How to remove or lighten strong background shadows caused by flash

[mf3106]

Is there a relatively simple method of eliminating or reducing the depth of shadows cause by flash (see example below). I've had Affinity Photo for a while but have little experience in using it - so would appreciate some guidance on this topic.

Thanks

[firstdefence]

The easiest method would be to use the clone tool and use the wall as the sampler around the head and shoulders, you can then move on to the sofa and make sure the spot selection is parallel to brush and soften the edge of the shadow. I also hid the glasses highlight by copy/pasting the other eye area and flipping it.

[David in Яuislip]

Nice job firstdefence
The wall shadow was too hard for me  so I concentrated on what I found most distracting ie
the skin highlights - blemish removal tool
lady on the right, specs, her right eye retouched and copied/flipped over to her left - mainly small clone brush with alignment off
the couch highlights were recovered by painting a close colour on a pixel layer above, blend mode darken, opacity 64%, blur
jpeg attached in the zip so it doesn't get mangled

FlashShadow.zip

[carl123]

1. Use Selection Brush Tool and select right side of the lady on the right, refine selection and output as new layer

2. On the original layer sample wall colour and paint over the shadow on the wall (behind right side lady)

3. Use Clone Brush Tool to clone over the couch shadow from lady on the right and continue cloning all the way down the right-hand side of her body

4. For the lady on the left, sample wall colour and paint over wall shadow (Use soft brush)

5 On the picture on the wall, paint over shadow using the Dodge Brush Tool (set to Shadows) and a soft brush to lighten it to match the rest of the picture 

6. No time to finish all the shadows from the legs but just use the clone brush tool as before

 

 

[David in Яuislip]

Nice job carl123 especially restoring the top right of the picture

[Ron P.]

Carl123 provided the best method to correct the harsh shadows. I've had to do this a few times. That lead me to pay close attention to lighting while shooting. I learned just how valuable bouncing flash, and/or using softboxes are. Learn how to, and use that will eliminate almost all of this type of retouching.

 

[Old Bruce]

2 hours ago, Ron P. said:

That lead me to pay close attention to lighting while shooting.

One more tip for flash lighting. (If you can afford it) Use a second*  off camera flash to light the background. 

 

* More than one if you're really well off, and can also afford to pay for a sherpa or two to carry all your flashes and their stands.

[dominik]

While the previous posters did offer very good solutions and examples I think they are quite labourious. I'm not critizing this, in contrary I confirm this from my own experience.

A possible compromise would be to just reduce the shadow. This can be done relatively easy and makes an image a little less flash exposed.

1. Add a levels adjustment layer above the image.
2. Adjust the Master curve in a way that the shadows become less pronounced. Note: everything else in the image will look faded in this stage.
3. Invert the curve adjustmen's mask (in APh make sure the adjustmen layer is active. Then menu 'Select > Invert Pixel Selection').
4. Switch to the paint brush tool and choose a round brush. Adjust it's softness to about 65% and set it's transparency to 40% (or more). Choose white as foreground colour.
5. Now you can paint in on the adjustment layer's mask the effect of the adjustment. By painting several times you can slowly approach the desired effect. In those areas where the shadow has very sharp edges you might set a softness value of 95% (I'm writing this out of my head, you might want to experiment a little with those values).

I hope this offers another approach to your task.

d.

[firstdefence]

5 hours ago, carl123 said:

1. Use Selection Brush Tool and select right side of the lady on the right, refine selection and output as new layer

2. On the original layer sample wall colour and paint over the shadow on the wall (behind right side lady)

3. Use Clone Brush Tool to clone over the couch shadow from lady on the right and continue cloning all the way down the right-hand side of her body

4. For the lady on the left, sample wall colour and paint over wall shadow (Use soft brush)

5 On the picture on the wall, paint over shadow using the Dodge Brush Tool (set to Shadows) and a soft brush to lighten it to match the rest of the picture 

6. No time to finish all the shadows from the legs but just use the clone brush tool as before

 

 

These flipping amateurs  don't forget the blue denim lady right leg shadow, black denim lady left leg shadow  

Spoiler

Only noticed because I did the same thing on mine lol

 

[dominik]

10 hours ago, firstdefence said:

I also hid the glasses highlight by copy/pasting the other eye area and flipping it.

Mirroring parts of a person's face can lead to strange looking results because usually we all do not have exactly symmetric faces. While I think you've done a decent job it does look a little strange without knowing what's the cause. Well, it's the flipping.

I would elaborate your technique and use the right eye for retouching, too. But with a mask and only revealing those parts of the eye that are affected by the flash light. I assume this would give a little more convincing result.

d.

[firstdefence]

Was only a rough sketch to give the OP an idea, but I'd advocate learning better flash photography for sure, the less post editing the better in my book.

[mf3106]

Thanks everyone for the effort and comments - I started looking at some of the suggestions but quickly came to the conclusion that my skill and knowledge level were sorely lacking - and anything less that a good quality result would be not acceptable to the ladies in the picture (wife & daughter)! So I decided to get someone to do the edits for me (using Photoshop)  - below is the completed version of that work which I'm quite happy with, and more importantly so is my wife!!

The next thing I decided to do was obtain some training which I have done from Affinity Revolution (beginners course) - so let's see how I go from there.  

 

 

[firstdefence]

That's great news, removing the picture is cheating lol, a nice job of matting the faces.

Generally the objective would be to take a picture that requires very little editing or none at all, too that end, I'd also look at portraiture photography techniques to minimise post editing, these techniques are formulas and once you know a few you can take great images repeatedly. Like others have mentioned bouncing the light can create much softer shadows or none at all.

Good luck and enjoy the learning journey.

[mf3106]

6 hours ago, firstdefence said:

That's great news, removing the picture is cheating lol, a nice job of matting the faces.

 

I had the option of leaving the picture in - but decided to take it our as it provided a lass cluttered image of the main subjects.

[firstdefence]

7 hours ago, mf3106 said:

I had the option of leaving the picture in - but decided to take it our as it provided a lass cluttered image of the main subjects.

It's works fine, nice bit of lateral thinking.