Hi Bryan,

Here's my correction of you photo.

I started by correcting the purple fringe. I selected the fringe area with the magic wand. I added a hue/saturation adjustment layer. I went to the blue channel. Using the far left eyedropper I chose a spot in the blue fringe to sample what needed correction. I adjusted saturation and lightness as necessary. There's still a little ghosting there, but it's no longer blue, so it doesn't stand out. If I was using the photo for publication, I'd do some more work and finish off the ghosting completely. I just wanted to show you what could be accomplished.

Once going I did a few other things. I went back to the background. The photo has a distracting light area directly under the young lady's chin. Using the clone tool I eliminated that. I think this was as important or more important than ridding the photo of the fringe. I personally found that light area extremely distracting from the young lady's beautiful face.

Not one to under-post-process (LOL), I then proceeded to adjust the curve of the photo just a smigeon, then the overall brightness and contrast. Finally with Nik Sharpener Pro 3, I selectively sharpened both the young lady and the soccer ball. Sharpening really punched out the young lady from the background, in my opinion.

All of this took about 2 minutes, once I got to my office about 15 minutes ago. I think you can see that the processing has made improvements in the photo.

The next time you're out taking night soccer photos I'd do a bit more experimentation. I'd see if you can bump up the ISO some more without adversely affecting the photo with regard to noise. I just don't remember how far you can go with a D90, but it would be worth it to try. At the current ISO there is no noise problem at all, at this time. If you can move to a higher ISO, you can close down the aperture an equivalent amount.

You can also unexpose a bit more than you currently have. The young lady's forehead is still a bit overexposed anyway. You can always bring it back with curves or levels, etc. according to which software you use. I'd unexpose via closing down the aperture.

You could try a UV filter, but for now I'd skip the expense and see what else you can do. With the boundary area as strong as it is in your photo, I personally doubt a UV filter will actually help anyway.

Regards,

Ned
A Nikonians Team Member

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