Please help crop! - DPChallenge Forums

12/02/2005 10:35:28 PM · #1

Hello,

I just fooled around with the portrait tutorial and PSed this shot. I feel it is ok for my first try. However, I'm not sure the crop is the best it could be. There were "other" people in the shot and this crop was to get them out.

Can you suggest some crops for me? Perhaps edit and show me the crop?
You can also comment on the skin, eyes, hair etc...

Help me learn!

Thanks,

KenSkid

Message edited by author 2005-12-02 22:42:59.

12/02/2005 10:37:55 PM · #2

Be better if we could see the uncropped original, Ken.

R.

12/02/2005 10:43:19 PM · #3

Check original post....

Thanks bear.

Originally posted by bear_music:

Be better if we could see the uncropped original, Ken.

R.

12/02/2005 10:51:13 PM · #4

Honestly, your best bet would be to 'shop out some of the BG faces to give her a little more breathing room. Also, re: your photoshopping, her face actually looks better int he uncropped, presumably "straight" version, so you may have taken a step backwards there. I'll try to take a stab at it later if nobody else has but I got some stuff to do right now.

Peace, Robt.

12/02/2005 11:00:49 PM · #5

Thanks...

I'll try to PS out the others...I softened the cropped one a bit b/c of some blemishes on the cheeks that don't show up on the uncropped.

Originally posted by bear_music:

12/02/2005 11:02:00 PM · #6

Originally posted by kenskid:

Thanks...

I'll try to PS out the others...I softened the cropped one a bit b/c of some blemishes on the cheeks that don't show up on the uncropped.

Your first line of attack should be the healing brush tool, then. Works like a charm on blemishes :-)

R.

jenesis

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

12/02/2005 11:05:35 PM · #7

Yeah, probably the best thing to do would be to clean up the background a little otherwise you'll only be able to get a pretty tight square crop. Here's my go at the crop, didn't to any processing to the girl as she really doesn't need it, unless maybe just brigtening the eyes which I think you did. For my crop (and this is just a quick job), it's a 4x6 crop with the man in the back burned out. Then I used the eliptical marquee tool and selected an oval around her face with a 2px feather, select inverse and copy and pasted it as a new layer. Applied about a 85% gaussian blur and lowered the opacity slightly just to soften the burn a little. Looking at it now, it may be a little close to the chin, but I was trying to keep from having too much of the ladies hair come into play in the photo. But this is just my take, I tend to lean towards horizontal portraits. :-) She's a cutie!

DjFenzl

12/02/2005 11:07:45 PM · #8

Personally I think it looks a little cold especially in the highlights. I'd take the blues down just a tad in the highlights.

You could use the healing brush on the blemishes or just be more selective as to what you soften. Maybe try selecting her cheek, then select the color range reds, feather it a bit and work on smoothing just that out so you keep the detail and just even out the rosiness of her cheeks.

jenesis

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

12/02/2005 11:29:37 PM · #9

Well, I couldn't help myself. I went ahead and played around with some minor processing on her. As bear was mentioning, the healing brush can be a very powerful tool when improving portraits. A good setting that I've found works well without leaving tell-tale signs is this, set to a smaller size diameter (relative to the size of the photo you're working on), hardness 100%, Spacing at 25%, Angle at -49 degrees and roundess at 16%. This will give a nice angle to the brush as opposed to the circle shape, makes for a much more natural transition.

12/02/2005 11:30:44 PM · #10

Thanks all...

I like the 4x6 crop and I'll try a little warm up....

Thanks for teaching.

KS

12/03/2005 01:41:26 AM · #11

Thanx jen! (crossing that one off my list)

R.

bowronfam3

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

12/03/2005 05:11:44 PM · #12

Here's my go at it! For some reason the thumbnail looks really fuzzy, but full size doesn't...hmmm?

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