Bride in the snow.

PhotoDonkey · May 23, 2008

It looks to me like a pretty spur of the moment picture.

Wyjid · May 23, 2008

yes it was a spur of the moment picture. she wasn't posed to fall, it was just captured. the set up shots obviously would have no people in them.

flashbackpat · May 24, 2008

I'm very much a newbie here, so pardon my interuption, but I think the first edited version looks more normal. When looking at the first version one's eyes are immediately drawn to the bride falling in the snow, the background merely looks somewhat out of focus as one would expect anyway.

In the second version her skin tones have been altered along with the darkening of the trees and ones eyes are drawn immediately into the background where after looking at it for a moment you begin to wonder what is wrong with it.

The first version is definately sharper and I don't think I would have picked up on the fact that it had been retouched if someone hadn't told me.

PhotoDonkey · May 25, 2008

I tend to agree with that. I think, regardless of your knowledge and level, your opinions are still valid.

Wyjid · May 25, 2008

kellylindseyphotography said:
I don't like that edit (personally) I did a really cute edit, but then you said you didnt' want a curves adj. so I closed it out last night. But I strongly disagree that curves wouldn't help it.. it honestly needs a boost out of that gray cast.

i'd love to see the edit. this whole thread is about seeing what you can do with a pic. the one above for instance. it's not how i would have done it but it has taught me a way to hide the messy cloning. i'd like to see yours. (especially if you managed to remove the guy yourself but it's ok even if you didn't)

also, thanks to flashbackpat. yes i like the normal look as well. i think kellylindsey may have a point with the grey. but recently i've seen a lot of bride pictures overcontrasted and i don't like it. i think i'll try some selective doge and burn to highlight her but leave the background soft and grey.

flashbackpat · May 25, 2008

I've never attempted editing of this nature before and I needed to see for myself how it worked. I must say it was a lot more difficult than I had imagined it would be. Until this post I didn't even know what the cloning tool was for. This is what I ended up with. I removed the intruder and attempted to fill in the background, not very well either. everything else was left untouched. The process took 2.5 hours.

amkphotography · Jun 14, 2008

One other thing that could be done is to take the bride and place her on a new background, one free of anyone else.

King Mango · Jun 14, 2008

copy into new layers or just open any other shots from that POV that have the tree freely visible then distort transform a section of the tree in and fix any seams?