I would like some help with these pics of my nephews

[bartman (Bart)]

I have this picture of my nephews, Maximus and Nicolas at the Perth Zoo.
I'm having some trouble trying to get some "punch" in the B&W pic.
I have attached a slightly processed RAW pic converted to Jpeg in colour and b&w.
Maximus is in the background and Nicolas in the fore. Maximus's hair is very bright and yes Nicolas is slightly out of focus ,and what ever I try in PSe 8, I cant seem to get it right....dodge and burn, levels etc etc.....
So I am seeking advice.......
I have a few more pics of the day at the Zoo and will post soon.......
But this one has me stumped.
Any Help?????
Cheers
Bartman

[Octane (Humayun)]

The reason why you're having problems with processing these images is because the light is way, way too harsh. There's not really much that can be done about the light.

H

[multiweb (Marc)]

How's this? You can get rid of the JPEG artefacts in your originals. Just smart sharpening with selective masking.

[irwjager (Ivo)]

Not sure if this helps at all, but this is what StarTools' auto stretching thinks Maximus and Nicolas should look like if they were DSOs...

[rally]

Bart,

Portrait artist I am not !

If you want "punch" then get rid of the background and lift them out, remove extraneous foreground.

The Eyes have it !

Mine is quick and rough but you get the idea - I just used a lasso with the mouse - but there are far better tools for this.

The harsh lighting is difficult to fix - use a flash next time !
Cloned the right side texture to the left and blurred the lot.
Dodged, burned and blurred some of the worst facial highlights which seemingly are not totally burnt out so there is data to rescue if you have the time.

Cheers

Rally

[bartman (Bart)]

Thanks for replies guys,

Originally Posted by Octane

The reason why you're having problems with processing these images is because the light is way, way too harsh. There's not really much that can be done about the light.

H

True, thanks H.

Originally Posted by multiweb

How's this? You can get rid of the JPEG artefacts in your originals. Just smart sharpening with selective masking.

Nice job Marc! I'll definitely give the sharpning a go!

Originally Posted by irwjager

Not sure if this helps at all, but this is what StarTools' auto stretching thinks Maximus and Nicolas should look like if they were DSOs...

Originally Posted by rally

Bart,

Portrait artist I am not !

If you want "punch" then get rid of the background and lift them out, remove extraneous foreground.

The Eyes have it !

Mine is quick and rough but you get the idea - I just used a lasso with the mouse - but there are far better tools for this.

The harsh lighting is difficult to fix - use a flash next time !
Cloned the right side texture to the left and blurred the lot.
Dodged, burned and blurred some of the worst facial highlights which seemingly are not totally burnt out so there is data to rescue if you have the time.

Cheers

Rally

Thanks Rally, I'll give it a go. I get the concept and have used it before on other pics.
AND yes a flash would have helped........

Thanks a gain!
Bartman