Chinese girl - street portrait

Taking deep breath. Taking plunge.

Hi, I'm Kiley, and this is my first post. I am a beginning photographer though I've been a beginner for a few years. I rarely do PP and want your opinion and feedback on the attached shot.

I shot this yesterday on my *new* 5d Mk2. I am haunted by this girl and want to make the photo into a nice BW. I converted into BW in Camera Raw, then used PSE 8.0 to do some skin softening and minor touch-ups. I am learning PSE using Scott Kelby's PSE8 book. I don't know how much you want to know about what/how I did, so if you want to know, I can tell you.

I think her skin looks a little muddy and that the contrast may be a little low, but I don't really know how high to take it. What do you think?
Thanks ----

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I get the feeling I'd prefer it in vivid colour. Seeing it in B&W I just feel there's a level missing.

Hey Kiley, welcome to POTN!


Great "first post" this one, in my opinion. And personally, living in Japan where I'm surrounded by myriad "Asian faces", I can't see why you would want to soften the face. In my experience - with two Japanese step-children - Asian kids have the most incredible skin texture so my first advice is to put that back in.
Regarding contrast, what are you aiming for? Surly, the interest in the shot lies initially in the traditional-style hat, so worrying overly about lighting when you seem to have it looking good "as it is" seems like a waste of time.
It's a great shot! So relax

Next, colour.
Hmmm....tricky one that.
Perhaps if you posted the full colour version we could see what the base-line shot was and go from there?

Regards for now,
Simon in southern Japan

EDIT: Just had a quick flick through your blog and I have to say, "WOW!"
It looks like you have about a billion places to go and things/people to see and photograph over there...and your daughter is simply gorgeous!
I really hope you can put that new camera and your photography skills to good use and post plenty more in POTN. Especially, I hope you will be able to capture plenty of shots as your daughter grows up - mine is one of my favourite subjects....though now she's 12, her mood-swings make less and less photos publishable

Thanks for your comments! I really appreciate the feedback. Simon, I know what you mean about the complexion of kids around here, but this particular girl doesn't have great skin tone and especially texture. She seems to have some baby acne or something, especially around her nose, so I softened mostly to remove that. I converted to BW because a) I wanted to try the method I was reading about in my Kelby book and b) because I think the background is busy and distracting and thought it might look better in BW. Plus I just like BW and wanted to experiment!
The color file is attached below, it is unedited.
Living in China is a huge motivation for improving my photography. In two weeks I am off to Kashgar, in extreme western China, for a week of photography. We are also considering a three week family vacation in Japan this summer. Not sure about that yet, though.
Again, thanks.

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MamaTaiTai wrote in post #9978473
Thanks for your comments! I really appreciate the feedback. Simon, I know what you mean about the complexion of kids around here, but this particular girl doesn't have great skin tone and especially texture. She seems to have some baby acne or something, especially around her nose, so I softened mostly to remove that.

I see what you mean, but I'd recommend cloning instead of softening. That will retain all the "good stuff" (ie, details) which softening can oh-so-easily erase.

Totally with you there.
B&W, especially with a good lens to isolate the subject can really add "punch" to a shot. For the contrast and final look, if I may be so bold as to try my own edit, what do you think of this as a different "take" on the shot?

Sounds like a great trip...
Looking forward to seeing more

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Simon, its interesting! At first I didn't like it much but I have gone back and looked again a couple of times and it has grown on me. What did you do, exactly? She definitely looks more like a street waif in this version, IMO.

I think I like the color version better. Is it me or is it slightly under exposed? I'm not sure myself, since I have a big problem in the proper exposure department. :P

MamaTaiTai wrote in post #9984554
Simon, its interesting! At first I didn't like it much but I have gone back and looked again a couple of times and it has grown on me. What did you do, exactly? She definitely looks more like a street waif in this version, IMO.

Thanks for your comments in my thread - I'd like to return compliments to you as well for your first post.

During the film days, darkroom was the place that made things happen. Likewise, image processing software is where images can be enhanced in many ways. Then again there are times when a shot is just right straight out of the camera that very little or no further manipulation is necessary.

Enjoy digital media both for snapping away without worrying about wasting a roll of film and for the 'darkroom' right on your desktop/laptop.

In Simon's edit, it looks like he separated the girl from the background and processed them independently:
background - added a subtle blur to make edges softer and reduced contrast perhaps.
girl - reduced saturation, moved 'clarity' slider to the right if it were done on Lightroom. I don't have PSE so not sure what the equivalent manipulation there would be: you could perhaps play with curves and sharpening to achieve the results.

Look forward to more submissions.

MamaTaiTai wrote in post #9984554
Simon, its interesting! At first I didn't like it much but I have gone back and looked again a couple of times and it has grown on me. What did you do, exactly? She definitely looks more like a street waif in this version, IMO.

Thanks for the response, and sorry for the delay in replying.
And also, I'm so pleased you "took some time" to begin to like my edit....
As said above, playing on the computer screen has replaced and surpassed what we used to do in the darkrooms from days gone by.
For my tastes over-processed models' faces in order to create a "plastic finish" are the worst form of post-processing, whilst fairly straightforward tonal "play" is the best.
So if the initial shot is already excellent - which yours was - I aim for as little "alteration" as possible, simply playing with the light instead.

And here's what I did and "where".

In Lightroom, I increased the "recovery" to get back the burnt-out highlights in the child's hat, increased the "blacks" a tad to improve contrast, increased the "clarity" and "vibrance" to push the colour pixels' output up, and then selectively "desaturated" various colour-sliders so as to "suck out" certain colours - I never use an automated grey-scale.
Lastly I exported into the GIMP - no "Photoshop" work as I don't own/want it - and cloned out some of the worst spots/skin problems. I pondered on really cleaning up the little girl's face, but decided I liked the textured finish. I feel it gives her more character. But that kind of finish is entirely up to the photographer.

And sorry Mu Eugene....no background separation, no blurring - what appears as blur is where the desaturated-and-yet pushed colour-pixels leave a larger footprint in the image....which looks like more pleasant bokeh! Good trick isn't it

Cheers for now,
Simon

skygod44 wrote in post #9989656
And sorry Mu Eugene....no background separation, no blurring - what appears as blur is where the desaturated-and-yet pushed colour-pixels leave a larger footprint in the image....which looks like more pleasant bokeh! Good trick isn't it

Cheers for now,
Simon

はい　I shall remember that, sensei.

Mu Eugene wrote in post #9990155
はい　I shall remember that, sensei.

どういたしまして、夢遊病者様！！！