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Oisín · May 11, 2008 , 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by Mastrap

I wasn't suggesting photoshopping her skin. There are thing you can do with lighting that make the best of what your model has to offer. In this case the very directional light is emphasizing the blemishes of her skin. A softer light would have been kinder.

Actually, I have to agree that it adds more than it detracts here (at least in the last picture). The strong, harsh light and the texture it emphasises in her skin really give the skin a story, I think. I don’t think the last shot would have been as effective or evocative if her skin ‘blemishes’ had been mollified by a softer light.

Tesselator · 11:08 AM

I like it. I wanna see more color contrast too though.
So from this:

I might do:

or something like that. <shrug>

Of course glamming it would probably look
even better. I like highly "photoshopped" images. I like dreamy and whispy more
than hard reality. To me hard reality is so commonplace. Anyone with a DC can
do it IMO. What to do to a photo to make it into fantasy (of any kind) is special
and like I say I like fantasy more. I love works by The Brothers Hildebrandt or
Boris Vallejo for example.

Boris Vallejo Gallery
Greg Hildebrandt's Pinup Art

Tesselator · May 12, 2008 , 09:16 AM

Like this from Boris:

or this from the Brothers:

Etcetera, etcetera...

Mastrap · May 12, 2008 , 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by Tesselator

I might do:

See, as far as I'm concerned that emphazises the blemishes even more. I really dislike oversaturation in skin tones, it just doesn't work for me.

analogika · May 12, 2008 , 09:31 AM

That edit just looks like she overdosed on the self-tanning lotion.

Tesselator · May 12, 2008 , 09:46 AM

Here's another from me. My son's son relaxing in my bathroom.

Tesselator · May 12, 2008 , 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by analogika

That edit just looks like she overdosed on the self-tanning lotion.

Maybe my monitor is whacked or something but I don't see very
much difference at all. One looks like a slightly warmer light was
used maybe. The umbrella green is the biggest difference to me.

Chuckit · May 12, 2008 , 11:19 AM

She looks rather oompa-loompaish to me too.

Tesselator · May 12, 2008 , 11:34 AM

hehehehe....

Rampant1 · May 12, 2008 , 11:55 AM

a handful of recent shots, most of them from the backyard, all are full frame with minor color/contrast corrections in Photoshop.

A bit unbalanced...

First successful attempt at water drops.

Baby Robins, they were out of the nest three or four days after this shot.

Need to work on the color here, a little too blue...

My boy on the mound, too bad the batter was doing a check swing, could use some cropping on the right.

More photos here, some creative, some mundane.

OreoCookie · 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by Tesselator

I like it. I wanna see more color contrast too though.
I might do:

Way too oversaturated, it doesn't fit the mood of the picture. If it were a young girl in crazy clothes, it might have another effect.

I don't use photoshop much, though

By the way, you'll probably like one particular setting in Aperture 2 which increases saturation for all colors except skin tones. Works well on Asians and darker types, too.

Edit: I've just read that you can barely see the difference between the two. Are you sure? Is your monitor calibrated (mine is)? The green has become neon-sign-like green (very, very bright and intense), her skin tone went from a becoming yellowish/brownish to `I fell face down in a bowl of rouge.'

analogika · May 12, 2008 , 04:41 PM

Ah - I was worried there for a bit that *my* monitor was completely off (it's quick-and-dirty calibrated only).

Tesselator · May 12, 2008 , 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

Edit: I've just read that you can barely see the difference between the two. Are you sure? Is your monitor calibrated (mine is)? The green has become neon-sign-like green (very, very bright and intense), her skin tone went from a becoming yellowish/brownish to `I fell face down in a bowl of rouge.'

Well I calibrated them by eye with various test patterns including the SMTPE color
bars and etc. I spent maybe 90 min. trying to get it as close as possible. I work
professionally around NTSC-J video equipment for the past 30+ years but that
doesn't guarantee my eyes work as well as a professional temperature sensor or
anything.

Here's a picture of one of my monitors:

This is a little cooler for me here when placed side by side with the original but it's
pretty close. Actually it looks like his original even though it's a shot of my mod.
The greens are more saturated in the shot of my monitor displaying my mod than
in his original though. The pic of my monitor has more pronounced highlights in
her shin-tones. All three look generally close to each other for the skin-tones.

Tesselator · May 12, 2008 , 05:22 PM

BTW, I agree that she looks like she fell in a bucket of rouge but his original
looks that way to me too. Mine just looks a bit warmer. Maybe as is mine was
shot with a very very VERY light amber gel over the strobe. Is that different
than what you're all seeing?

Oisín · May 12, 2008 , 05:33 PM

^ Very different, yes.

Rampant1: I love numbers one, two, and three. Four is a bit uninteresting in composition—nothing really stands out and draws any attention.

And –

What did you do to this poor kid’s arm?!?

- - e r i k - - · May 12, 2008 , 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by Tesselator

Like this from Boris:

The plot thickens…

Face Ache · May 12, 2008 , 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by James L

I'm a shameless slut when it comes to Photoshop. Here's a quick stab at this pic...

'shopped cheek, smoothed skin, adjusted facial skin tone to closer match hand.

No longer an accurate portrait, of course.

Jawbone54 · May 12, 2008 , 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by James L

Here's another from the shoot:

The more versions I've seen of this shot, I like the original the best, to be honest.

I would change two things...

1. Compositionally, I would try to have the center of the umbrella (that is what that is, right?) directly behind her head, where all the prominent lines lead directly to her face. The grouping just to the right of her head is distracting from the most important part of a portrait: the eyes.

2. A very slight bump in green saturation in this shot, either in Lightroom, Aperture, or ACR.

Overall, I think this is a very pretty shot, and I'd be extremely pleased with it if I were you.

Originally Posted by Rampant1

First successful attempt at water drops.

This is my favorite image of the ones you posted. I don't have much of a critique here...the picture is very nice.

Here's one picture of a shoot I had today with a ridiculously cute little girl named Isabel...

Tesselator · May 12, 2008 , 11:51 PM

Originally Posted by Face Ache

I'm a shameless slut when it comes to Photoshop.
Here's a quick stab at this pic...

'shopped cheek, smoothed skin, adjusted facial skin tone to closer match hand.

No longer an accurate portrait, of course.

Now it looks like she fell in a bucket of talcum. I swear everyone's monitor is
out of sync but mine.

OK, OK, so what are some other ways to calibrate
a monitor besides the display pattern and eye-check method?