Just a quick opinion please? - DPChallenge Forums

Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS

08/10/2006 12:08:30 PM · #1

A little background. My aunt's grandson is a little autistic, very introverted, has a slight deformity with the shape of his head. She has tried taking him for pictures (at the usual places) many times. She doesn't have even 1 decent picture of him. So, she finally asked me. This child for the most part won't look anyone in the eye. Out of 126 shots, I think maybe 3 or 4 he is looking at the camera. So, my question is this... Do you think this looks OK considering the circumstance? Oh, and she told me to take the best picture and have it made 16x20, will it look strange?

ursula

Fujifilm X-T2

08/10/2006 12:12:12 PM · #2

I think your aunt will love this picture. He has such beautiful eyes, and I'm just guessing that the way he cocks his head and holds his shirt, resting his chin on the hands, is typical for him, and will mean even more to her. My one concern would be that in print the purple background might overpower the picture.

strangeghost

Canon EOS-7D

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

08/10/2006 12:13:16 PM · #3

Given the circumstances, I think you did very well!

Bugzeye

Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital

08/10/2006 12:17:05 PM · #4

I personally would try to straighten it out a little bit, and then clone in some new background on the right side. just to bring his head more to the center of the photo.

Bugzeye

Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital

08/10/2006 12:17:39 PM · #5

just enough to level off his shoulders

08/10/2006 12:28:33 PM · #6

Originally posted by Bugzeye:

just enough to level off his shoulders

OK - I think I get what you're saying. Obviously, this would have to be worked on but I want to make sure this is what you mean.

And thank you EVERYONE!

08/10/2006 12:32:37 PM · #7

Originally posted by ursula:

I'm not sure what to do with the background. It was a very wrinkled white sheet that came out a very ugly gray in the picture. I used healing to get the wrinkles out. Then I did a replace color but couldn't get anything except weird oranges, purples and dark grays. So I took the lightest purple and then played with the saturation. I wish I knew photoshop better.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

08/10/2006 06:19:04 PM · #8

Hi Kelli - I agree with the other commenters - I think this is a sweet, adorable picture! As for straightening it out, I think you did a good job but need to watch the left side where you have background where an elbow should be. Maybe try just adding some background to the right and let his shoulders be a little unlevel.

You did the hard part already - you got the shot and I suspect your aunt will indeed LOVE this. Maybe Bear_Music will happen by... he's a whiz at removing and/or replacing backgrounds and such. I'll see what I can do with the small one, but I suspect Bear could do a whole lot better.

lil_mo

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

08/10/2006 07:04:41 PM · #9

Originally posted by kdsprog:

It's a very cute picture and I think your aunt will love it!

I'm not sure how to link to an image in my workshop, still learing how to use this site, but I did play with the background a little to try to give some suggestions of things you can play with in photoshop.

//www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=378525

- slight cc rotation
- cut him out of the background and put him on new layer
- made a copy of just him, preserve transparancy and painted it orange
- made the orange layer "multiply" set opacity at 15% (this was to warm up the skin tones)
- for the BG, created new layer under him, picked a blue and yellow orange color then went to filter>render>clouds. repeated till I got clouds I liked. In the large version, you can play with the opacity and the layer options so that the texture of your original sheet shows up.

also played witht he levels to brighten it up a little.

Message edited by author 2006-08-10 19:07:11.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

08/10/2006 07:25:18 PM · #10

I don't know how to make a gradient color - but what I did was use the "extract" filter to create two layers - one with just him and one with the background. I used levels a bit to brighten his face on that layer, and added a grayscale gradient to the background. I don't like it in black and white, though. But at least it will give you some ideas of what you can play with.

thegrandwazoo

Nikon D750

08/10/2006 07:41:50 PM · #11

I gave it a shot I hope you don't mind.

Bugzeye

Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital

08/10/2006 07:44:04 PM · #12

yup thats what i had in mind.

08/10/2006 08:00:41 PM · #13

Originally posted by thegrandwazoo:

I gave it a shot I hope you don't mind.

Erick, that's awesome! Can you post your steps so Kelli can try it on the full size image? I especially like what you did with the eyes. Very nice!!

Art Roflmao

Canon EOS-6D Mark II

08/10/2006 08:08:49 PM · #14

Does it have to be color? I think with a bit of effort, it would make a great bw portrait.

Rotated (as suggested), a little "skin grafting" to remove blown shoulder, adjust levels (monochrome), select and radial blur background, a little touch up blurring and cloning here & there.

An excellent capture though.

Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Canon

08/10/2006 08:13:35 PM · #15

I really like the "skin grafting" part - I thought to try that but it doesn't work well in color - at least not what I tried.

SDW

Canon EOS-60D

08/10/2006 08:14:42 PM · #16

Hope you didn't mind but I took a shot at editing the picture. I warmed the skin tones and neutralized the background some. I also focused on the eyes and made the stand out more.

What do you think?

thegrandwazoo

Nikon D750

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

08/10/2006 08:26:51 PM · #17

Originally posted by Melethia:

Originally posted by thegrandwazoo:
I gave it a shot I hope you don't mind.

Erick, that's awesome! Can you post your steps so Kelli can try it on the full size image? I especially like what you did with the eyes. Very nice!!

Masked the background did a gradient from teal to white, rotated and cropped, just a little contrast adjustment, curves adjustment to open it up. The eyes were just dodged to bring them out and USM. I am happy to help.

:-)

I don't remember amounts I was just doing it by eye.

Message edited by author 2006-08-10 20:28:31.

joynim

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

Olympus 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Digital

08/10/2006 08:32:09 PM · #18

Originally posted by Art Roflmao:

Does it have to be color? I think with a bit of effort, it would make a great bw portrait.

Rotated (as suggested), a little "skin grafting" to remove blown shoulder, adjust levels (monochrome), select and radial blur background, a little touch up blurring and cloning here & there.

An excellent capture though.

nice work

Jaded_Housewife

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

08/10/2006 08:33:12 PM · #19

It makes a BEAUTIFUL black and white. you did a great job. my sons not autistic that we know of. but he has muscle issues and his movements that are sometimes random and jerky and that makes it hard to take pictures of him at times and he also has a misshapen head from his head being laid flat in the nicu for the first 4 months or so before he had muscle control in his neck. I would be proud to have that photo. you should be proud to have taken it.

jdannels

Nikon D300s

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Nikon

08/10/2006 09:06:49 PM · #20

here is my take, rotated and changed the background colors and shirt. I put all editing steps into the comments.

kenskid

Nikon D700

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

08/10/2006 09:19:05 PM · #21

Keep it how it is! If I may be blunt...this is a picture of someone who has a problem and is not quite straight...so the picture in my opinion is perfect. The mother/grandma/aunt will see the child in the picture and will know how hard it was to get this shot and marvel at it's simplicity.

I have a godchild/neice with downs and I have many pictures of her. I rarely throw out any or try to fix them up. We all look at them as for what they "are".

Hope this helps.

Here is my neice.

Message edited by author 2006-08-10 21:25:22.