Mock Bridal, CC please

[Noelle8818]

I took these of a friend I coerced into putting on my old wedding dress and modeling for me. Please CC. I am a PP novice, so all I've done with most of these is level adjustment, contrast and saturation adjustment. I just downloaded a trial of LR, and am trying my hand at that. Otherwise I have Elements 5.0. I had a very difficult time bumping the contrast without blowing out the dress more than it already was...therefore the pics just look flat...not sure how I can correct that. :(
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/CammiNoelle/2009/IMG_2661b.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/CammiNoelle/2009/IMG_2670-2.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/CammiNoelle/2009/IMG_2679-2.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b92/CammiNoelle/2009/IMG_2737.jpg

[auroraskye]

I don't think they're terrible. My first impression is they look very.. 1990 ;) Hehe. ANd I'm not just talking about the dress. Just your poses and all are SUPER SUPER classical and old school. Which hey, if that's your thing, then rock it.. But I'd just try and go for something fresher next time. The location is GORGEOUS though! Love the colors around her.



1 - The problem here is that her skin looks orange. In an attempt to saturate the trees around her, her skin has become over saturated as well. There is also no light in her eyes, a reflector would be nice to cast some light back into her face. But the focus is good.I think the exposure is pretty good too.

2 - This one almost looks desaturated. It also seems a bit cool to me, the dress almost has a very very light blue cast to it. Exposure looks good. You can definitely see the detail in the dress, so good job.

3 - Again, color is off here, a bit greenish to me and no light in her eyes, especially the one with her hair over it.

4 - I have never been a fan of this look. It's okay I guess? I see up on the upper edges where you burned out your blacks, it's a little sloppy. I think it looks a hair flashy. And again, just so dated and old school lol. Sorry!

I don't think it's bad for your first time. You did well at exposing for the dress, and that's something that can be really difficult.

[jenirose3]

auroraskye said it perfectly!

[stsva]

Try curves for the contrast adjustment - it will give you a lot more flexibility than the contrast slider. You can get a good free curves plug-in for Elements here:
http://free.pages.at/easyfilter/curves.html
When using this, you may want to duplicate the bottom layer (original image) first, then use the curves filter on the duplicate layer. That way you can click the layer with curves applied on/off to easily see the difference from the original.

[atkan]

I think the 1st one is especially beautiful and the last shows promise. Your dress is stunning, definitely a classic. I'm 27 and I would even be willing to wear that dress. :)