Haleigh

[mark4583]

Did this of my Niece Haleigh and have been experimenting more with B&W in PSE6

[mythlady]

That's adorable. I love the treatment.

[MiniChris]

I like the background treatment but found the overall softness too much when given all the other image factors. My first look was pleasing, but after a very short moment, I realized there was something about the composition which nagged at my feeble brain and that was with all the angles in her head position, arms and bent knees, the background needed to be much straighter for this to work, and to pull her off that very subdued backdrop, I didn't think there was enough sharpness, especially in the eyes which are the focal points of this photograph.

Lastly, you made this a grayscale image which does terrible things to sharpening features. So, I copied it, converted it to RGB, rotated it to bring the porch rail horizontal, then sharpened in lab using a factor of 109-1-4. This gave a nice pop to her eyes and for me, recentered the focal point. Hope you don't mind the rework and please keep in mind, it is just my thoughts...

[mark4583]

Not at all, I like it very much, its more of what I was trying to achive but I kept getting to contrasty and no tonal range.
This is a scan fron a older photo that was done with Kodak T400, I think thats the name of the film, the B&W you do with c-41 processing.
I have about 15 shots of her and her sister at the same time, I will experiment on those like you did with this,
Thanks

[MiniChris]

Not at all, I like it very much, its more of what I was trying to achive but I kept getting to contrasty and no tonal range.
This is a scan fron a older photo that was done with Kodak T400, I think thats the name of the film, the B&W you do with c-41 processing.
I have about 15 shots of her and her sister at the same time, I will experiment on those like you did with this,
Thanks

When you scan, scan in RGB at 300dpi or higher (lower if there is any texture to the print). When you have your scan output, make a duplicate layer and give that layer a touch of gaussian blur, then lower the opacity to blend with the bottom layer...it helps to soften the pixelation caused by the scan. From there, you can continue to work.