How should I post process this?

[MrChevy]

This is right out of the camera, just resized and posted. How can I improve it with post processing? It is a photo of my wife Ani. She commented it doesn't "POP". How do I make it do that? I am trying to learn how to use Photoshop. Yes, I see the lipstick on her teeth. Is it too soft?

Thanks,

Ken

EXIF info:
2003:12:06 15:47:19
70.0-200.0mm @ 200.0mm
Subject dist: 5.83m
1/200 sec, f/2.8
Mode: Av
Metering: Evaluative
ISO: 100
AF mode: One-shot AF
Drive: Continuous: frame 1 http://home.comcast.net/~kenchevy/CRW_1316w.jpg
White balance: Auto
Flash: External E-TTL + Red eye reduction
File size: 97KB
Image size: 505 x 654
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Tone: Normal

[Bruce Hamilton]

I'd start by lightening the background, too much contrast with her dark hair. :wink:

[MrChevy]

I'd start by lightening the background, too much contrast with her dark hair. :wink:

Go ahead and download it and change it and re-upload so we can see how it is done please.

Thanks Bruce.

[Bruce Hamilton]

xx

[MrChevy]

Go ahead and download it and change it and re-upload...

What I did was adjust the fill flash +1, then used auto levels to finish it off. I didn't touch the lipstick smudge on her teeth, I'll leave that for you. ;)

http://photos.imageevent.com/brucehamilton/miscellaneous/edited/websize/CRW_1316w.jpg

Ahhhh, no no no Bruce, that is not what you said. You said: I'd start by lightening the background, too much contrast with her dark hair. :wink:

Do not lighten the whole photo. :oops: :oops: Just lighten the background. Her skill color is correct, her sweater color is correct, her hair IS that black :wink:

I can't seem to mask quickly worth a damn, that is why I don't try doing that yet :x Someday I hope to be able too if I keep at it. An ugly job of me doing that (what you said: lighten the background) is here:

http://home.comcast.net/~kenchevy/CRW_1316w2.jpg

but notice how bad it looks, where her hair separates from the background looks BAD, and I even missed some down by her shoulder.

But notice, you have to leave everything in the photo but the background [i]untouched, all of the rest of the colors are fine.

Ok Bruce, and anyone else, let's see the background lightened and re-uploaded. :D :D

And Bruce, DO try again, it is the way we all learn, by trying different things. :)

And YOU are lucky you weren't close by when Ani saw your 1st try at it :D:D Her quote: "My skin does NOT look like that" ... but I calmed her :twisted: down, so try again.

[karusel]

Um... I'm kind of bothered by the too aggressive lip color it just doesn't go with her, but you can change that easily... also whiten the teeth a little bit and remove the what seems like wrinkes under lower lip. I would not say that original background is a problem.

[Don Ellis]

This is right out of the camera, just resized and posted. How can I improve it with post processing? It is a photo of my wife Ani. She commented it doesn't "POP". How do I make it do that?

Hi Ken,

I wouldn't done anything except that you asked... and I'll preface any change with a disclaimer that we all have our own tastes and approaches. Ani is lovely (and she can cook and photograph), so any improvement in this photo is bound to be minor.

Here's my version...

http://www.kleptography.com/dl/fm/ani3.jpg

... and what I did...

1. I don't know Ani's skin color but I have a feeling it's not quite as red as the original photo, so I used a classic S-curve in Curves to lighten the highlights and darken the shadows slightly ("slightly" being very important). Alternatively, you can go to Hue/Saturation, set the mode to Reds and lower the Saturation slightly. Either way, the S-curve is important to increase contrast and offset Light Ani from Dark Background.

2. Then I sharpened her... I tend to make things pop by pushing sharpening to the limits. In this case I used Ultrasharp Quick Sharp 50, which sharpens detail and leave areas of no detail (the background in this case) untouched. Alternatively, you can use Photoshop's Unsharp Mask at 150, 0.3, 0 and then again at 120, 0.2, 0.

3. Flattened the layer and used the Sharpen Tool at 12% and clicked twice on the highlights in her eyes. (Which you won't have to do if you're using Unsharp Mask by itself, as above.)

4. Cropped off a bit of the top and left side so that she's more centered and the white feather on the left is cut away.

5. Used a 125-pixel Burn Tool (Midtones at 50%) set at maximum dispersion and then darkened what little white remains on the left-hand side and top-left corner.

And there you are. Again, skin tones might not be right.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about her teeth. They're beautiful and natural and this isn't Vogue... it's a real-person photo.

Having said that, you can select them if you want (I use Quick Mask and a brush to select them), call up Hue/Saturation. Select Yellows and reduce Saturation to -70 or so, and then select Master and bump the Lightness to 10 (as I said, minimal). You'll get this...

http://www.kleptography.com/dl/fm/ani4.jpg

The best way to look at the changes for me is not side-by-side, but to use ACDSee Classic, make one photo full-screen and then use PgDn and PgUp to switch back and forth between two photos. Details that have changed will be immediately apparent, unlike viewing both photos at the same time.

Anyway, there's one man's opinion. It's mainly the more aggressive sharpening that works for me in this photo. The eyes now pull you in which they didn't before.

Cheers to you both,

Don

P.S. I'm happy with the original darker background, but her she is against a slightly lighter background...

http://www.kleptography.com/dl/fm/ani6.jpg

[mvrekum]

Just a simple retouch:

http://www.photofile.nl/postings/CRW_1316w.jpg

Use the 'magic wand tool' in photoshop to select the background (set it to 4 and use the shift key to make multiple selections)
Use the 'lasso tool' + shift key to select remaining bits or alt key to deselect parts.
Open curves. set the cross in the middle (127/127) and use the arrow keys to move the point up or down.
If the image is to your likings, click ok.
That's all, 5 minutes work.

Martin

[$tephen]

Just a simple retouch:

Use the 'magic wand tool' in photoshop to select the background (set it to 4 and use the shift key to make multiple selections)
Use the 'lasso tool' + shift key to select remaining bits or alt key to deselect parts.
Open curves. set the cross in the middle (127/127) and use the arrow keys to move the point up or down.
If the image is to your likings, click ok.
That's all, 5 minutes work.

Martin

Its even quicker if you have CS. Use the Shadow/Highlight command
Image>Ajustments>Shadow/Highlight, then tweak to suit

[Don Ellis]

Its even quicker if you have CS. Use the Shadow/Highlight command
Image>Ajustments>Shadow/Highlight, then tweak to suit

I use this feature regularly and didn't even think to try it here (preferring to sharpen my non-existent Extract skills). Thanks for the reminder.

About 10% looked decent to me... remembering that it lightens her hair as well but that seemed to be within reason. And if you don't want lighter hair, you can duplicate the layer, use Shadow, then erase the bits you want original.

Again, thanks.

Don

[mvrekum]

Its even quicker if you have CS. Use the Shadow/Highlight command
Image>Ajustments>Shadow/Highlight, then tweak to suit

I don't have CS (yet), so I can not try it, but doesn't affect the whole image?

Martin

[MrChevy]

Thank you Don, Martin and $tephen. I can't do anything until I get home, there is NO way to look at what you did correctly without being on a profiled/calibrated monitor and this notebook I am on is close but like they say: No cigar as far as looking at colors correctly :)

I will try all of your ways and report back to each of you. Thank you all for helping me learn something!

[HKMonkey]

One thing to be careful of when selecting the background is the hair on her head. Since it was a quick retouch, Martin's selection must have gotten her hair that is by her turtleneck. The results are some goofy looking hair around that area. I always find selecting around hair very difficult, and usually I don't do a very good job, but it's something to look out for.

[timmyquest]

WEEE my turn

I think i overdid it...i was trying to go for something but it didnt quiet turn out how i pictured it.

http://www.antiwall.com/asdf.jpg

[Don Ellis]

WEEE my turn

I think i overdid it...i was trying to go for something but it didnt quiet turn out how i pictured it.

Then why are you posting it, Timmy? :shock:

Ani looks like a lovely person, but you probably don't want to mess with her... just ask Ken. Even if she's too polite to kick your butt she may not give you dessert, and judging by the look of her desserts (other posts), that would be punishment enough. :)

Don

[Calis]

My turn! I like this game :D

http://www.pbase.com/image/29249170.jpg

A very simmilar approach to Don's in terms of sharpening, lightening the background and cropping. The difference is I used the 'advanced skin softening' method from a PS book I have by Scott Kelby.

This involves copying two new layers with one set to darken and one to lighten with a big (40-60) gausian blur on each. You then blend those layers and delete out the non-skin bits. The result is to reduce the contrast over the skin, to give a very subtle glow and to smooth out inperfections. You set the opacity of this layer to get the amount of softening you want.

Great fun, thanks for starting this thread.

[MrChevy]

All of the different ways to "improve" the shot are real interesting. They have all taught me something.

Really like the way you worked it over Don...but, geeeez, does Ani ever like the one you did Phil!

Excellent teaching, all of you who were kind enough to give it a go.

Thank you !

Now to post another one for all of you to work with and let's see what you come up with (and hopefully I learn a little something at the same time, again) :D

[Calis]

Ken,

I'm really glad Ani liked it - from what Don said I wouldn't want to upset her :)

I got a lot of useful tips from Scot Kelby's book - "The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers" and heartily recomend it.

Off to look for your next post now....

[BigRed450]

How about the Glamour Soft Focus...

http://users.air.on.ca/cbjaps/Webpostpics/CRW_1316wcopy.jpg

[karusel]

Calis: thank you, kind Sir, this is indeed very useful! 8)

[BlurHead]

Hey BigRed, you made the pic look like the back of a Danielle Steel book! Funny :)