Trying a self Portrait- Dark Eyes

[DevC]

Hi all,

This weekend, i tried shooting a self portrait. I ran into a few issues, from an overcast day to not having a good reflector or flash on me due to no one willing to allow me to carry it around...

Anyhow, here is my try. Is there any way i could reduce the darkness near my eyes or am i all screwed? I tried leveling out the curves of the highlights of my skin to my shadows to assist in this, but it seems my eyes are just coming out dark. Maybe am i overworrying it? Anything worth doing or is it a moot case at this point.

Thanks!


Here is trying to add more to the eyes, changing around some color filters and some sharpening (maybe oversharpened?)

 

[Designer]

Second version is much better in your eyes, but both seem too yellowish to me.

In the future, when you suspect that your eye sockets will be in shade, turn your head up more.

 

[DevC]

Second version is much better in your eyes, but both seem too yellowish to me.

In the future, when you suspect that your eye sockets will be in shade, turn your head up more.

Thanks for the tip, i did not realize that helps with shadows.


I'll add some cooling effects in lightroom to reduce the yellowish feel. Will update... Thanks!

 

[Designer]

I made some corrections on my computer.

 

[DevC]

Cool. Thanks designer! i'm noticing alot of oversharpening on my face aswell which is making me look alot older/grainier. I may work through the second one and just update the shadows a bit more. I feel it may of been just a tad overexcess in reducing the shadows in the first one the more i look at it.

 

[DevC]

It may of been worthwhile to keep some of the shadow maybe to keep it from looking unnatural...

here is a retry..

 

[DevC]

I gave up on that photo. The work became too difficult with eyes. Unfortunately not having a reflector or fill flash really did work against me.

I tried using another shot which had more ambience from the outside.


Anything look odd here bychance?

I asked one, two people and they say i look older (aged not a good thing)...this is probably due to oversharpening i'm guessing.

Also, i've been told one arm looks significantly darker than the other. Maybe i'm not seeing it.

 

[Derrel]

Not too bad of a selfie. I liked the first frame, last revision. The sharpening really helped, for sure. I REALLY loved the taxi cab's headlights, the traffic signal, and the bokeh balls on the right edge of the frame! The headlight of the one taxi on the wet pavement REALLY adds a lot of context...I mean, it shows that the pavement is definitely wet. The cityscape behind is just wonderful. The second frame, with that green umbrella, is a slightly different way to show that it's rainy season, but it's not as awesome a composition as the first one.

 

[cynicaster]

I think the original shot is a great "contextual selfie".

As for "fixing" the photo in the computer, in my opinion, you're overthinking this picture. If you can't get it to look the way you want after a 5 minute edit (crop, curves bump, sharpening, etc.) then you should probably just go re-shoot it, especially since you're in full control of the schedules of both the photographer and the model.

And please, next time, put down the backpack and move it out of the frame.

 

[DevC]

Thank you all for the feedback. I've been told the sharpening put a really aged feel...although that could just be a factor of monitor calibration! I did have a final edit to that one i would like to post later this evening. @cynicaster - i believe you are right at this point though. I think the 2nd composed shot was easier to edit (>>5 mins, no headaches, eyes came in well), i really did enjoy the composition of the first one, but with the eyes being unbelievable dark...i think it may be best to reshoot. I will post the final edits of the last one, but at this point..it may look to overedited ...

Designer made a good point of looking up. I'm sure if i did that earlier, i wouldn't of had as much of a headache in post with this photo. You live and you learn i guess right? Just gotta wait for another day where i could make it to new york to enevolope this backdrop again.
Think the backpack is that much of a distraction? Wanted to keep it in their due to the feel of the camera bag...not sure if it is just more of a destraction at that point.

 

[DanOstergren]

I think the first two you shared are great, and I personally wouldn't worry too much about the shadows in them; they look fine to me, and in my opinion add feeling and mood to the photograph. I personally don't believe that every portrait needs to have perfectly illuminate eyes and evenly exposed arms, etc. If you start worrying too much about perfection it will slow your progression down a lot. I'm speaking through my own personal experience though, so please no one jump down my throat.

I also really like the color tones in the first two versions you posted; not a fan of the colors in Designer's version though.

 

[DanOstergren]

I think the original shot is a great "contextual selfie".

As for "fixing" the photo in the computer, in my opinion, you're overthinking this picture. If you can't get it to look the way you want after a 5 minute edit (crop, curves bump, sharpening, etc.) then you should probably just go re-shoot it, especially since you're in full control of the schedules of both the photographer and the model.

And please, next time, put down the backpack and move it out of the frame.

I agree with you that he is over thinking it a bit, but disagree with the 5 minute rule of thumb. I've spent over 4 hours on a single photo just to get it right; I think 5 minutes is waaaay too soon to decide whether or not to scrap a photo because you can't get it to look right. Great editing takes time in my opinion.

 

[cynicaster]

I agree with you that he is over thinking it a bit, but disagree with the 5 minute rule of thumb. I've spent over 4 hours on a single photo just to get it right; I think 5 minutes is waaaay too soon to decide whether or not to scrap a photo because you can't get it to look right. Great editing takes time in my opinion.

Sure, but different photos are taken for different purposes. I've certainly spent far more than 5 minutes on all kinds of photos I've taken, but I can assure you none of them were street selfies.

 

[DanOstergren]

I agree with you that he is over thinking it a bit, but disagree with the 5 minute rule of thumb. I've spent over 4 hours on a single photo just to get it right; I think 5 minutes is waaaay too soon to decide whether or not to scrap a photo because you can't get it to look right. Great editing takes time in my opinion.

Sure, but different photos are taken for different purposes. I've certainly spent far more than 5 minutes on all kinds of photos I've taken, but I can assure you none of them were street selfies.

Yeah, but just because it's a street selfie doesn't mean it's not worth taking the time to make it look good. I still don't think 5 minutes is long enough to decide just because you may be having trouble editing it.