Portrait of wife..(DONT TELL)

[ClaudioG]

Hi all...giving this a go.dont know if its done. Is it safe to post this here? (if not please lemme know)..I havent done much portraiture..and finally my wife accepted but no willingly..so caught her when i could. I'm submitting 2..one natural..one where i slightly whitened eyes..catch lights and removed one or 2 blemishes. I slightly smoothed her skin(using a Kelby technique)...my wife has this habit of wanting to see..so i really didnt want to over do it. She's naturally gorgeous and i just wish she'd let me try more things!!! i could really easily see her in sorta medieval kinda images.

I used the natural light and a flash that was bouncing of my reflecter. Sun was behind her. (Obviously )

Anyways...all im wanting is..alot of advice..especially camera angle,lens choice..oh yes..and help on removing stray hairs...ive tried clone stamp..and truthfully i suck..especially cos my background is bad.

Things i like...her eyes and skin..the light on her hair...the leaves in BG letting through light.

Things i dont like... the pink wall that cuts her..the stray hairs..maybe the hand is distracting? Also wondering if i'm shooting to low?

As for lens choice..i dont have a big range..i use a 35mm lens(but on a D5100 so actually +_52mm)
and my 90mm macro lens(135mm) and also my 55-200mm kit lens..which i must admit got me the best images.

All advice,critique,info, and comments appreciated.

#1 As is


#2 Slightly whitened whites, catchlights, softened skin and minimal blemish removal.

[deetheturk]

Hi Claudio,

I think you have done better than you should have done,now thats enough about your marital status,right the portrait,i think you did good bud,it all looks good to me,good job mate

Cheers David

[Digital]

Fine job of a beautiful subject.


Bruce

[Shadowman]

I think Kelby has a technique for stray hairs but it's a bit of a chore anyway it goes. You could do a quick selection around the head and then either add addtional blur or invert the selection and spot heal around the head.

Nice effort.

[Geoff F]

Natural backgrounds can work well and create a more relaxed informal image, but that bright 'blob' at the top is a bit of a problem. Otherwise that lighting is working well.

Maybe you could get away with a fraction more highlight brightness, selectively applied, to give a tiny bit more 'lift' to the scene. But not too much!

Nice natural looking pose and composition.

[Colin Southern]

I think Kelby has a technique for stray hairs but it's a bit of a chore anyway it goes.

Mostly it just a case of cloning or healing them in Photoshop; the later versions (CS6 and CC) seem to have improved the "smarts" for the tool figuring out what you're wanting. So long as you have a suitable size and softness selected for the brush it usually works pretty well.

Content aware fill works well too, but you have to be a little more careful at the ends of hairs.

[Shadowman]

Mostly it just a case of cloning or healing them in Photoshop; the later versions (CS6 and CC) seem to have improved the "smarts" for the tool figuring out what you're wanting. So long as you have a suitable size and softness selected for the brush it usually works pretty well.

Content aware fill works well too, but you have to be a little more careful at the ends of hairs.

Colin,

I've tried the spot healing method a few times and as you say, you have to be careful if you get too close or you'll create new patterns where you don't want them. I have access to CS6 so I'll give it a try.

Thanks

[Colin Southern]

Colin,

I've tried the spot healing method a few times and as you say, you have to be careful if you get too close or you'll create new patterns where you don't want them. I have access to CS6 so I'll give it a try.

Thanks

If you're trying to remove a hair at the point where it intersects another hair then generally spot healing - healing - and CAF will pick up and blend in part of the "cross hair" - in those cases just use the clone tool.

The "trick" with the clone tool is to to use medium soft edges and get a big enough tool so that what you're wanting to remove doesn't get caught in the "twilight zone" of the feathered area of the brush.

These tools were definitely tweaked in later versions; when considering an upgrade I think a lot of people only thing of new features - not of subtle improvement to everyday tools.

If the Kelby technique is the one I'm thinking of, it's more applicable to mass freckles / acne / cleaning up seamless where you apply a blur - roll it back then roll it forward selectively using the history brush set to lighten.

[Downrigger]

These are great - It is nice you have such a nice-looking model with whom to develop your talents. The thing I notice is that she glows nicely in the first image, and whatever you have done to smooth the skin in the second has dulled that an unfortunate little bit, and to the detriment of the result.

It's quite a significant difference and I wonder if you wouldn't want to have another go at "softening", though to my mind, there's nothing that horrible about real skin with actual pores.

[Colin Southern]

Claudio,

Great capture, but I think your processing is preventing the image from being all that it can be.

I'd be glad to give the image a full retouch for you if you'd like to send me the original file.

[krfessl]

Claudio... as I was looking at some of the threads, your title got me going on the topic... thought I'd add a CFO picture (which some of the community has come to understand is MY wife)... These are right out of camera, no post... but I'm working to build some skills with LR (so, guys, no stray hair comments necessary, YET) to make them (and the dozens of others I have and thousands more I will take) what they can be...

[Colin Southern]

Claudio... as I was looking at some of the threads, your title got me going on the topic... thought I'd add a CFO picture (which some of the community has come to understand is MY wife)... These are right out of camera, no post... but I'm working to build some skills with LR (so, guys, no stray hair comments necessary, YET) to make them (and the dozens of others I have and thousands more I will take) what they can be...

Hi Keith,

Possibly the first thing you'll need to sort is your white balancing; these two are a classic - both of the same great lady, but completely different colourings.

Note: Probably better to start a new thread if you need expansion on that.

[ClaudioG]

thank you all for your comments. I am using CS5 and yeh i gotta say..stil strugglinng with the hair..especially Clone stamp..i will keep at it though. Thanks all!!
David..I totally agree with you bud, on both aspects Thank goodness love is blind

[chauncey]

Claudo...what's with the "muddy" areas around both temple areas?

[ClaudioG]

Claudo...what's with the "muddy" areas around both temple areas?

Wow..seriously didnt see that...i dont have a clue??!!! Could it be my flash that was bounced off diffuser?? maybe i over did something in editing..i seriously dont remember!! Thanks for pointing that out.

[Shadowman]

Claudio... as I was looking at some of the threads, your title got me going on the topic... thought I'd add a CFO picture (which some of the community has come to understand is MY wife)... These are right out of camera, no post... but I'm working to build some skills with LR (so, guys, no stray hair comments necessary, YET) to make them (and the dozens of others I have and thousands more I will take) what they can be...

The background helps with any stray hair issues. Nice effort.

[Shadowman]

Claudio... as I was looking at some of the threads, your title got me going on the topic... thought I'd add a CFO picture (which some of the community has come to understand is MY wife)... These are right out of camera, no post... but I'm working to build some skills with LR (so, guys, no stray hair comments necessary, YET) to make them (and the dozens of others I have and thousands more I will take) what they can be...

The background helps with any stray hair issues. Nice effort.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Claudio,

I've done the best I could; the image for some reason was quite soft in the lower 1/2 which has make the eyes look a little over-sharpened. I was also hoping that the original wasn't cropped as severely as the shot you posted suggested, but alas, it was a VERY close-up shot (which means that the softness is probably lack of DoF) (if you're going to shoot at those kinds of apertures you need to be zoomed out a lot more).

Normally I'd suggest zooming out a lot more so that some of the surroundings can be brought into the shot, and the subject given some space to "look into". eg, (as well as getting the eyes higher in the frame) (which is why I had to crop it even further)



But without further ado ...

[ClaudioG]

Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!! awesome awesome awesome.. now at least i can see how far behind i am in editing as well :0. Great job. thank you..May i ask how you went about? I really liked that you warmed the image up..the work under the eyes is fantastic, her eyes seem to have more light..and her lips look soooo much better..awesome work. Its like her with a little more make up on..spot on Colin..ty.the more i look at it the more it seems to radiate..and look crisper..do you sharpen portraits?

You gonna have to let me know how you did this now..do you realise that

[Shadowman]

Hi Claudio,

I've done the best I could; the image for some reason was quite soft in the lower 1/2 which has make the eyes look a little over-sharpened. I was also hoping that the original wasn't cropped as severely as the shot you posted suggested, but alas, it was a VERY close-up shot (which means that the softness is probably lack of DoF) (if you're going to shoot at those kinds of apertures you need to be zoomed out a lot more).

Normally I'd suggest zooming out a lot more so that some of the surroundings can be brought into the shot, and the subject given some space to "look into". eg, (as well as getting the eyes higher in the frame) (which is why I had to crop it even further)



But without further ado ...

The eyes really sell this edit.