Damien Symonds

The photos you posted above (yours) look like SOORs. They don't seem to have any Levels work done at all?

No, I'm just checking to make sure you know how to edit.

No, sorry @LibbyG. Only for Photoshop. Please invest in Photoshop Elements. It's very affordable, and incredibly powerful. https://www.damiensymonds.net/what2buy.html

Right ... but you do know HOW to edit a punchy image, yes?

Have you zoomed in to 100% to make sure it's not just a trick of your screen?

There's nothing else to explain. Just do this. Before Content Aware.

Yeah, gotta do the Expand thing.

Screenshot please. After using the magic wand you'll need to go to Select>Modify>Expand to enlarge the selection by a few pixels.

What? You're in the Levels Class, you know how to create black-and-white masterpieces.

No, raw files are never monochrome.

It's because you're doing it on a duplicated layer. Don't do that. https://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/01/straightening-horizons.html

The kid in the corner isn't. He looks fine. I'd say this focus is acceptable.

It's not great, but it'll sharpen up adequately. It just gets a pass mark.

No, definitely out of focus.

No, come on, I need a section that shows faces from the left-hand row of kids.

Just do the noise removal for now, and post here.

Of course the moving subjects don't need to be sharp. But the non-moving ones definitely should be. May I see one?

Please read the posting guidelines again.

Why not just do it yourself?

Unfortunately it's not as simple as just "converting to sRGB on export". That's when the clipping happens. I strongly suggest making it clear that you won't pay for the work until you've seen the files, and if there is clipping, you won't pay at all.

Good job.

Make sure your clone tool is set to "Sample: Current & Below" in the options bar.

That's right, it's just a new blank layer. There's nothing special about it.

You'll learn how in the Channel Mixer and Advanced Levels classes. For now, just look at my layers and do them on your own file. Download PSD

It will require a combination of Channel Mixer, Levels, and cloning. How does this look to you?