Portrait of our dear parents

[Tom Reid]

Hey folks...need some help. I want to do a shoot of my mother, with my camera that is!! I shot the attached the other day with my 50/1.8 for an experiment. The experiment being producing a shot Mom would be happy with.

Her reaction to the attached photo was "Look at my wrinkles!!".

I did take another snap with the lens wide open but the edges were way too soft compared to the center. I need to strike a balance here and not sure where to go with this.

S.O.S.

[OceanRider]

I like it.

[Dante King]

nice job. PSCS will smooth out those wrinkles for her!

[Marvinspu36]

Very nice shot. I think I prefer the wrinkles. They are a part of the natural beauty of aging. They add charactor and interest to the photo.

[vinnyveez]

Very nice shot. I think I prefer the wrinkles. They are a part of the natural beauty of aging. They add charactor and interest to the photo.

ask her if she likes the "character" of the wrinkles...bet shes on dantes side. lol great shot i like the wrinkles too, but if i were giving it to her id iron them out.:)

[Dante King]

Very nice shot. I think I prefer the wrinkles. They are a part of the natural beauty of aging. They add charactor and interest to the photo.

Agreed on the aging bit, however, I think it is important to have the subject be happy with the pic as well. His mom commented on the wrinkles as a negative. Just tossing out options as to what can be done. When I have done portraits for people, the vast majority like to have them "cleaned up", in particular, women.

[Marvinspu36]

You are right. I got so focused :) on the image, that I didn't finish reading the post. Since it is for her and she didn't like the wrinkles, I agree, it should be smoothed to her liking.

[Tom Reid]

When I bought the 50/1.8 my sales guy said women don't like this lens because its so sharp!!

Dante...Did you use the Blur tool?

[dewmuw]

I agree that you have to give your mum the shot she wants - minus wrinkles. But I love this:

"Lets take a look at these crows feet, just look
Sitting on the prettiest eyes
Sixty 25th of Decembers
Fifty-nine 4th of Julys
You can't have too many good times, children
You can't have too many lines
Take a good look at these crows feet
Sitting on the prettiest eyes"

[vinnyveez]

When I bought the 50/1.8 my sales guy said women don't like this lens because its so sharp!!

Dante...Did you use the Blur tool?

yeah how did you remove them? its the worlds cheapest surgery.lol

[Dante King]

I used the healing brush. Got a clear area to sample and then worked out from it. This was a very quick job. better results can be had with more time.

[Tom Reid]

Thanks Dante. Amazing product this Photoshop.

[Airedale1]

I agree that you have to give your mum the shot she wants - minus wrinkles. But I love this:

"Lets take a look at these crows feet, just look
Sitting on the prettiest eyes
Sixty 25th of Decembers
Fifty-nine 4th of Julys
You can't have too many good times, children
You can't have too many lines
Take a good look at these crows feet
Sitting on the prettiest eyes"

Very nice. Where is that from?

[Avalonthas]

I like both with the wrinkles and with not. What would be neat is to make 3 framed pictures with the same portrait side by side. Basically in the first, you make almost no wrinkles (PSCS), in the second u do some wrinkles (PSCS), and then in the third u leave it as it is. Then it shows the "beauty" of the aging process. From a photographerts/artists point of view i think that would look really amazing, however i dont know how that will blow over with ur mum hehe.

[pcasciola]

You can also use a soft focus type effect, which leaves the wrinkles but softens them up a bit. I kind of like this technique that Neil posted a while back, using a second layer with gaussian blur and blending the two. Kind of gives a similar effect to Canon's 135mm softfocus lens.

http://www.casciola.com/pics/parents.jpg

[Dante King]

Phil, that is nice. Give the pic a nice warm glow.

[Jetmech1]

I like the pic with the wrinkles the best, but she is the one that needs to be happy with the pic.

[pcasciola]

Phil, that is nice. Give the pic a nice warm glow.I liked yours too, Dante. I just wanted to throw out another option. I really like the effect of Canon's softfocus 135mm too. That's one I have to add to the collection some day.

[Dante King]

Ah to many lenses and not enough $$$$

[dewmuw]

Very nice. Where is that from?

It is a song called "Prettiest Eyes" by a group called The Beautiful South. Check them out, they're decent wordsmiths!

[vinnyveez]

How about maggie amy by rod stewart: for some reason this song pops in my head when i see someone i care about in direct sunlight, as everyone seems to be getting old. :(
"The morning sun when it’s in your face really shows your age
But that don’t worry me none in my eyes you’re everything"

[NEC1236]

I went on the minimalist on this, it is a good shot of your Mom, maybe the sharpening being turned off would have done it. I just used the healing brush on the darkest lines.

[Tom Reid]

Wow...good editing job NEC1236. I think that captures the subject with a little TLC towards the aging process. I like it. Thanks.

[Sabina]

All the versions are nice, my favourite is the soft focus one. And I'm so glad to see that tip on making a layer using blur, I'm going to try that (now to find a wrinkly subject...). I think this photograph would look really nice in black and white too, maybe grayscale. That might help soften it even more.

[marie]

Tom.

I like your picture
I notice your mam just said 'look at my wrinkles' when she saw the shot

not 'oh no, change the picture' in hysterics

I think, when she get's used to it, she would hate to see it showing anything other then what she actually is ,as she is now

there would be no point in having a picture of your mam looking any different.

the other children, if there are any , and her friends..they know and love your mother as she is.
it would be different if she was much younger and wanting a picture for other reasons

I am not mad about anything altered.. like wrinkles .
unless for a mag. and that's usually a younger person
there is no point in doing it on a older person unless they cannot live with the truth and who wants the untruth in a picture on the wall.
she still has to look into a mirror every day. and she looks beautiful
she has got to an age which will show up in other parts and to remove the wrinkles will make the other parts(lips etc) look peculiar
?
I think she is beautiful here. very real and motherly,
which I am sure is what she is
I like Phil's soft effect . he still left the shot as she really was/is in it

I remember a photographer (who used to be around about here) completely changed a picture of an elderly lady
took out all her wrinkles
I thought she looked completely unreal in the finished version
but because people can do these things they think they should, always

it's not always best to just do something because it's there.

I always thinks... it's like the bomb
just because we have it does not mean we use it
http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif(just an example of what I mean
we don't really have a bomb :shock: http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gifhttp://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gifhttp://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gifhttp://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

good luck

[marie]

I agree that you have to give your mum the shot she wants - minus wrinkles. But I love this:

"Lets take a look at these crows feet, just look
Sitting on the prettiest eyes
Sixty 25th of Decembers
Fifty-nine 4th of Julys
You can't have too many good times, children
You can't have too many lines
Take a good look at these crows feet
Sitting on the prettiest eyes"

that is lovelyhttp://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif

[marie]

How about maggie amy by rod stewart: for some reason this song pops in my head when i see someone i care about in direct sunlight, as everyone seems to be getting old. :(
"The morning sun when it’s in your face really shows your age
But that don’t worry me none in my eyes you’re everything"

that's lovely too

[NEC1236]

My 2 cents on the to retouch or not to retouch is, that if Tom had shot this shot with fill flash the wrinkles would not have seamed so prominent, it would have ruined the mood of the shot and changed it from being the nice image it is. In my experiences you always have ways to improve art. Do you think Mona Lisa is completely accurate? I love Tom's photo as is, but if my customer, audience or Mother will like it more with edits, so be it.
In this age of digital cameras, we are all having to deal with some type of preset post editing that the the camera manufacturer has put in the camera and or the exporting software.
Now that being said, I will include, that my favorite images are pure with as few edits or resetting of manufactures presets as possible.
So, here is a very slight edit, what I did on this one is take the unsharp masking down a notch locally to the harshest lines.

[marie]

My 2 cents on the to retouch or not to retouch is, that if Tom had shot this shot with fill flash the wrinkles would not have seamed so prominent, it would have ruined the mood of the shot and changed it from being the nice image it is. In my experiences you always have ways to improve art. Do you think Mona Lisa is completely accurate? I love Tom's photo as is, but if my customer, audience or Mother will like it more with edits, so be it.
In this age of digital cameras, we are all having to deal with some type of preset post editing that the the camera manufacturer has put in the camera and or the exporting software.
Now that being said, I will include, that my favorite images are pure with as few edits or resetting of manufactures presets as possible.
So, here is a very slight edit, what I did on this one is take the unsharp masking down a notch locally to the harshest lines.


Nec1236
so sorry, I never even saw your picture last night
It was late and I was rushing things a bit
also as it is on page two maybe that's why I never saw it .
not sure.
I love your shot here.
can't compare it with the original yet as I want to reply but it looks really good
and I agree with what you say .

I admire anyone who can do these things so expertly .
I even take notes in case I need to do it someday(for someone else http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif if they asked)

so I really appreciate all what everyone is saying here always.

saying what I did, last night, just in case Tom's mam would rather not have a real smooth face in a picture and feel that people who actually know her in reality will laugh saying 'ho ho that's not you... now is it ? '

I love your last picture .
I haven't had time yet to see all together but it looks real good
thanks for taking the trouble to explain
I rather it then misunderstandings anyday

[jgbeam]

I like the original better than any of the "softened" versions. That is the real person, wrinkles and all. No one really likes to see how they have aged, but I feel that a picture like this may show much more of her character than a processed one. The lighting is what accentuates the wrinkles and this could be minimized by more frontal lighting or a bit of fill flash but I really like it just the way it is.

Jim

[Tom Reid]

Sorry folks, been busy. Where to start!!

Phil...sorry man, I missed your post for some reason. I think perhaps when I opened the link from the email notification I didn't go back through the posts. I really like what you did and it adds to the image any of us would like of our mothers, soft and gentle. We'll forget those moments growing up when I was in trouble!! I'll try that myself, good work!!

I really appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. I have to agree with Marie and others who suggested the wrinkles stay. So, the wrinkles stay, but need to be toned down somewhat either through shooting technique or editing. I think I'll have Mom pose for me again and try your suggestions, including processing. When done I'll do a layout to see what she likes best.

Thanks!!