning. Such a beautiful girl deserves a great portrait.


Denis

Castillo

I'm loving her expression, the 3/4 view of the face and the way the hair cascades down the sides of her face but I have to agree with Denis and Jim about setting up a photoshoot as there isn't much detail to work with due to the flat lighting.

My mother only has a couple of pictures of me since I'm not fond of being on them.
If your daughter is anything like me than I understand why you might have to make this image work but it will take a lot of editing and manipulating and there's no guarantee you'll end up liking the final product after all that work.

I did what I could and wasn't able to add much color or bring out the convexities of her face

dencal

Castillo

Stunning improvement.

Denis

dreamlight66

@dencal @Kingston Thank you so much for your kind words, would you believe my girl has absolutely zero confidence? I don't know what it is about this photo, she doesn't even look that happy but there's something about it that I want to paint.
@Castillo you are amazing! Wait till I show this to Megan (daughter). This is a similar concept to what was in my mind, I wanted a hood and I wanted her hands to be held up by her chest, like a dreamy, Gothic sort of scene. I have been asking Megan if I can take some photo's of her for a portrait but she keeps on making her excuses. Thank you so much for your efforts it looks beautiful. I'm gonna have to decide what to do next.

[Deleted User]

I 100% agree with all of @Kingston's comments here.

dreamlight66

@David_Quinn_Carder
@Kingston I also agree, I would rather wait and get a good quality photo to work from. Just hope my camera is up to the job :-/