There's got to be more I can get out of this...

[thrumyeye]

Here's a shot from a 3 month-old session. I like this photo, but it's just... blah.

I've tried curves, levels, selective color - basically every layer possibility and cannot get anything exciting for depth/color on this.

C&C please. Feel free to edit, but please share your process so I may learn how to improve my PP (until my OOC is better - I'd like to do as little with PS as possible! I'm hoping to become a good photographer - not a good graphic artist ;)).

I've also posted b&w - C&C on the conversion requested. I'm quite rough at RAW b&w conversions yet...

[Broncobear]

Here is my attempt...not much change actually but maybe it's all it needed

[thrumyeye]

Broncobear - I see the difference. What did you change to achieve this?

[Broncobear]

photoshop...shadow highlight to bring out the eyes more..saturated a touch to bring out the skin tone.

one more thing I should have done is play around with the whitebalance...

[Grain]

Hi Elaine.
Beautiful baby! Well done. I know what you mean about wanting results OOC, I am the same. I do love p/shop but its not helping my photography.
Hope you don't mind but had a play. This may be more of a favour to me, than a favour to you, because a friend has recently calibrated my monitor, but I'm not too sure if he did it correctly and the results are worrying me. So if you don't like what I have done blame my monitor! ;)
Beautiful baby, really.
I have gone for a softer approach.
http://www.thesoundplace.com/images/7222col.jpg
http://www.thesoundplace.com/images/7222mono.jpg

Might be a bit too soft. If the colours are way way out could you let me know? I can go back to my original settings. I have muted colours a bit.
Have you got any more pics from this session?

Sorry for the sloppy crop on the mono, was only a 2 min play as I was busting for the loo!

[Rubi Jane]

It's a beautiful shot! I would like a little softer image while drawing attention to the eyes. My edit was done on my laptop and although it's calibrated its hard to know what I get due to the screen angles so hopefully this looks as I expect.

Edits were to bring up the shadows below the head but also to dodge the background for a clean look. I blurred the layer, masked for the baby then blurred the baby to a lesser degree and masked the eyes so they remained sharp. I also added a touch of colour to the eyes (they looked blue so I went with that).

[Rubi Jane]

Two other versions, doutone & B&W

[eos_o_eos]

Hi Elaine.
Beautiful baby! Well done. I know what you mean about wanting results OOC, I am the same. I do love p/shop but its not helping my photography.
Hope you don't mind but had a play. This may be more of a favour to me, than a favour to you, because a friend has recently calibrated my monitor, but I'm not too sure if he did it correctly and the results are worrying me. So if you don't like what I have done blame my monitor! ;)
Beautiful baby, really.



I like this version. Maybe not quite as much noiseware as you seemed to have used and up the color a fraction. I do like the soft look especially with infants. I'm not too struck on over emphasizing color. Its easy to go overboard with things like eyes and the child could be at risk of looking freakish. The original is a beautifully caught moment and as Grain said, a beautiful baby.

[D. Craig Flory]

Here is my version. I used shadows / highlights adjustment in Photoshop along with a layer mask. I also enhanced the eyes catch lights.


http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i93/DC47/7222Enhanced.jpg

[Broncobear]

I like Craig's version. Really the original one was not far off.

this may be a personal preference but I generally find that pictures can be over photoshopped to lose the authenticity of the portrait (does that make sense)

Changes that alter or give a fake affect on the eyes or even an image that's much too soft , lose that sense "realism"....I feel when it comes to portraits and particularly baby pictures..people want to see and remember the natural beauty and innocence of the subject as it was

again this is just a personal perspective.

[thrumyeye]

Hi Elaine.
Beautiful baby! Well done. I know what you mean about wanting results OOC, I am the same. I do love p/shop but its not helping my photography.
Hope you don't mind but had a play. This may be more of a favour to me, than a favour to you, because a friend has recently calibrated my monitor, but I'm not too sure if he did it correctly and the results are worrying me. So if you don't like what I have done blame my monitor! ;)
Beautiful baby, really.
I have gone for a softer approach.
Might be a bit too soft. If the colours are way way out could you let me know? I can go back to my original settings. I have muted colours a bit.
Have you got any more pics from this session?

Thank you Grain! I appreciate the compliment of "Well done". Last night as I was PP'ing this session I felt disappointment. I just thought it wasn't much. Perhaps too many hours spent at the computer. :)

I never mind anyone having a play, hence the Image Editing OK on my account. I think the colors you have here are perfect! It's so hard to know what is "right" for color when it comes to monitors. From what I see here, I think your colors are great.

I do like the soft look - especially for babies. When I saw your version, I thought it was perfect. However (sorry to burst that bubble!) when I finished reading the entire post and scrolled back up, I do see how the smoothing of the skin has taken away from what is natural - the "splotchy" look of an infant's skin when he/she is cold, for example. And I have to agree with Broncobear, when it comes to over-photoshopping. It's something I definitely tend to do. :oops:

I have a lot of images from this session, however will have to wait until I get home from work tonight to share. :( Would you like me to post a couple more examples from this session?

Craig - I do like your version. Only one nitpick and that is the shadow area of the blanket right next to the head, has increased to a very bright contrasty pink.

Rubi Jane - your versions are also nice, and the blue of the eyes are gorgeous.

Thanks to all for C&C and posting! It has helped me greatly with this shot!

[Grain]

No problem Elaine. Someone said about the noiseware addition, well its true. I changed back to my original monitor settings and it is a bit over done, very apparent now I have reverted back to my previous settings. Thanks for posting such a gorgeous pic.
Same pic no noiseware. I have blown out the torso leading away. I really love this pose Elaine. I may use it myself as I take a lot of baby shots, hope you don't mind me poaching the pose :)

Bronco I agree with you on the obvious photoshopped look opinion. I am trying to get away from this but it is so easy to get carried away my friend. Though I would still tend to soften the photo of a baby as it can enhance (if done sparingly) the innocence and purity of a childs image.

http://www.thesoundplace.com/images/7222col2.jpg


Elaine i'm gonna PM you about something.

[Simply Trinity]

Grain your first version looked plasticky IMO. No offence. But as you said it must have been your monitor settings. The other versions posted all look way too red and raw looking for a baby shot. Yes, its good to keep the original detail but this is a baby remember?
Too many clashing contrasting tones draw you away from the topic.....the baby!
My brother once said, 'examine the work of those that give you crits, if you like what they produce then heed their crits. If you do not then discard what they say'
This picture on its own looks lovely.
A lovely moment with nice lighting taken by an obviously caring photographer. If you are looking for constructive crits then look to those who's work appeals to you.
I like Grains second rendition. I also like the original and looking at your other posts you could manipulate this to be a real winner. All of the previous is just my humble opinion. Please take no offence

[thrumyeye]

This picture on its own looks lovely.
A lovely moment with nice lighting taken by an obviously caring photographer.

I also like the original and looking at your other posts you could manipulate this to be a real winner.

Wow. Thank you! I don't know that my confidence in my photography is very high, as these positive comments come as a surprise. Thank you!!

Please take no offence
Never! Unless comments are blatently rude, I never take offense. If I didn't want to hear others' opinions, I wouldn't post and ask for them. :D

[thrumyeye]

Same pic no noiseware. I have blown out the torso leading away. I really love this pose Elaine. I may use it myself as I take a lot of baby shots, hope you don't mind me poaching the pose.

Your edit is exactly what I was looking for. It's not too soft, yet it removed the redness and such from the skin. Can you tell me how you did this? I use layers and all in PS but never seem to know exactly how to merge them together. Do you use the "blending" option for the layers? And what is a layer mask? *sigh* Perhaps questions for a PS forum...

And I take it as a compliment that you will be "poaching the pose" I used. :D

[Broncobear]

http://www.thesoundplace.com/images/7222col2.jpg


this one is excellent. Good job Grain!

[Grain]

Not easy to remember, bit of winging going on.
First go to selective colour and make sure its REDS that are selected. Use the black slider and take it down to kill off the redness.
Then I opened a new duplicate layer and adjusted the hue/saturation so the arm matched the rest of the child. Made a quick mask and then painted in the arm so it matched. Finally another layer to lighten the eyes using brightness and contrast. Same tech as before...quick mask and then paint in what i wanted and then merged down...Gotta go! ambulance here :)

Thanks bronco!!!!

[Rhinotherunt]

Here is my go at it...

[ijohnson]

Rhino, I like that black and white edit.

[Rhinotherunt]

Thanks ijohnson!