red hair in black

[Dovrob]

A first attempt with working with someone who is not a member of my family. The photoshoot went well. Decided to make this one into a black and white image and erase the B&W later over her top half. Still not sure how to get rid of the text layer hence it's still there. Thoughts and comments appreciated.

[Geoff F]

For me, David, this is one of those rare occasions where mixing colour and monochrome really works well.

I would leave the background exactly as it is; a nice mixture of the model against an urban decay backdrop.

The only thing I may consider is going for a square crop to lose some of the height above the model and concentrate more upon her.

I wouldn't want to lose any of the sides. Possibly something like 5 x 4 might also be worth trying. One of those cases where I would like to see a few alternatives then make a decision.

[rpcrowe]

I like the image however, the extensive writng at the bottom of the image tends to distract my attenton away from the subject. My eye wanders from the subject to the bottom of the image. I really like the ladder diecting my eye to the subject but, the writing is fighting for my attention. I think also that I would try cropping a bit off the top of the image because the upper level fire escapes lead my eye to he bright bit of sky and away from the subject.

[Dovrob]

Thanks Geoff, Like yourself I've seen a lot of split toning pictures, and sometimes i wonder if its worth it. This was originally shot in colour and the brickwork gave a nice sandy background. I converted it to black and white and found that only her hair and skin needed erasing to expose colour.
my camera is a 4/3 DSLR and so I am use to seeing images in a rectangular format. looking at the image as it disappears off the top of my screen I can imagine it in a square format. It would certainly bring more focus onto Jennifer, the model. On reflection I think IO could have improved it with moving over more to the right and so Jennifer was at the rear of the image with the fire escape more forward. As I said as a first attempt Im pretty pleased but always willing to listen to others. Thanks Geoff.

[Dovrob]

Richard I put the writing on it for it being uploaded to facebook. I've not yet figured out how to restore the layers on a picture so i can get rid of the writing. I did though try and blend the writing into the photo by using muted colours.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Dave,

My process for things like applying the text layers would be to get the image where I want it add the text on a separate layer and save an unflattened psd file. Then I save as jpg with a different filename - sometimes (since I'm not very competent), for safety I would do a manual flatten, 8 bit conversion, downsize and final sharpen, save as jpg (different filename, e.g. with a suffix of "_FB.jpg"), then undo those last four steps in history (i.e. back to the unflattened version) before (inevtiably) continuing to fiddle with it and eventually saving again as a different filename (e.g. with suffix of "_ed2.psd"), etc.

I just find it easier to retrace my steps in history like this, so I don't 'lose the plot'
(I don't use (or trust) "Save for web", I prefer to remain in "manual control" of my flattening, downsizing and sharpening, etc., but like I say, I'm no expert, I don't get the time to become proficient enough to remember what all the 'automatics' do)


On the picture above, I agree with the suggestions of a squarer crop, losing some of the top.

One additional thing I'd do is "burn" (darken) down that pale waste pipe on left - it 'cuts off' the left edge of the picture, running full height as it does.

Another thing I might try (if mine) would be perspective correction, but this may spoil it, I'd have to see it to judge its merits - this may lose the brightest, upper part of the pipe altogether and give another leading line in to the platform Jennifer is on from the left hand edge.

Cheers,

[Dovrob]

Here's a modified version of the original submitted picture., Lost the writting and brought it into a tighter crop. Yet again comments and thoughts appreciated

[JPS]

David,
the modified version is spot on IMO.
Well done.

[Dovrob]

Thanks, I'm here to learn and do so, though sometimes slowly, haha

[jamn4ex]

I like this image. Nice work.

[Dovrob]

Thanks James, Planning in meeting Jennifer for another photo session this week. Hopefully I'll post more photos soon.

[Geoff F]

Yes I agree, very good reworking.