Yes, it's a baby picture - DPChallenge Forums

03/30/2007 06:41:39 AM · #1

This is Alexander, the 9-week-old son of my daughter's friend, Erin.
We went for coffee at Tim Horton's today and, of course, I couldn't resist, though the lighting was far from ideal.

I'd appreciate any advice. Please, if you have a suggestion on changes tell me how to make them? I'm a rank amateur with PS, and need to be told what tools to use, and how, to get the improvements you may suggest :)
And should I remove his mother's reflection from his eyes?

Original

Edit

03/30/2007 08:16:07 AM · #2

No suggestions? I'd like to give the mom a copy, but I'd like to make it the best I can first.

maxaz1

Canon PowerShot S5 IS

03/30/2007 08:34:24 AM · #3

I'm pretty much of an amateur myself - but I gotta tell you that if I had a picture like that of a baby of mine, I'd be thrilled to no end! Nice job! You captured that baby-joy that is so special, and no easy thing to do with a 9 week old.

Personally, I prefer the photo that shows more of Alexander's head (the more baby, the better?) I do like the darkened background, with the highlight distraction removed, and maybe you could crop just from the bottom to take out the pink and his hand, but leave his head.

Remove the mother's reflection? Never. I would be philosophically opposed to that! :-)

I'm sure you will get some more experienced opinions and advice, but I thought I would let you know that I love this picture.

Message edited by author 2007-03-30 08:36:21.

Lorene

Canon EOS-550D Rebel T2i

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

03/30/2007 09:37:42 AM · #4

First off, I'd agree that this is a great capture of an adorable expression. Just a couple things that I would do (and I'm definitely not an expert):

Crop similarly to what you did but leave all of the head in the shot. To do this you might have to clone out the little bit of pink in the bottom right corner (clone after you crop). I cropped at a 5x7 size ratio so it's ready to be a print from the beginning.

Add some brightness/contrast. I played around with the unedited version and I think I brought contrast up to +12 or so.

Neat Image!

I also tried spot healing all the little crumbs (?) on the forehead and cheek as they're a bit distracting.

The tongue is where I messed up. It looks a little strange with the bright reflection, but I couldn't get it to look better so I left it. I think the eyes are fine as they are.

Unsharp mask

This was just a quick try at editing this, but I hope it helps a little!

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/30/2007 11:56:40 AM · #5

Thanks, anyone else?

suemack

Canon EOS-20D

03/30/2007 08:44:34 PM · #6

What a beautiful baby shot..... his mother is going to be so pleased with it.
I had a bit of a play, ended up with very similar to your edit I think

alanfreed

Nikon D6

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

03/30/2007 09:27:11 PM · #7

The really nice thing about babies at that age is that they all pretty much look alike. In most cases you really can't even tell if they're boys or girls. So if you have ANY baby shot you have ever liked, even if its of YOU as a baby, you can pretty much get away with giving it to the parents, and they'll be thrilled! :)

CODE

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

03/30/2007 09:41:30 PM · #8

I actually like the mother's reflection, it adds emotion to the photo.
I would remove the little veins using the healing tool in PS.

Beautiful photo!

Sigma 35mm f1.4 dg hsm for Canon

03/30/2007 10:23:40 PM · #9

Thanks, guys! :D

Ubersteiny

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

03/30/2007 10:34:16 PM · #10

is this the Tim Hortons by Future Shop?