Helping out the Beautiful Brides

elsaspet

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www.visionsinwhite.com
Can others edit my Photos
Photos OK to edit
I didn't want to highjack "The Beautiful Bride" by our friend Tbaraki. I can't really move the lesson over here without the photo either. So if it's ok to do so, or if someone has another photo to use as instruction, let me know.
Thanks!
 
Thank you so much. That is very kind of you. I promise that I did not mean to highjack your thread!!!! You did great!
 
Here let me volunteer an image

CameronWedding048.jpg
 
I'll start again with the original because I deleted my changes due to space constraints on my computer. Therefore, this is going to be slightly different.

Here are the original eyes:
1.
eyes1.jpg


I get easily distracted, so the first thing I did (only focusing on eyes here) was to clone out stray hair, and heal out blemishes. Then on a different layer, I heal out all lines and wrinkles. (I'll bring these back later)
2.
eyes2.jpg


3. Here is the result of "liqufy" (found under filters in PS) wherein I have used a very small brush (30 px) on a very large zoom (400 percernt). What I have done was to open the camera left eye a tad, tried to make the eyebrows match, and slightly upturned both eyes, giving them a little more of a youthful look. After the liqify rendered, I brought back some of the natural "crinkle" in the eyes.

This was only liquify, and so no light or other work was done at this time. It's just to show how liquify is the best weapon of fashion editors. :)
3.
eyes3.jpg
 
Hi Jip,
You jipped me. LOL. Did you give this to the bride, or is this a test of sorts.
First of all, no offense, but to have this start on the right foot, you have to find some really boring flat lighting for the bride, and then blast her with fill flash at -1 stops. What we have here is some crazy harsh lighting, making one side of her face totally different than the other, because she's squinting that side of her face.
Original:
1.
jip.jpg


Here, I have tried to bring out some of the bad shadows on the camera right side. Because of the magnitude of fixable stuff on this photo, for time sake, I am cropping right into her face and concentrating on that.
2.
jip1crop.jpg


Here, all the stray hairs and some of the hair shadows are gone.
3.
jip1cropstrays.jpg


To make it easier in liquify, I had deleted ALL facial lines on a seperate layer to be brought back after liquify.
4.
jip1nolines.jpg



The following is a very tricky liquify. Don't try this at home....lol. The major problem here is the squinting face, and a harsh division of bright and dark light. I've worked on the camera right of the photo to try to make it match the camera left. Then I worked on the camera left eye to make it more like camera right.
5.
liquify.jpg


Another major problem with combo under/overexposure, is noise. There is a ton of it here, which makes her skin look very blemished, even though it isn't. I have smoothed the skin. That would also be how I would finish out this photo.
6.
finalface.jpg


Before:
jip.jpg


After:
finalface.jpg


But in the future, move her to different light, and you won't have nearly the headache. Thanks for letting us use your photo!
 
I think it was Jeanette that asked what tools I use.
The best investments I have are PS3, Boutwell Actions, and Kevin Kutota tools Series 2, although I have literally over a thousand actions and brushes that I have access to.
If I were to invest in Anything......it would be Boutwell actions and KK#2. There are some killer actions here, such as lights on/off which I use all the time for under, over exposure, digital fill flash, "doll face" and "makeup artist" which is used on every large format photo,-both guys and gals, "prettyiser" which is used on EVERY PHOTO in varying opacities with skin helper added, and for those of us who want super super sharp photos, you can't beat "Amazing Detail Finder" for little things, or Boutwells "Magic Glasses" for an overall sharpening.
Hope that helps!
 
Opps Sorry! THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL I HAVE is the Wacom Intuit. Pricy for sure, hard to learn, yeah, but once you get it down, it's the BEST TOOL IN THE TOOLBOX!!!!
 
Thanks Cindy for always being willing to share and teach. I for one have learnt loads from you and always look forward to your threads & posts.

That edit on TBaraki's bride was superb.... and once again you shared the 'how tos'... I am really curious of a few things though. Like...
How many images do your bride/grooms receive and do you process each image to the same degree as this example??? Or do you stick to the closer-up images and really work them, then do less on one where she is further away? And if this is the case, is the p/p of the closeup image not so different from the further away image, that people notice the work???
Sorry for babbling, but I am truly curious!!!!

And how many hours p/p do you do on an average wedding - and do you do all the work yourself, or does someone help you out??? I know how busy you are with the actual weddings and wonder how you find the time to do so much great editing??? do you have time to sleep?? x

sorry for the 100 questions cindy, but looking forward to your response.

ps... i have a wedding on daydream island this weekend which i am really excited about, but have just heard we are in for some crazy weather!!! aaaaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! x wish me luck
 
Thanks for the thread! I only have one question. How much do you charge to do other people's post processing? :hail:
 
Thanks Cindy for always being willing to share and teach. I for one have learnt loads from you and always look forward to your threads & posts.

That edit on TBaraki's bride was superb.... and once again you shared the 'how tos'... I am really curious of a few things though. Like...
How many images do your bride/grooms receive and do you process each image to the same degree as this example??? Or do you stick to the closer-up images and really work them, then do less on one where she is further away? And if this is the case, is the p/p of the closeup image not so different from the further away image, that people notice the work???
Sorry for babbling, but I am truly curious!!!!

And how many hours p/p do you do on an average wedding - and do you do all the work yourself, or does someone help you out??? I know how busy you are with the actual weddings and wonder how you find the time to do so much great editing??? do you have time to sleep?? x

sorry for the 100 questions cindy, but looking forward to your response.

ps... i have a wedding on daydream island this weekend which i am really excited about, but have just heard we are in for some crazy weather!!! aaaaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! x wish me luck

Hi Jemmy, no problem.
On bridals and engagements I do "extreme makeovers" as these prints are normally 20x24 or larger. On weddings I do between slight and medium retouching. It depends on the photo. But if it's really important, I will do a major overhaul. On weddings, I don't do as much personal retouching, but I do a lot of "painting" with light.

My day always starts at 6 am, and depending on the time of year, I sometimes work a 16 hour day. I've tried assistants, but I'm really freakishly picky. It would make my life so much easier though if I could train someone.
A normal wedding takes me a full 2 weeks of at least 10 hour days to complete the retouching, the books, and the slideshow. Paperwork and reprints only add to my day, but it's money, so I smile through it. :)
Hope that helps.
 
Hi Jemmy, I missed a question,
On engagements and bridals they get 20-40 gorgeous photos. On weddings the number is between 800-1500 on a normal basis.

And no, I get about 4 hours of sleep each night, and that's why I am always such a grippy biatch. :)
 
thanks heaps cindy,

i forgot you guys shoot 'bridals' and these are not shot on the wedding day, is that correct?? here in oz, that is generally not the norm as far as i am aware, i shoot my bridals on the wedding day, pre-ceremony. i ask them to allow me a full, solid hour for this. i work on these too, but think i'll start furthering my ps skills, and do more.

can i just ask one more question... would you one day be able to share your tips/examples of painting with light?

you know you rock! x jem

ps. i know how you feel re. the assistant! from here on in, my sister is going to be my assistant/gear carrier( she is not a photographer, but im sure one day she will be keen to give it a go) at weddings and i'd like to think that one day i will be busy enough to employ her, maybe not for the photoshopping, but just for phones, paperwork etc.... hell its nice to dream! x thanks again
 
thanks heaps cindy,

i forgot you guys shoot 'bridals' and these are not shot on the wedding day, is that correct?? here in oz, that is generally not the norm as far as i am aware, i shoot my bridals on the wedding day, pre-ceremony. i ask them to allow me a full, solid hour for this. i work on these too, but think i'll start furthering my ps skills, and do more.

can i just ask one more question... would you one day be able to share your tips/examples of painting with light?

you know you rock! x jem

I will be happy to help in any way that I can.
 

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