Poser's - Focus on Imaging 06

[cmpowell125]

Good Evening.

Just spent the day at Focus for Imaging 06 at the NEC (Birmingham, UK).

Got quite a few snaps of this pair, had to bump up the ISO, i stupidly left my flash at home, didnt think I'd need it.

I've had a shot at cleaning the background up, very quickly but it looks fake. I shot in JPEG, So I know the WB is wrong, I didnt get long to play around.

Can anyone help with the PP point me in the right direction. I want to try and see if I can get the high-key look. White background.

The reddish one's the original, and the next is my 'attempt' (no laughing, well if you want :p)

The ORIGINAL IS HERE (http://www.cpowell.co.uik/files/focus06/2006_0226_154418.0026.JPG)

http://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/2006_0226_154418.0026.o.small.jpg http://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/2006_0226_154418.0026.small.jpg

C&C welcome, bear in mind the conditions were out of my control. Please feel free to play with the image, but please tell me what you have done. Any pointers? How can I improve the image.

Thanks.


Chris

[synapz]

i like the 1st one but the cut out of the girls in the second one could be better :S cant fault the pics tho, im just very fussy on things like that. Well Done on the pic and its a very good attempt at a cut, ive seen far far worst in my PS time. But like u said, u done it very fast. The only tip i can give u for cutting an image is zoom as fas as you can in and use the eraser tool to delete the bg. Take time tho otherwise you get raggidness like on the blond girls thigh. Get what im saying?

[cmpowell125]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah i know my cutting out is shocking, and was only done very quickly. I'll admit that :p

Just wondered what methods everyone use, as Iv seen many different ways to do it. and dont want to commit to one, spending alot of time, if its not the best.

The models were great. Managed to get alot with them looking directly at me.

[dengli]

I've been playing with CS2's "extract" filter with mixed success. Make sure you have an 8bit JPEG and then go filter-extract. Draw around what you want to extract and then fill using the tools on the page. You can clean up your selection using the eraser on the page.

When it works, it's brilliant

[cmpowell125]

I did have a play with extract, but it didnt behave too well :p

[synapz]

Different methonds

1. Eraser
2. Extract Filter
3. Magnetic Lasso
4. Poly lasso

I find eraser the best because you can use different sizes, smoothness, opasity etc for different types of images and sizes.

In your defence tho, cutting hair is a pain in the ass, ive never ever been able to cut hair out well, expetially womens hair!

[cmpowell125]

A few more from this pair. Again all got the horrible redness....So any help with correcting this. I've played with the levels which helps alot, but not done so on these images.

http://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/0.jpghttp://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/1.jpghttp://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/9.jpg
http://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/3.jpghttp://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/4.jpghttp://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/5.jpg
http://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/6.jpghttp://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/7.jpghttp://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/8.jpg http://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/2.jpg

Shame somebody stepped in front of me in number 4!!

Thanks.

[synapz]

i quite like the redness because it gives a feeling of HOTNESS between the two of them. Imo

On a blackish/brown b/g the redness would give a fantastic image

[Jonny]

I had a quick play if you don't mind too much.

I was just looking at the girl on the left though, have you seen that red line across her waist? Has she been on a sun bed in her knickers?



http://www.jonspeed.com/focus.jpg

[cmpowell125]

It was so much easier having models who knew what they were doing.

Thanks, yeah i tried a blackish background, looked good, apart from my rubbish cutting out. hehe. got a 'nice' blue glow around the girls.

I'm gonna master it one day...

[cmpowell125]

Feel free to play with them, i appreciate the feedback.

The redline, yeah, didnt notice it at the time. But got home and the G/F noticed it. Looks like a sunburn. Once I've picked the best one, i'll clone that out, shouldnt be to much of a problem.

[mgbeach]

definitely a cute pair! I selected carefully with the polygonal lasso and copied the pair onto a new square canvas filled with white. I duplicated the layer that contained them and ran a heavy box blur on the top layer. I erased through that layer with a 0-hardness brush, careful not to go to the edges. It left a fuzzy glow around them which is the best I could really do. Added a levels layer to bring up the midtones and highlights, and darkened the shadows a bit for contrast. Ran it through neat image on a strong setting and sharpened.

[cmpowell125]

Amazing. I like it. Right, im gonna have a go. I'll post my attempt later.

Thanks mgbeach.

[cmpowell125]

One attempt (different Photo though)

I used levels to correct the photo, then ran though NEAT image, sharpened, increased contrast and then used curves to blow out the background. All done with layer masks.

http://www.cpowell.co.uk/files/focus06/2006_0226_154432.0030.highKey.jpg

[fstop11.net]

If you left your flash at home.. Why didnt you pop over to the Photographer Monthly stand and photograph models with supplied studio lighting. Thats where I'l be :)

Good shots anywho :P

[cmpowell125]

I got some over there 2 :p But i prefered these shots. Got some over on the AVIPhoto stall, Flash Center, and Digital Camera magazine. But out of all of them, these were the best pair.

[cmpowell125]

Ok, another attempt. What does everyone think?

http://www.chrispowellphotography.com/gallery/portrait/large/2006_0226_154418.0026.HK.jpg

[madferrit]

Its pretty close to the one that mgbeach posted, but something needs to be done about that tan line ;)

I like the other one you posted as well.

Thanks to mgbeach for posting his workings to get the effect.. i might try and dabble with it later on :)

[cmpowell125]

I've removed the tan line on a later copy. Just havnt uploaded it yet.

[blundar]

I think that the pair of posers are stunningly beautiful. Before you go crazy with trying to select all the way around to completely isolate the background, you really need to make some other adjustments first.

1. I would first use the white/gray/black adjustment to set the white balance correctly. Once that is established, I would then warm up the white balance a bit. Once you do this, you will notice that most of the work is already done for you. The background will already be white (or just off white, that is acceptable).
2. All The photos look underexposed. I would brighten them up, adjust the contrast up, and add some saturation also.
3. I would then use the color fill tool on the black area at the bottom. Replace black with white.
4. At this point most of the background will be white but not perfect. Editing will be minimal then. If you think that the background is still not white enough after some minor clone tool cleanup; Select only the what is left of the background, and crank up the brightness and contrast. That will turn it completely white.
5. Remove the tan line, and sharpen the images.

Number 4 is easily saveable. If you look at the photo before it, it is exactly the same pose. Use that photo, resize it so that it matches number 4, trim off the area that you don't need, and do a blend of the 2 images. Minor touchups will then be required after that.

[cmpowell125]

A quick attempt at the above mentioned photo. Its not great, but just a very quick edit.

[cmpowell125]

Thanks Blunder for the advice. I'll have a better play when I have a little more time.

[blundar]

I always shoot RAW, convert with DPP, and then use Paint Shop Pro X for all my post processing work. I can do these types of adjustments very quickly. When processing a large number of photos, I also like to automate the routines to run batch process steps. Just remember to always keep the originals backed up prior to doing any work like this.

When you use your own studio lights, you can become very consistent with your setups, and white balance. You can then do most of your photo sessions with bare minimum post processing required afterwards.