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Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

02/13/2007 12:03:02 AM · #1

This is Amy out on her front porch refinishing a door.We were talking about this and that and I asked her if I could take a shot (photo that is).Amy didn't think she was presentable enough, however I asked for a "Look".
Original

Finished

How did I do?

krafty1

Nikon D80

02/13/2007 12:11:33 AM · #2

She looks noticeably older to me in the second photo. Can't put my finger on why exactly. The darkening of the skin may have exposed some of the imperfections that the brightness of the first photo hid.

02/13/2007 12:12:51 AM · #3

Originally posted by Blind_squirrel:

Did you use a high pass?? I would have masked out or erased the windows in the bg to keep her popping out alone... ask

Brad hehe

Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra

02/13/2007 12:17:20 AM · #4

No high pass , just basic stuff.Spot sharpen the irises(sp) , dodge the whites,desat the reds then boost overall sat.

Bear_Music

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

02/13/2007 12:24:28 AM · #5

Well, whatever you did you brought out much more skin detail and it comes across as "weathering". I'm not against that, mind you, but you do want to be sure it's intentional. After all, she didn't feel "presentable enough", and if she's the sort of gal that never goes out in public without putting her face on this may not please her at all, even if it does you :-)

R.

02/13/2007 12:26:01 AM · #6

Any ideas?

Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra

02/13/2007 12:26:17 AM · #7

Try this:

Dup the layer, perform the same steps, then erase the windows in the bg before flattening... I would like to see the difference... I may be wrong but I think it will make her pop out with a more 3-D effect..

Oh, and use a little blur or heal on her skin here and there where the effect brings out the lines...

Message edited by author 2007-02-13 00:27:01.

Bear_Music

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

02/13/2007 12:49:21 AM · #8

I doubt this is what you want, but it was fun:

02/13/2007 12:57:24 AM · #9

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

I doubt this is what you want, but it was fun:

R.

Did you use a grey fill for the soft effect or do you have another method?? I have been using a plug-in as well but I have a hard time adjusting it just right...

Message edited by author 2007-02-13 00:57:48.

02/13/2007 01:05:12 AM · #10

Is this any better.

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Nikon

02/13/2007 01:51:31 AM · #11

Here is my go:

I gave her some "virtual" makeup to help even out the bright spots and her lip colour...

Message edited by author 2007-02-13 01:53:02.

jdannels

Nikon D300s

02/13/2007 02:41:08 AM · #12

hows this?
Basically sharpened once this way. Duplicated that layer and did it again then added around a 4 pixel gaussian blur, masked out the full effect on the eyes and about 50% on mouth and hair, then faded to about 50%. A hue/saturation layer and selective color layer for her skin tone. Used a a warming photo filter and set to lighten and faded back effects, little curve too slightly S shaped.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

02/13/2007 04:18:48 AM · #13

Originally posted by TCGuru:

Originally posted by Bear_Music:
I doubt this is what you want, but it was fun:

R.

Did you use a grey fill for the soft effect or do you have another method?? I have been using a plug-in as well but I have a hard time adjusting it just right...

Isolated the face and hair, reversed the selection, and used gaussian blur on the BG. New layer, reloaded the selection, used gaussian blur on the model then high pass sharpening over that, on the model only,

R.

Sheryll

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

02/13/2007 04:37:23 AM · #14

Just playing around with it. Tried a bunch of things and I'm not sure if its any better or worse than anyone elses edits but figured I'd post it anyway. It was fun to play around with it. Maybe still a bit too red but I think she pops a little more and her skin looks more evened out to me. Couldn't tell ya what I did cause I just kept trying things and hit undo when I didn't like it.

Brad

Olympus OM-D E-M1

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

02/13/2007 05:37:40 AM · #15

As if I could pass this one up?

Pretty much followed my own tutorial

yanko

Carl Zeiss 50mm ZE f/1.4 Planar T for Canon

02/13/2007 06:13:53 AM · #16

I wanna play!

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

02/13/2007 07:29:34 AM · #17

Good Morning

Good work

Must drink coffee

Form sentences later

*off to read Brad's tutorial*

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

02/13/2007 08:10:10 AM · #18

I like Brad's edit. Instead of looking noticeably older, she looks noticeably younger. I bet she'll like it! :-)

Transit

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

02/13/2007 08:12:15 AM · #19

Original:

My attempt:

Tlemetry

Olympus E-300 EVOLT

Olympus 50mm f/2.0 Macro ED Zuiko Digital

02/13/2007 08:17:55 AM · #20

She is beautiful! I love the hair and the look she is giving you.
I was fascinated with everyones processes. Everyone is doing a great job!
My favorite so far is Yanko's finish.

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

02/13/2007 01:48:27 PM · #21

I followed Brad's tutorial right up to the point that Elements 4 crashed into the back of CS2 , from that point I had to wing it.
Lassoed(sp) off the irises and bumped up levels to bring them out a little more.Copied layer applied GB lighty and used the eraser on the eyes,lips and hair to keep the details , flattened.Spot sharpened irises,lips and eyelashes.A little usm and that's pretty much it.
This is my first attempt at this and I really would like to thank everyone for their help and ideas.
Bruce

What do you think?

Brad

Olympus OM-D E-M1

02/13/2007 02:11:16 PM · #22

That's a huge improvement over your first edit. Well done!

A couple little nits: Watch out for making the whites of the eyes just white and looking painted over. When I paint over them in opacity mode, it retains the details under the painting and keeps them imperfect and thus real. Something that may be of help is a soft-focus action, which really works far better than GB. Drop on over to atncentral and try a couple different actions available there. One is Glamour Blur and another is Soft Focus Action, v.2 (though I have never tried the latter).

Cool thing is that you picked up a few tricks, and hopefully you can find your own groove doing edits like this. There is no right or wrong way, just a lot of different ones. Keep experimenting !

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

02/13/2007 02:18:18 PM · #23

Do "Actions" work in Elements 4 or is it time to bite the bullet and move up to CS2/3?

This is FUN!
Thanks
Bruce

Brad

Olympus OM-D E-M1

02/13/2007 02:29:15 PM · #24

I have no clue. Never used Elements.
Hopefully somebody will wander in here that does know.

The addiction starts - or shall I say continues....

yanko