First bride portriat B&W

Here's a crack at desaturating a bride shot at a friend's wedding. Side lighting was a little harsh and eyes a little OOF, but I don't know if that is
a. OK
b. if not, what to do about it.


Also; should I PS out the hair strands, or to they make it more natural and framed? Too dark?

Other suggestions? Should I stick to original? Is there another filter to try?

i like the first 2. the bw looks a little underexposed.
the 3 is too bright. i kinda see what you're trying to do in keeping it a pastel like image but i thinkg it's too blown out.
i like your cropping and the bride is beautiful. all brides are. aren't they?

ofwhatiam wrote:
i like the first 2. the bw looks a little underexposed.
the 3 is too bright. i kinda see what you're trying to do in keeping it a pastel like image but i thinkg it's too blown out.
i like your cropping and the bride is beautiful. all brides are. aren't they?

Thanks. Yeah, she's quite a gal - nephew's bride, whatta happy couple.

Here's with .7 exposure increase in RSE. Wondered about straight B&W or - isn't there some sort of "silverizing" in PS CS? PS7 had it on the menu.

On photo #3 was from the camera exposure mistake but I considered including it for the angelic look. Not the best portriat angle.

Appreciate the comments. I considered crop on right, what do you think?

Like the redone B&W. The nephew is a lucky guy.

I happen to really like the third shot...You wouldn't want all your shots to look that way but I think you have done a really nice job with it.

As for the first shot...I would even lighten it up a little more than you have...and I would sharpen the eyes a bit to make them pop...by the way I relaly like the crop...

good stuff in all...

Cheers,

It really needs a levels adjustment. It's a nice shot, but just desaturating doesn't do it justice. I used input levels of 10/1.94/236 and output of 0/255. Then a little USM and giddyup there you go.

I like the tones in the second one a lot. It does need a crop though, to eliminate the background. Fill the frame with her face and some of the surrounding veil and I think it's really great

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I like what MG has done here...I especially like the crop...

Its getting better!

Further opinions or edits welcome!

OK, I didn't quite push the levels up so much, keeping some darker contrast. Went with 10-1.2-236. Applied about as much USM around eyes as I dared.

Glad you like the white-out / green eyed look. On cropping, i noticed the lower she was centered the bigger her jaw got. I like it up high too. Pretty much duplicated what MG did.

Thanks for helping so much. Out of about 800 shots (from 5 events - bridal shower my sister threw, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding, wedding reception, more from wedding since my 135L really shined in the daylight), I'm picking 200 for an album. Simple 4x6 prints. Thinking of one of these for the cover.

Be a shame to crop out vail and part of wedding dress, but crop looks a little more wholesome. Whattya think? I'm thinking the uncropped version.
Photos #1 and #2:

I think I would go for the cropped version...it just appeals more to my eye, both are good but I think the cropped version is better...

Cheers,

Here was my attempt.... added a new layer with Diffused Glow and Gaussian Blur and then dropped the layer down to around 15%...added a new layer and used black at around 15% to add some shadows to frame subject. Used clone and eraser to fix her mouth..take away that "biting the tongue" thing she had, and whitened teeth a tad bit.

Second one is ran thru Virtual Painter... and then combined the two by layering them and erasing at 40% until desired amount of original shown thru.

Hope you like

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I numbered the photos. Did you mean the crop on #2 or #4?

Guitartists wrote:
Here was my attempt.... added a new layer with Diffused Glow and Gaussian Blur and then dropped the layer down to around 15%...added a new layer and used black at around 15% to add some shadows to frame subject. Used clone and eraser to fix her mouth..take away that "biting the tongue" thing she had, and whitened teeth a tad bit.

Second one is ran thru Virtual Painter... and then combined the two by layering them and erasing at 40% until desired amount of original shown thru.

Hope you like

LAYERING, my nemisis. The concept sounds straight forward enough, its the even selections I don't get. Hmmm, you think I'll actually have to READ SOME INSTRUCTIONS to learn about it?

The other thing is feathering changes. Not asking for a drawn out instruction. Ummm, a link for dummies wouldn't go to waste though.

Nice work. I liked how this photo went into the white all by itself (more sculpture like rather than a photo with 4 square sides), but the diffused look works too. I had not noticed the tounge biting. The was so happy she was beside herself - if ever I had a good set of subjects...

When I work in layers.. I usually just duplicate the layer, make whatever adjustments I want and then remove the areas I don't need with eraser. If I want a nice soft feather.. I set the eraser to a low percent like 20% and work from the outermost edge inward until I get the opacity I want. The more times you go over the area, the more you will erase. This gives me full control over the look of it. I have a Wacom tablet and I use PS tools in a very "paint brush" way.

I've found that for many images... a diffused glow and gaussian blurred layer set to a low opacity creates a nice dream-like glow. This image didn't really need it... it is barely noticable. But, I left it in anyhow

I never knew a thing about digital work.... I got a computer, some programs and never picked up a book :P I don't really use more than 20% of the bells and whistles of the program... but I've found what works for me and when I have free time, I fiddle around with the rest to see what it can do Sometimes I'll discover a tool that works so much easier and be like "Where were you all of my life?" LOL But, I like taking the long way around as I feel that it gives me more creative control.

I wish I had some links to share Maybe someone else has some But, if you ever have any questions.. I'm but an IM or email away I will always do what I can to help out a fellow artist/photographer

Just thought I would alter some of the tones in the black & white shot, and made it as light as possible almost washed it off the paper in fact, same process as Guitarist describes above, using adjustment layer and eraser tool at real low percent settings,
thought I preffered a lighter background, brought back some detail around the eyes etc.
finally added some grain which also tends to soften.

Cheers
Martin (Huckaback Photo)

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My attempt with the colour shot, I think your original is a nice shot well done.

with this I decided to crop it and rotate it slightly in doing so the eyes are now higher in the frame and also no longer horizontal, introducing some nice angles in my view.
I had to clone back some areas at the corners lost in cropping.
I then took out all the colour and painted back where I thought, I use a action for this called "Paint back colour"

Cheers
Martin (Huckaback Photo)

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