brighten teeth and eyes in backlight

[diamante67]

Do you have any suggestions on how to go about brightening teeth and eyes in this photo? on one side it seems that anything I would normally do would look unnatural because of the light conditions, yet I worry that the eyes and teeth need to be a little clearer...

 

[diamante67]

And, also, any tips on the sunflare, especially close to mom's hand? I figure I should use the channel mixer but I am not sure what numbers to use... both the red channel and the green channel are affected.

[Damien Symonds]

Oh gee, what difficult light!  Is this the whole photo, or a section thereof?

[diamante67]

I know, right? This is the whole thing, and how I was thinking of cropping... I think I partly made it worse by darkening the background too much - so this is my new attempt with a little less darkening of the background, and a slight whitening of the teeth...

[Damien Symonds]

Good grief I wish I could help you with the editing of this.

As far as teeth and eyes go, I think just do your normal thing, but then lower the opacity of their layers a plausible amount.

[diamante67]

Yes, that's what I tried but it still looked weird. Maybe I willl adjust then step away for a bit to see if it looks acceptable. Any suggestions on the pesky flare?

[Damien Symonds]

May I see a closer crop of it?

I trust you've seen this?

[diamante67]

  On 12/14/2016 at 8:24 AM, Damien Symonds said:

May I see a closer crop of it?

I trust you've seen this?

Expand  

I did, and it is on my mind. I don't think I qualify, because of the numbers of posts required? I have been so inactive when it comes to photography and editing... let me know if I am wrong...

[diamante67]

This is the crop for the sunflare...

[Damien Symonds]

It would be possible to fix with some careful levels, but it's not worth the hassle.  Just clone it.

I fear you're forgetting everything you've learned?

[diamante67]

I will try cloning. As for forgetting... it is very possible! But I am also exhibit A for your statement that people get overly concerned with plasticity. I did avoid sharpening, though; at least I can credit for that  will try to be more aggressive with the noise removal.