Help with 3 portraits

Really nice! How did you add the snow??

DagoImaging wrote in post #17903479
You have a lovely wife and I like image #1 (as well as #2).

I went a little old school on these:

Hosted photo: posted by DagoImaging in
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forum: RAW, Post Processing & Printing

Hosted photo: posted by DagoImaging in
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forum: RAW, Post Processing & Printing

Thank you, she is still my girlfriend even thou we live together I LOVE the first one. @rrblint how did u add the snow? Is it a bursh?

Lightroom + presets = endless possibilities

I used Alien Skin + PS and I got this

I'm surprised that just about everybody is leaving blown highlights, particularly on the top of the sweater and the lower background. These areas are much brighter than the face and thus compete with the face for attention. Not a good thing in portraits, usually. Also, that wide yellow stripe in the background competes with the face if left too bright or too saturated.

I went through different white balance settings to get what was probably true conditions (cloudy?), but in the end I found I prefered the "cooler" tones of the as-shot setting, which is close to daylight (5000 to 5500).

In ACR, used Highlight recovery, whites, exposure to bring the highlights down. Did 3 or 4 versions and masked in Photoshop. Main goal was to restore minimum detail in the top of the sweater, and knock down the white in lower right quadrant so it did not overwhelm the face.

Used a heavy dose of shadow recovery on the eye sockets to lighten them up, but masked out the iris and then gave the iris some higher contrast.

In Photoshop, some midtone contrast adjustment on the head and body only. Darkened the pants a little, whitened the teeth a little. Then some saturation increase on the face and scarf only. Keeping an eye in HSB values in the info pallet for skin tones. Lastly, cloned out that wringle in the pants (left knee) because if seemed a distraction.

Other sizes here: https://kellyphoto.smu​gmug.com …pload/n-5RJTN/i-6Ntgsz9/A

IMAGE LINK: https://kellyphoto.smu​gmug.com …i-6Ntgsz9-X2.jpg&lb=1&s=A

It's good to know the rules, that way you know why you're breaking them.

Artistic approach leaves many variables.

Take some time to view commercials on television...analyze the poses of the women.

deviangel wrote in post #17903562
Thank you, she is still my girlfriend even thou we live together I LOVE the first one. @rrblint how did u add the snow? Is it a bursh?

mylifeis3 wrote in post #17903498
Really nice! How did you add the snow??

Thanks guys. The snow is a snow scene that I have stored in my library. I have several of these that are stored as PNGs which are transparent. I simply added the shot as a layer and used luminosity blending mode at 80%.

Redcrown wrote in post #17903611
I'm surprised that just about everybody is leaving blown highlights...

I like the blown highlights on the sweater. It makes the photo brighter and more cheerful IMO.

deviangel, hope you don't mind me posting this.

rrbint
how do you get skin tones so good! post ref: Feb 17 2016 23:59.
Whenever I take portraits using my Canon 600D usually canon 50mm @ 2.8 (indoors) Raw, I can never seem to achieve skin tone results like yours, I've tried using DPP & ACR and others on occasions. Not sure if it is the taking of the photo or the post processing.

tonyq wrote in post #17905760
deviangel, hope you don't mind me posting this.

rrbint
how do you get skin tones so good! post ref: Feb 17 2016 23:59.
Whenever I take portraits using my Canon 600D usually canon 50mm @ 2.8 (indoors) Raw, I can never seem to achieve skin tone results like yours, I've tried using DPP & ACR and others on occasions. Not sure if it is the taking of the photo or the post processing.

Thank you for the kind words. It's the post processing. Google "Frequency Separation". It's the Holy Grail of skin treatment. You'll need photoshop to do it. There is a thread here on this board where a member explained it very comprehensively but I've forgotten the title of the thread and the member's name. I can't do it right now but I'll try to find it for you later.

My Take

tonyq wrote in post #17905760
deviangel, hope you don't mind me posting this.

rrbint
how do you get skin tones so good! post ref: Feb 17 2016 23:59.
Whenever I take portraits using my Canon 600D usually canon 50mm @ 2.8 (indoors) Raw, I can never seem to achieve skin tone results like yours, I've tried using DPP & ACR and others on occasions. Not sure if it is the taking of the photo or the post processing.

Ok Tony I found the thread I was speaking of earlier. HERE IT IS. Scroll down to post #24 and 25 by member NickWeil.

I should add that proper exposure is also a requirement. No amount of PP can erase poor exposure. The portrait should be exposed on the money to SLIGHTLY overexposed(1/3-2/3 stop). Unless you have a mixed lighting situation then WB is less of a consideration as it can be corrected in post. This technique is well worth learning. Good luck.

thank you for the infof.