Trying to polish up holiday snaps from a truly horrible camera

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148
Name
Rob
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi all
Just come back from a nice family holiday and I am looking at the photos and am wondering how i can try and rescue most of them.

I took my SLR with me so I could take some nice scenery shots etc, but there was no way I was having it anywhere near the pool or the beach so along came the old Vivitar 7mp waterproof camera. The problem is all the photos are noisy and rubbish to edit in LR to be quite blunt, but as its the nieces first holiday they wanted some nice photos to keep. I know you can't polish a turd and all that but i want to be able to give them some nice shots to keep. There are a few good ones already to be handed over (5 or 6) but i wanted some ones of her by the beach and poolside as thats where we all spent most of the holiday.

It doesn't help that the cheap camera was a bit of a free for all so there is little thought put into the snaps. Ive found putting them into Black and white helps as I can pull down the clarity more than I could in colour but Im still not happy. Perhaps I am expecting too much from the quality of the camera (it was £35) that was to hand or maybe I am going about it the wrong way and there is a better way to edit these? What do you lovely people think as someone always comes up with an amazing solution on here.

Original:
Talk Photography Thread Discussion Orig Photo by Forsyth1987, on Flickr

Edited:
Edited Photos by Forsyth1987, on Flickr

Original:
Talk Photography Thread Discussion Orig Photo by Forsyth1987, on Flickr

Edited:
Edited Photo 2 by Forsyth1987, on Flickr
 
Why black and white?

Why not just levels to remove the gap in the low end of the histogram, and then colour balance to remove the horrible magenta cast?... then a crop.
 
Didn't think of that at all. Thats why I love this website. I will have a play and see if I can get a suitable shot in colour. Cheers
 
It's never going to be fantastic, but a bit of a levels adjustment, crop, and warmed up a bit it doesn't look too bad.



It's only a snapshot after all. That's fine for web albums, and 4x6 prints etc.
 
Upping contrast may help reduce the flare from the lens although you'll have to watch highlights/shadows even more, but yes, just as pookey said really.
 
It's never going to be fantastic, but a bit of a levels adjustment, crop, and warmed up a bit it doesn't look too bad.



It's only a snapshot after all. That's fine for web albums, and 4x6 prints etc.
Looks good to me, the next one down is to blue
 
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