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09/02/2005 05:27:56 AM · #1 |
I love this photo of my daughter. I took it way back in March when we first got the camera.I took it in the car and she was sitting in her carseat. The background is quite distracting. What would you do to improve it? Crop? B&W ? Sepia?????
I have the absolute most basic photo editing skills that it is possible to have and have neveer really done anything on my photos. Any comments or advice would be welcome. |
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09/02/2005 05:35:40 AM · #2 |
Re-shoot it. Put more distance between the subject and the background and disable the on camera flash. Get lower. Portraits of children are much more appealing if the are shot at the level of the child instead of looking down on them.
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09/02/2005 05:42:09 AM · #3 |
In the event that you can't reshoot, try blurring the background to create the illusion of more DOF. The quilt behind her is very colorful and patterned, so I desaturated it quite a bit and blurred it to allow her adorable face to get most of the attention instead. I increased the contrast a little, and also brought down the reds a tiny bit in curves. I also cloned out a few little spots of stuff on her face, and used Smart Sharpen to enhance her eyes. A layer of gaussian blur to soften, then used the eraser to bring the eyes back into sharper focus. :)

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09/02/2005 05:49:36 AM · #4 |
I agree there needs to be more distance creating a better DOF.
Message edited by author 2005-09-02 05:52:54. |
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09/02/2005 05:50:29 AM · #5 |
Wow Laurel that is amazing what you did especially to hers eyes!!I could never hope to emulate it and I appreciate effort made:)
Nsbca7 sadly I cant reshoot and I did'nt use the flash.I am curious what makes it look like a flash was used? It was taken late on a summers afternoon.Is that not ideal shooting conditions?? Would love to learn for more experienced photographers. |
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09/02/2005 05:52:58 AM · #6 |
Of course I dont mind and i am thrilled people are taking time to help me out. How do you change the POV ( I presume that means point of view) once the photo has been taken? |
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09/02/2005 05:59:18 AM · #7 |
SDW65 where has your version gone? I liked it! |
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09/02/2005 05:59:24 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by joynim: Wow Laurel that is amazing what you did especially to hers eyes!!I could never hope to emulate it and I appreciate effort made:)
Nsbca7 sadly I cant reshoot and I did'nt use the flash.I am curious what makes it look like a flash was used? It was taken late on a summers afternoon.Is that not ideal shooting conditions?? Would love to learn for more experienced photographers. |
The glare in the eyes makes it look that way. It could be from the sun or another soures of light coming from somewhere behind the camera. A little sparkle in the eyes is nice, but too much glare obscures the true detail in the eyes. Pay attention to your light sources when setting up shots.
BTW, you have a great model. If you have the opurtunity to work with her more, experiment with things like DoF, PoV and angles of lighting.
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09/02/2005 06:48:28 AM · #9 |
Okay people that is if there is anyone around!!! I have no idea what I am doing and was totally floundering but I have had a play .What do you think? |
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09/02/2005 06:51:15 AM · #10 |
Thanks nsbca I think she's great too but I'm biased!!! I also have a georgeous red head that I like to take photos of. I will remeber your advise about lighting in future ,trouble is there is soooooo much to remenber when taking a photo.I dont know how I will remember it all. |
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09/02/2005 06:53:42 AM · #11 |
Originally posted by joynim: I dont know how I will remember it all. |
Practice. After a while it all comes natural.
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09/02/2005 09:07:28 AM · #12 |
i used lauries version and muted the colors a bit, added grain to the background, and did some dodging and burning.

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09/02/2005 09:08:53 AM · #13 |
I have to ask it...
how do you pronounce her name. Like is it Nay-om-E or am I way off? |
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09/02/2005 09:10:33 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by gi_joe05: I have to ask it...
how do you pronounce her name. Like is it Nay-om-E or am I way off? |
i'd guess it would be nim--oo-ey
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09/02/2005 09:14:20 AM · #15 |
well, I would start out with taking care of the hair across her forhead. Then I would select everything but her face and using levels tone it down just a bit then I would but a layer behind it of pure black and mess with the layer type and the opacity to make it less distracting then I would be a huge gausin blur on it so it will make her face "glow". then mabey invert the selection and but a VERY SMALL unsharp mask on it. Overall it's a great shot of her and if worse comes to worse just make a digital background and put her on it. I wouldn't change where she is at compaired to the background or anything like that because I think that is what makes the frame "pop". make just a shot of some grass with major blur to create false dof.
I would have done all of this myself but I have huge homework assignments for photoshop class to do by monday and frankly I'm sick of looking of ps at the moment. |
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09/02/2005 09:32:42 AM · #16 |
My take:
Think I overdid the eyes...
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09/02/2005 09:56:35 AM · #17 |
rotate 5 degrees CCW
B&W conversion
blur background
crop |
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09/02/2005 10:23:12 AM · #18 |
Here is my interpretation.

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09/02/2005 12:55:15 PM · #19 |
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09/02/2005 01:30:33 PM · #20 |
Am I the only one that LIKES that BG? I find little to fault in the original, actually, beyond the strange catchlights in the eyes. I took a stab at this; I cleaned up the ctachlights, brightened the whites of the eyes, and added saturation to the lips. I toned down the highlight on the nose with healing brush, and removed a couple tiny blemishes in the skin. I selected the BG and added a little desat and a little gaussian blur, not a lot. I loaded the inverse selection and used a touch of neat imgae on the face. Then I selected the eyes only and added some USM to them, and cropped the image a bit.
That's it. No overall levels or hue/sat was needed, no sharpening was needed. I'd say Joy did pretty well.
Robt.
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09/02/2005 02:23:58 PM · #21 |
Originally posted by gi_joe05: I have to ask it...
how do you pronounce her name. Like is it Nay-om-E or am I way off? |
It's nim o way! Dont worry she is going to have that trouble all her life- poor girl! We think it is such a pretty name it's from the era of King Arthur and Merlin. Bear Music probably know all about it! |
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09/02/2005 02:26:54 PM · #22 |
Wow I have just woken up and I love the way people have played around with her photo.I am sooo lost when you mention all the steps! One day I am going to do a photoshop course and then I'll know what you are talking about! |
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09/02/2005 03:10:25 PM · #23 |
Originally posted by bear_music: Am I the only one that LIKES that BG? |
I am with the Bear on acceptance of the original with a few modifications. The BG is a distraction no more than an adjective distracts from the noun it modifies. The blanky is part of Nimue's world at the time of this shot. It is an element that helps to define an aspect of her personality. I found the hair clinging to the left side of her face more of a distraction (the father in me coming out there.) I have placed my version here.
As to just learning to edit. I would recommend working to achieve proficiency at cloning first. The crumbs or dust spots on Nimue's face was where I began to improve this shot. The clone tool will be used in a vast majority of your work (though not allowed in basic editing rules for challenge entries here.) |
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09/02/2005 03:22:32 PM · #24 |
Thanks Ron all comments and advice is much appreciated |
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09/02/2005 05:13:38 PM · #25 |
Originally posted by bear_music: Am I the only one that LIKES that BG? I find little to fault in the original, actually, beyond the strange catchlights in the eyes. I took a stab at this; I cleaned up the ctachlights, brightened the whites of the eyes, and added saturation to the lips. I toned down the highlight on the nose with healing brush, and removed a couple tiny blemishes in the skin. I selected the BG and added a little desat and a little gaussian blur, not a lot. I loaded the inverse selection and used a touch of neat imgae on the face. Then I selected the eyes only and added some USM to them, and cropped the image a bit.
That's it. No overall levels or hue/sat was needed, no sharpening was needed. I'd say Joy did pretty well.
Robt. |
VERY NICE, ROBT!! You transformed a snapshot into a lovely portrait.
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