Celebrate...go Topless
by zclare

Comment:
Clare - Here is my reply to your PM asking for assistance on post processing. I really liked the image you put in this challenge. It just needed a bit of touch up to really do it justice.

A couple of things that could really help the image would be to adjust the levels of light in your image and potentially adjust the hue of the image due to the flash.

You can find the levels under Enhancements/Adjustments in Photoshop. If you open up levels, you will see a histogram (a graph) that shows the exposure in a graphical format. On the left of the graph is the amount of 'black' in the image and the right side has the amount of 'white' in the image. By moving the sliders under the graph (the arrows) you can quickly adjust the exposure of the image that is displayed to the view.

Here's the original histogram:


If you notice, there is no information at the right (white) side of the image. By moving the white slider to the left, the whites in the man's shirt start to shine more.

Another approach that works really well are to use the 'eyedroppers' on the histogram dialogue box (lower right portion). By clicking on the white dropper and then clicking on the whitest portion of the image once - you automatically set the whites. Then select the black eye dropper and do the same for the blacks (the background in your case). Finally, you can select on the grey (midtone) eyedropper and then select a mid point of the image. WHat you will see is that by clicking on different 'grey' or mid-tone portions of the image, the white balance (overall hue) of the image will change. By doing this trial and error approach, you can then make it look the way you want.

It is a small step that can make all the difference.

Here is the 'edit' I did by adjusting levels, adding a bit of unsharp mask (USM), and adjusting the hue/saturation of the yellows and reds a bit. Also, I did a bit of cropping - i agree with at least one other commenters view on cropping out a bit more of the arms/ sleeves. Show the spray - that is the cool part - and the sleeves detract from it a bit.



Good luck!

Peter

Message edited by author 2007-11-21 10:08:30.

Late Night
by dwainasaurus

Comment:
nice formulas! this could really benefit from some adjustments in levels to bring out the whites and create some strong blacks.

Prairie Grasses
by Balko

Comment:
Ingrid - Nice finish in this challenge - a beautiful image, well composed, with wonderful textures and lines

Pass Thrown
by madcrabber

Comment:
Really good image - i didn't get to vote, but I would have easily given this a 9 or 10 for well composed, excellent use of foreground blur and wonderful focus on the QB

Future Oak Trees
by timfythetoo

Comment:
Tim
Congrats on the high placement, and better yet, congrats on a beautiful image. I couldn't make it through the challenge entries (i quit after about 30% due to excessive blur to the eyes) but this is really outstanding.

Topless Beach
by ErikV

Comment:
I really thought this was extremely creative and should have scored much better than a 5.78.

The Contortionist
by e301

Comment:
Absolutely and completely robbed! This is a brilliant image.

Mammut americanum
by posthumous

Comment:
A fabulous image - clearly one of the best in the challenge. This woman displays such grace and her facial expression shows an awesome attachment to her craft

Lazy Saturday Afternoon
by jschro

Comment:
fantastic lighting - love the feel created by it

on the way..
by bnilesh

Comment:
What an awesome expression on this child!