First time PP, please take a look

[madmike283]

Hey all, I have only had my 10D for a few weeks and have shot a handful of different kinds of images. NASCAR race in Charlotte, Memorial Day BBQ, and yesterday shot some pics of my wife at the beach and our friend's house. This is the first image that I've tried a full fledged post-processing flow. I believe I have managed to save the image at a small enough size with decent detail to post it here. If you wouldn't mind giving me your thoughts on my PP changes I'd appreciate it. My monitor won't quite adjust dark enough to display pure black, so I will be fixing that soon. Does this image look ok to you guys? I'd appreciate some cc and feel free to make any changes. Thanks.

Mike

[oloughlinc]

I'm learning my 20D as well, so take this with a grain of salt. I liked the picture, but felt it was slightly desaturated and soft - at least on my monitor. I went ahead and warmed it up some, and sharpened it. Here is my version:


http://www.caelitusgroup.com/webphotos/attachment_std.jpg


Maybe someone who really knows what they are doing can add their thoughts. ;)

[JmprSteve]

Mike,
Hope you don't mind. I cropped the image abit, then in ps I added a layer (selected the flesh tone areas) with darken option to tone down the brightness on the face , applied gaussian blur (appro 3), used the background eraser and erased the eyes, lips, eyebrows, and teeth (on the added layer). On the original I selected the teeth then using hue/saturation selected yellow and lowered the saturation and upped the lightness to give a nicer smile.

[LadyHawk]

You took a great picture, Mike! I love this candid shot. Oloughlinc enhanced it nicely. I think JmprSteve overworked it... she's on the beach and she is a natural beauty, no gaussian blurs needed, in my own opinion...

[Chazs]

You took a great picture, Mike! I love this candid shot. Oloughlinc enhanced it nicely. I think JmprSteve overworked it... she's on the beach and she is a natural beauty, no gaussian blurs needed, in my own opinion...

I took the overworked method one step further :eek: . It was a good test to see if I remembered how to use the Extract tool. Not sure if I like it any better. She certainly is a natural beauty and doesn't need to be photoshopped at all!! At least this gives you something to try later on.

[madmike283]

Thanks a ton for the feedback! I appreciate it. I was pretty slow in getting any replies in here, so I posted in the critique section also. I realize that I brightened mine up too much. I'll post the original below and a further edited version by me. You guys all did a great job and thanks for the comments/suggestions!

Original followed by my latest edit...

[PhotosGuy]

"Why we have both Ebert & the other guy": I don't care much for the harsh shadows & the increased saturation.
The original settings look good to me. Just add some of Mikes selective softening & you've got it.
IMNotSoHO! ;-)

[Rob612]

Mike, IMHO your second edit is too high in contrast.

[madmike283]

Got it, thanks guys. I was thinking the contrast in my second edit may have been too high also. I haven't been doing the photography thing very long at all, so I have a lot to learn and to train my eye as to what looks "right" or not.

[Jraun]

Interesting comments - CHAZS great effect - have to learn how to us the extracting tool to this degree all of my attempts - well they were attempts.

[Hellashot]

I like to see that my comments are now being deleted. That's got to make you wonder.

[madmike283]

I like to see that my comments are now being deleted. That's got to make you wonder.

I don't follow? Did you post something and it was deleted? I don't recall seeing anything that warranted deletion.