How do I make this photo more dramatic?

[rajah sulayman]

I had my first "real" photo shoot today, by which I mean I schlepped through the woods with models, costumes, makeup, lighting gear, camera gear, you name it. It was the first time I'd had a shoot with very specific lighting, directing the models, and so on. It went pretty well.

Thing is, taking the pictures is only half the battle these days. It's not enough to get the shot, you need to run it through a lot of post- in order to really bring out the drama. Case in point, the recent Disney campaign (http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2008/02/annie-leibowitz-disney-photos-wallpaper.html) that had Annie Leibovitz shooting modern celebrities as beloved and iconic Disney characters.

The photos were only the start. After that, there was a LOT of Photoshop work done. Compositing, adjusting, blending, you name it.

I wanna learn how to do that. Maybe not to the extent where the resulting image is half real and half fabricated, but enough to at least bring out the inherent drama in the scenes.

I tried it a little with this photo, but the techniques I used (selective vignetting, masking, color and curve manipulation) are amateurish as best. There's so much I have yet to learn.

I'd love it if folks could share some tips. I'm including both the unedited original and what I came up with. Feel free to take the original photo and punch it up as you see fit.

Original

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/449/pic34432bwr2.jpg

My Stab

http://www.focalmatter.com/gallery/1205131882.jpg

[Grizz]

Ok I'll play. Selected the background ran a texturizer filter then a gaussian blur, adjusted the saturation and shadows.

Don't know if its dramatic, but its different. :)

[Perry Ge]

Wow this is a tough one, I think you did a fantastic job with your edit.

What about a more dreamy look, like this?

[Zansho]

You could try a diffuse glow filter, duplicate the original image, and place it on its own layer, then apply diffuse glow, you can manipulate the effects through the opacity and using a mask to paint where you want the effect to take place.

[DMax82]

I like Perry's crop. It's cuts away everything but just enough context. Rajah, I think that crop would look great with your edit.

[elysium]

Ill give this a try later on today.

[Tsmith]

How 'bout this take at it done in Lightroom?

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/1641/test2km0.jpg

[lycan]

here is my fast try. im not that good with photoshoping.

http://www.boostcruising.com/database/members/files/SITH120080310231453pslfile1_orig.jpg

hope you like it.

luke

[elysium]

Just had to have a go. Same concept as the op but with a bit of snow. Sorry, the vignette is lame in my ver. Just a quick go in PS.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1840/dreamtw8.jpg

[rajah sulayman]

Oooh. I like the snow addition. How did you do it?

Regarding crops, I was considering it, but I have a lot of tighter shots. The reason I went with this one is that I like having more of the background and environment in the shot. I also had wider shots (which created a stronger sense of being alone in the woods), but they didn't show her and her face as well.

[elysium]

I like this shot, maybe a bit taken off the top and bottom.

As for the method of creating snow, bit of a cheeky on. With the help of Pete Smith who is a guru @ photoshop cars.

http://www.digimods.co.uk/tutorials/snowrain.htm

Same method to create rain I guess.

[seanbaker]

First go at the Leibovitz look. Not as good as I might like, but a work in progress :-).

252622

Cheers,

Sean

[wroberts]

Here is my shot at it.

[lycan]

some interesting pp there.