Waiting for Spring a start

[DianeD]

Hi All, I haven't been here is a very long time, I can't even remember the last time I posted something. I have finally achieved the impossible and that is getting my 17 year old to work with me on a series of photos I want to do called Waiting for Spring. This is a practice shot I did of him as a kind of prelude to the actual series. He was being difficult and didn't want anyone to see his Mother taking his picture so this was a fast job. I'm hoping once we include his friends he will lighten up a bit though I do love having a bit of teenage grumpiness coming through in the shots. Sean was shot with my Nikon D3100, Tamron 70-200 mm, f4, 1/1600, ISO 200, 102 mm. I love his expression in this shot, I wanted to give the impression that he is walking down the street turning away from the wind, I know I didn't achieve this it looks more like he is just looking behind him. I will show both versions of the picture the colour that I have minimally touched in LR and the black and white that I have worked with in PSE 9 and Silver FX Pro. C&C very welcome.



Thanks for viewing
Diane

[Geoff F]

For me, Diane, you have a better brightness level on his face in the B&W but that has also increased the background highlight problem.

I would try to do a bit of selective editing, with Curves and a mask, to vary brightness around the scene. Or possibly an adjustment brush if you can't do layers.

[Shadowman]

Hi Diane,

You might have been able to get the windy look with a faster shutterspeed and a bit of panning to get some blur in the background. Nice effort.

[WanKie]

Hi Diane,
I like the James Dean look of your youngster (quite an effort you could make him model at all!) Looking beyond the picture; you would probably want to enhance the atmosphere in your picture, maybe a more low-key setting. This could encompass layeing your photograph, and selectively darkening the background. (Alternatively, selectively burn area's like the windows).
Great expression!

[DianeD]

Thanks for the input, John I am definitely going to try the panning when I get him out again I didn't think of that but it makes sense. Geoff and WanKle I have made an attempt at darkening the background I don't know if I have gone a little overboard but I think I have improved it.



Thanks
Diane

[DianeD]

Below is another shot of Sean, same settings this time peaking out from underneath his hood.



Thanks
Diane

[selig1656]

Nice pics especially in B/W , focus is terrific , however I do not get the sense of any motion nor the wind. Like the suggestion of panning.

[Geoff F]

That darker background is much better. I wonder if you could get away with going just a tiny fraction brighter on the highlights of his face? More like your last image.

[DianeD]

Thanks Raymond, I'm thinking the motion will have to wait for the next set I take of Sean. I realized I hadn't quite achieved what I set out to do but liked the pictures so I used this more as an exercise to get them looking good in black and white which is how I wanted to finish them. So I kind of got 1/2 of what I set out to do with the practice round with "grumpy model."

Thanks Geoff I managed to brighten the face a touch, I had to walk a very fine line so I didn't make him look like a ghost.



Thanks
Diane

[Geoff F]

Yes, that is it.

Not sure which option you used but when dealing with tricky brightness edits I often use the Luminosity Blend Mode so only brightness is changed, not saturation as well.

[DianeD]

Thanks Geoff, I really like this picture, very happy the way it turned out. I really appreciate your suggestions. As for brightness I put the picture into NIK Colour FX Pro and used the lighten/darken centre filter, I adjusted the brightness but some of the detail was lost and he looked a little like a phantom. Since my NIK suite is a plug in for PSE 9 I masked and adjusted opacity until I was happy with the effect. I keep forgetting about the Luminosity blend I definitely will use it for the next shot. I have one more from that day to process.

Thanks again
Diane

[Manfred M]

Diane - First of all, let me congratulate you on getting a 17-year old to cooperate. I find neither of my daughters were nearly that cooperative when I asked to shoot them when the were that age...

I guess I'm going to be a bit of a dissenter here. I find that you've gone overboard in brightening your son's face. I find you have gotten to the point where the images are looking "faked". Yes, by all means brighten things up, but subtlety is the key to getting a good looking image, and this applies to colour as well as B&W.

[DianeD]

Thanks Manfred, I'm sitting here looking at it and I do see your point, I'm happy you made it. Is there a point in the 3 where I can go back to, I have kept all copies, or should I just go right back and start from scratch?

Diane

[Manfred M]

Thanks Manfred, I'm sitting here looking at it and I do see your point, I'm happy you made it. Is there a point in the 3 where I can go back to, I have kept all copies, or should I just go right back and start from scratch?

Diane

I wish I could answer that question, but it depends on your tools and how you are using them (i.e. your workflow). I see that you are using Elements, and that is one piece of software I have no experience in using. I use a non-destructive workflow in Photoshop CC 2014 and do everything in layers that I preserve, so in my case the answer would be yes, I can go back (which is why I use the workflow that I do), but in your case, I couldn't even hazard a guess.

Frankly, now that you have a technique that you are working with, I suspect you will find recreating things from scratch are going to go a lot faster the second time around.

[DianeD]

So I went right back and started over. Here is the result.



Thanks
Diane

[Manfred M]

Your latest effort looks a lot more natural.

[DianeD]

So this is the final effort from the practice day. Thanks to all who have given me valuable feedback so I can better plan the actual shoot which will involve his long board and a near by hill. I have to wait for most of the snow to leave the pavement on the hill so he will use it as a prop.



Thanks again
Diane

[Manfred M]

Diane - one thing to watch for it ensuring that you get things right in the camera.

I had a closer look at your original colour shot, and it is significantly underexposed. I've imported it into Photoshop and have shown the historgram of this shot.





I expect that there are whites in the shot, so the histogram should be spread out almost to the very right. By having a shot that is so significantly underexposed, you are trying to get the skin tones back up; but in reality the whole shot should be a lot lighter.

[DianeD]

Thanks Manfred, lesson really learned. I was going to mention in my last post that I had noticed all my shots were underexposed in camera but thought I would give a go at "fix" rather than brave the teenage tantrum. I see the flat or over processed results are the result of that. Will not be making that choice again.

[Geoff F]

Yes, but under exposed can be improved with editing. If you go too far the other way the problems can be beyond help.

Which is why taking several shots with different exposures is always a good idea. Except for the model's point of view; 'You have taken a photo - now let's move on!'