Editing on backlit people

I know these are OOF (I looked up and saw him walking with this beautiful sunset lighting in between trees and had a second to snap my camera into place) but these are rare photos of my son and I really like them. I just can't decide on different ways to edit them. I kind of like the hazy look of the 1st, but the other two more traditional edits I like too. I'd like to keep these as a trio, so I suppose I should probably keep the edits even.

Thoughts?

More contrast/less haze on these:

I'd warm the image right up, make it look like a golden sunset which suits backlit subjects very well.

You'll never get a crisp vibrant image shooting into the sun so try and work with it and even over emphasise it a bit.

I like the third one. Here's what I did to it. Hope you don't mind my editing it. If you do I will remove it.

atsilverstein wrote in post #17989896
I kind of like the hazy look of the 1st....
Thoughts?

Hosted photo: posted by atsilverstein in
./showthread.php?p=179​89896&i=i206366703
forum: RAW, Post Processing & Printing

I really like the hazy look, too.
I suppose that instinct would direct us to increase levels or contrast to make him clearer......but that would diminish the very low contrast, hazy look that is so cool!
I especially like the way the foliage of the trees is rendered - that is absolutely beautiful!

The one thing I might do is to darken the area of grass that is at the bottom of the frame; all of it. See the part that is in his shadow? Well, I think it would be an improvement if all of the grass could be darkened to that extent, if not even further. I just hope that you didn't blow out the highlights on the extreme lower right corner of the frame, because that would make the darkening process a little bit more involved.


Also, there are three vertically-aligned bokeh circles to the right of his ankle/calf area that are located on a tree trunk. Personally, I would prefer that they be cloned out so that the tree trunk shows up more distinctly, like the other tree trunks do. The trunks of the trees give a sense of continuity to the forest, which I find to be preferable.
.

Well, I guess it's time for "True Confessions":

I personally don't care for the "Hazy Look"...

So, when I look at a pic with that "look", I tend to turn my eyes, rather than be one who just speaks out against the "Look"!

Now, sure, we all enjoy seeing the old, historic, "classical" photos that spark up some kind of "feeling"...sure, a shot of my parents would tend to look hazy/aged, pics of WWII war scenes show the "historical haze", sure!

But I myself struggle when I try to capture a landscape in which the "main subject" is a mountain in the distance, and yes, to my naked eye there is haze even on a bright blue sunny day, but I like to bring that mountain close and clear, and the haze is not my friend! And I'm definitely not one to bring out haze in people shots, ones that are close enough for me to want the colors/tones of their skin, clothes, and surroundings...

Well, anyway, you have heard my confession...sorry, gang!

It is so hard to try to figure out what I would do with these one. I'm not a huge fan of the hazy look, but it has become very popular so I'm trying to develop an appreciation for it.

My one, overwhelming, niggle is what appears to be green CA on the bokeh balls. Since picking up my 85L, green CA has kind of become the bane of my existence. I think I see it on a couple of places on your son, too. Green CA can be really tough to deal with, especially when there is so much green in the photograph. So, the first thing I would do is play with that to see if I could remove it from the photograph without destroying the foliage.

I think I would approach the rest of the edit very similarly to the way Mark has. But, I'd warm up the WB. I also think I'd blur the grass a bit. I'd remove the haze, but then I might play with adding some back in.

I love photograph #3. I think the three photographs together would make a great triptych to hang on your wall.

Thanks for the feedback all. I've thought about everything and retooled my edits. I really went for the golden hour look.