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 10/01/2003 04:30:03 PM · #1
Hello, I was hoping to get some thoughts on the following photo. I used some blur to create a soft filter effect for this shot and was wondering if it added or took away from the photo. Also, any comments on subject, background, etc. would be great. Open to suggestions, as this is one of the first 'posed' portraits I've shot.



Thanks,

Brian
 10/01/2003 04:33:18 PM · #2
The blur effect doesn't look bad, but the background is a bit busy and there are some color temp differences that seem a bit odd... did u do some dodging on her face and hair?
10/01/2003 04:39:08 PM · #3
I'm a big fan of intentional blur. In this case, however, it seems like you blurred the whole image. If it's not for a challenge, go ahead and spot edit! It seems to me like the blur had more of an effect on the girl than on the background, thus taking the focus away from her. For a portrait shot, traditionally, you want a very small aperature so that the background is blurry and doesn't distract from your true subject. I would try adding seperate blurs on the girl and on the background. I'd make the background one more blurry than it is now and I'd make the girl a little less blurry. It also seems like you might have added a "screen" layer on this, which I like, it gives it a very dreamy effect. I wouldn't recommend doing things like this for the challenges on here though! ;) people just don't understand the concept of intentional softfocus.
 10/01/2003 04:40:15 PM · #4
No, no dodge/burn used. I think this version may have some saturation bumped up a bit, can't remember for sure. (I had about 10 versions of the same image)

What specifically, are you indicating as far as temp differences...?
 10/01/2003 05:06:01 PM · #5
maybe it's just the whiteness of the face... not really sure..
 10/01/2003 05:38:35 PM · #6
sometimes on portraits, when i apply a blur, i use the history brush and erase the blur from the eyes, mouth and possibly earrings to make the image have some sharpness to it but still soften the skin and hair.
sometimes even erase the blur from the hair.
i also agree on the temp diff and think it is from the orange shirt and background being so saturated. the hair is a beautiful color beside the neck, but looks gray on top of her head.
10/01/2003 06:00:10 PM · #7
Originally posted by Ten13:
No, no dodge/burn used. I think this version may have some saturation bumped up a bit, can't remember for sure. (I had about 10 versions of the same image)

What specifically, are you indicating as far as temp differences...?


It seems to me that her hair color is different on the top as compared to the left and right. When I apply a blur to give soft focus, I usually do it on a duplicate layer, then erase away the eyes in the blurred layer. I like the soft focus effect, but I like to keep the eyes sharp. I strongly agree with the previous comments about using aperature to give significant blur to the background. Also, think about your background as much as your subject if you want to do a 'formal' portrait, as compared to a snapshot candid. Most of your background is nice flora, but you have a little bit of wooden deck? showing... Also, having the shoulders slightly turned as compared to striaght on seems more natural and comfortable.
I hope you don't mind, but I did a couple of quick edits in Photoshop. I did not spend a great deal of time making a selection around the girl and it shows, but I just wanted to give you a couple of touch up pointers. I made a rough selection of the background and applied a gaussian blur. it spread over the areas I wanted to keep sharp, so I used a soft edge brush for the eraser tool and cleaned it up a little. Once again, it is not perfect, but it could be made perfect with more time invested. I also brightened up her teeth and the whites of her eyes. I created a new layer and then airbrushed an off-white color over those areas. I then applied a small gaussian blur and changed the blend mode to overlay and reduced the opacity until it looked 'right'. I used the eraser tool to clean up around those areas.
I cloned some flora to cover the wood on the right. To get the orange shirt to flora transition to look similar to the left side, I selected that area on the left, copied and pasted to a new layer, then flipped it horizontally and moved it to the right side. (once again, this could be made to look better with more time invested).
I made a Levels adjustment and was mostly happy, but I wanted her skin tones to be a little brighter. I created a new layer and filled it with a light peach color. You can change the layer blending mode to overlay, multiply, or several others that works well for this. Adjust the opacity until it looks good. I then erased it from the eyes, teeth shirt, hair and background.
It sounds like a lot, but I only spent about 10 minutes doing this. You can really improve the quality of a photo with some quick editing.
Email me if you have any specific questions!
Thanks,
JD




Message edited by author 2003-10-01 18:02:37.
 10/01/2003 07:38:10 PM · #8
nice work....i like it...i love soft images
 10/02/2003 12:14:34 PM · #9
Thanks so much for the input, everyone. JD - nice touch ups. Here is another portrait. I blurred the background more than the subject (maybe not quite enough). The pose and surrounding area I feel are better. I'd like to darken the skin tone just a little (you can reply to my e-mail about that if you like JD)

Now, I like this portrait not blurred, but I wanted to see if I was getting your point about the blur effect and to see everyone else's opinions. Go ahead, fire away! I'm never going to get better until I study up on portraits and get constructive criticism, right?? ;)

10/02/2003 12:35:57 PM · #10
One small note that should definitely be taken with a grain of salt considering my level of expertize :) but I noticed all your portraits are in landscape mode... Try a couple in portrait mode (turning the camera 90 degrees) and see what you think.
 10/02/2003 01:12:00 PM · #11
Originally posted by smellyfish1002:
It sounds like a lot, but I only spent about 10 minutes doing this. You can really improve the quality of a photo with some quick editing.


Perhaps it's a matter of the time invested, and while I agree Ten13's version leaves room for improvement, it seems you have edited the life out of the picture. The halo effect resulting from applying too much blur (and perhaps not enough feathering) makes it seem like her image has been digitally inserted; she no longer looks like she belongs, so it the portrait lacks a natural feel to it. The whitening and sharpening of the eyes and teeth create a ghoulish feel, incongruous to the girlish face; the image has been reduced to the whites of her eyes (try looking at something else!).

opinion. nothing else.
 10/02/2003 02:35:15 PM · #12
Originally posted by dwoolridge:
Perhaps it's a matter of the time invested, and while I agree Ten13's version leaves room for improvement, it seems you have edited the life out of the picture. The halo effect resulting from applying too much blur (and perhaps not enough feathering) makes it seem like her image has been digitally inserted; she no longer looks like she belongs, so it the portrait lacks a natural feel to it. The whitening and sharpening of the eyes and teeth create a ghoulish feel, incongruous to the girlish face; the image has been reduced to the whites of her eyes (try looking at something else!).

opinion. nothing else.


I agree with you, it does not look natural. I stated higher in my post that I was not shooting for perfection, but just to illustrate some quick points. More time invested would have given a better result, but I didn't have the time. But you are right, I would not print or keep this image as is. The whites are a little too bright, and I did not try to get a good selection around the girl. I was just trying to explain the main points of a few touch ups, without investing the time to do a great job for a simple post.
As far as the ghoulish feel (and the orange shirt) Halloween is coming soon! LOL

JD Anderson
 10/02/2003 02:53:50 PM · #13
You'd said:
Go ahead, fire away! I'm never going to get better until I study up on portraits and get constructive criticism, right?? ;)

OK, I will. First of all, this is my first post on this board because I don't frequent it very often. But you'd asked for constructive criticism, so here it is.

My $.02.


Boy Shot:
- Nice light from the right. A reflector on the left would help. The shadow from the light is still acceptable IMO.
- Tilted head. Looks ok, nice touch.
- Twisted frame (lack of better words). Looks good. But his shirt has a symbol on it which makes a spec of red stand out. Looks bad. Touch it up (clone) or twist his body less and let it show. Personally, I'd clone it out.
- Nice detail in the eyes.

Girl Shot:
This one is not as good.
- background is discontinuous because of the peice of wood.
- background - the white flower is a jump in intensity for the photo...I'd avoid it if possible.
- background is in focus. Use larger aperature (that is a smaller number, larger hole) and/or move the subject further from the background.
- subject placement: the orange flower appears to stick out from the girl's hair. Also, I'd try to avoid shooting in front of objects that have the same color as the subject's clothes. (Here, you could move the girl to the right a little, and crop out the red flower on the left).
- pro photogs use a soft focus for their lenses. But they have better lenses than us. You probably won't need the soft focus effect. Your choice. FYI - IMO - photogs use soft focus to avoid showing wrinkles in the skin, acne, and other minor blemishes. They're not trying to lose a lot of detail, just a little smoothing at the granular level.
- shadow in the eyes - not much detail. Light is in a bad spot. Use reflectors. Try different angles. Shoot at different time of day (will also effect color temperature). Notice the light shines on the boy's face in the boy photo, but it shines on the girl's shoulder/side in her photo. The light should be reflected into her face for a soft light, or shine(d) (huh, past tense of shine, is that shun?) on the top of her head as a backlight assuming you have some front light, aka flash. I'm not sure of the control you have for fill flash, or if you can have a muter box or even use an off camera flash.
- shadow in the hair - try to avoid this.
- shirt is on crooked - it shows a part of her undergarment, the seams for the sleeves/shoulder overemphasize the crookedness.

Well, I hope this helps. Good luck!! PS - get a book on taking portraits if you really want to learn, and then you won't have to read as many "in my opinion" posts. :) Again, best of luck!

- Dave

Message edited by author 2003-10-02 14:59:50.
 10/02/2003 03:20:11 PM · #14
Dave - very useful info, thanks!

A little history on these 2 shots:

boy shot: first pic taken with camera, facing sunset a few shots taken in about 5 minutes.

girl shot: Totally spontaneous. Happened to have my camera and thought I'd snap a couple of shots.

The good thing is, next time I will be more armed with information and I plan on picking up a few books in the next day or so. If anyone has suggestions on posing/portraiture books...

Thanks again for the feedback. Kepp it coming.
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