How would you darken background link added

Ok,
usually I can figure out how to do things in ps CS2 without much of a problem, but this time, all of my efforts have looked really fake so I'm turning to you guys for some fresh ideas. I can't figure out how to post pics any more..grrr....so that may limit me here, I realize.

My photo is a family portrait where family is wearing black shirts and they wanted to be on a black background. I used a back light to get some separation, but the lighting was too much in the end. I don't want them to disappear into the background and become floating arms and faces in a sea of black, but I also don't want an artificial halo around them...I just need the slightest separation between their black shirts (and dark hair) and the black background. The mother was very specific that she wanted black on black...I screwed up with the too light back light and given that the room I shot in was about 1/2 the size she said it would be, they are sitting very close to the background and that doesn't help matters, either. And just to further complicate things, I underexposed by about 1/2 to 2/3 a stop, so when I correct that in NX or in CS2 (take your pick) the exaggeration of the lighted background becomes even more obvious.

Here's what I've tried.

A)masking them and lightening them while selecting the inverse and darkening the background....the lines are too harsh (feathered at 50) for things like whispy hair and so on.

B)using the paint bucket tool to fill in the background...doesn't work because the backdrop was a velour/textured kind of material and so the paint bucket either leaves many little areas out or it decides to fill in things like parts of their skin.

C)using the brush tool (tried dry media brushes so the color would be applied w/texture) to fill in the background...again, trying to do so without brusing their hair or using the art history brush to remove the fill on their hair/ears/faces is too "linear" and leaves an artificial halo.

So, I am officially out of ideas, there must be a better way that I am unfamiliar with. Any help would REALLY be appreciated.

thanks very much

 

I was afraid of that...ok try this link

I'm not sure if it will work, but I think so...I left one pic that is too dark and the same pic lightened...I'm not happy with the noise (already added mucho noise suppression with NX and my camera was only at ISO 200...NOT happy with the noise, but I think had I trusted the meter and nailed the exposure it wouldn't be as severe...either that or this camera needs a tune up)

http://shutterbunny.smugmug.com/gallery/2897806#155888443

 

Thanks Peano, and don't worry 'bout

Don't worry about that black on black thing...I really tried a million times over to get the mom to change her idea on that. The pictures she used as a reference were black and white (so big difference there) AND they were NOT black backgrounds!! I explained this to her but she insisted. Add that to the fact that she told me the room we'd have to shoot would be 18'X20' and it was more like 10X10, we were NOT working with a lot of room for creating a bit of separation just w/distance...oh well, live and learn. I like the lightening of the skin tones and the subtraction of the blue cast to the baby's skin (dad had the sunless tanner thing going which made him ORANGE and in trying to correct that, I think I got the poor baby looking like she'd been left in the freezer for an hour! So, I can definitely use your advice on the skin tones.

Thanks for all your work, that's great.

 

Uncle Frank, you're awesome! Thanks

The de-sat thing is fantastic, and yes, with the blue tones gone from the lighted part of the background, the whole thing takes on a much better look...less budget portrait that cousin George did for you and more something you'd want to print. Thanks!! I appreciate all the work you did, it's definitely something for me to work for. Yes, the drool from baby's face will have to go, but I haven't started editing out things like wrinkles and drool and the little bruise under the baby's eye...that will come, that I can do, so that will be done at the end! Really, though the desaturation of the back ground was a great tip, I'll use it!

As for black on black, it was NOT my idea...like I said to Peano, I tried several times to convince mom to use grey or any other color than black...I didn't even have a black back ground (well, I had paper, but that would have been a nightmare) and had to get one quickly and the outcome was not much to my liking! Anyway, mom didn't know what she wanted as the shots she was using to show me what she wanted were NOT black backgrounds, but you couldn't convince her of that even if you'd shown her the original photographer's set up! That and some other things that didn't quite measure up when I arrived to set up the shoot...I won't re-hash...but you worked wonders, and I thank you!

I'll try that on several of the other shots.

 

Oh my, Peano, you work fast!

I just finished typing my first reply and then saw this...now that is fantastic!! Sheesh, don't know if I can duplicate your work, but I'm sure going to give it a go! Thanks for all the information on how when and with what...I'm definitely going to give it a whirl!

Thanks very, very much!

 

Ok guys, I tried a little of everything from your posts and played with the dad/daughter (no mom) pic. It's now the first pic at the link from before--I'd be interested to know what you thought of my attempt.

Peano, I think the biggest thing I did wrong while trying to use your advice was to merge the layers down...I couldn't go back and with the brush in (using the black or white depending on whether I was paining "in" or "out" for the hair) and so I was "stuck" using the history brush and regular brush (with color set to background) to try and "frizz up" the hair. I also tried using a gradient filter on the background to see how that looked...just slight...whatever way you look at it, it's better than before--I think. I left the "original" version of what I worked on up to make comparisons. Now, I need to do something about dad's fake tan orange glow and the baby's bluish tinge...and I do want to make the eyes a bit more striking as well, but those are things I know how to do. It was the background that was really getting me! Anyway, I think it is better, wow, what I learned today was a lot, and thank you both for all of your input. Again, any comments on my attempt at fixing would be appreciated. Now I'll start on the others I need to do this for...sigh.

http://shutterbunny.smugmug.com/gall...7806#155888443

 

And I thank you BIG TIME!!!

Peano, thanks, and no I didn't know a good way to get the fake tan off of dad's face, so your brilliant tutorial will help with that. A bit of a challenge getting a good mask but the click, shift/click thing made that SOOOO much easier. I never knew that little trick and it will save me a lot of time and frustration in the future.

WOW, you guys are all awesome and the way you showed me as well as told me how to make the changes is help beyond anything I could have hoped for.

Thanks very much!

Michelle