DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> A gift for my mother - how can I improve it?
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 6 of 6, (reverse)
AuthorThread
05/28/2008 04:55:33 PM · #1
This is a portrait of my son. I would like to print it for my mother (promissed her that). I'm not sure what else could I do with it. It's shot in RAW, corrected tonality (there was a small tugsten light on at that time at my mother place, where we shot this picture), cropped and sharpened, nothing more. Any suggestions are welcomed.



It looks flat to me, probably due to the strong backlight :(
05/28/2008 05:03:59 PM · #2
Originally posted by rennie:

This is a portrait of my son. I would like to print it for my mother (promissed her that). I'm not sure what else could I do with it. It's shot in RAW, corrected tonality (there was a small tugsten light on at that time at my mother place, where we shot this picture), cropped and sharpened, nothing more. Any suggestions are welcomed.



It looks flat to me, probably due to the strong backlight :(


Macaroni Frame?
05/28/2008 05:06:36 PM · #3
[thumb]683150[/thumb]

I made a curves adjustment, brightness & contrast adjustment to open it up, dodged the face and eyes a little and hit the eyes with the sharpen tool a little.

Oh yeah and I used the hue & saturation tool to desaturate the reds in the skin tone.

Message edited by author 2008-05-28 17:11:45.
05/28/2008 05:16:46 PM · #4
Originally posted by rennie:

This is a portrait of my son. I would like to print it for my mother (promissed her that). I'm not sure what else could I do with it. It's shot in RAW, corrected tonality (there was a small tugsten light on at that time at my mother place, where we shot this picture), cropped and sharpened, nothing more. Any suggestions are welcomed.



It looks flat to me, probably due to the strong backlight :(


[thumb]683151[/thumb]

Shadows/Highlight
Levels Layer, No Change, Multiply
Paint on layer mask in black, 32% Opacity - first stroke all over him. Second all over his head, third all over his face. This slightly lightens up things.
Dodge Burn layer (ask, I'll tell you). burned the curtains some more. The open window is a blown highlight. :( Dodge the eyes and the reflection in them.
High Pass Sharpen Layer (selective) -- eyes, mouth, ears, some hair.
Slight Layers to bring up his face a little more.


05/28/2008 05:23:33 PM · #5
Thank you for suggestions. It's late in Europe right now and tomorrow the whole day will be quite hectic, so I'm going to bed now. I will try to follow your advice. In case of questions, I'll ask if you let me. Macaroni Frame is out of the question ;)

Well... This blown out window is not to be recovered :(
If nothing good comes out of it, I'll give up. However, I wanted to do it on my own with your help. Even if it's not he best, at least it will be mine.

Thanks once again.
05/28/2008 05:39:19 PM · #6
2 second edit for ya

[thumb]683156[/thumb]
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 04:51:29 AM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 04:51:29 AM EDT.