Yesterday's shoot ... Ballerina

[Johnboy2978]

I did some shots for friends yesterday of their 5 year old daughter. It was primarily some shots of her in her various ballerina outfits. Here's one that I particularly like and wanted some C/C on. The second is just what she had on when she came in.

 

[shingfan]

#1: i personally am not a B&W fan...but i think it is quite nice

#2: i'm not sure if that is winkle on the cloth or it is the texture....but on the background...i see a brownish shadow...i find it a bit distracting....nto sure if possible....i would like to see that winkle style on the background...add a little twist to the plain white background...just a thought

but i do like #2 as well...very lovely smile

 

[Christie Photo]

...I particularly like and wanted some C/C on.

Well... you're asking a lot. I'll try.

Although I can't describe the lighting scheme, I like it. I find it gives plenty of shape to her face and arms, and enough contrast to have some pop without loosing detail in the garment.

I think the posing is good. I love the expression. The thumbs bother me just a wee bit, but I know nothing about dance and wonder if this isn't good form. If not, I suppose they could be just cloned out without looking goofy. But again, this is just a small concern. The hair fly-aways work well.

Your choice of background with the clothing makes the flesh tones stand out. Very nice.

And, I like the crop.

OH... good choice too on black and white.

Well.... that's all I've got.

Great work!
Pete

 

[EJBPhoto]

I personally love the first.

 

[oCyrus55]

Yeh, I agree. I like these photos

 

[Johnboy2978]

I really appreciate the comments that I've received on these thus far. Does anyone have any photoshop magic that you could recommend regarding the background on the second one? I've got several that I took of her in front of this white backdrop that came out gray and I can't seem to make it white w/o losing detail in her hair and making the hair look pixelated and crappy.

My lighting for both of these consisted of a 47" octagon softbox as my main light and a Sigma flash to expose the background that was 1/2 power compared to the softbox. Apparently, I should've made it 2x the main light. Any way to rectify that now? I shot them all in RAW.

 

[theusher]

1st picture is great!

 

[newrmdmike]

this is great, and what a transformation!!!

seriously, great job.

also, i disagree about the thumbs, i think they serve as a reminder that this is a 5 year old

 

[woodsac]

I think both of these are wonderful

Here's a quick edit of what you asked about. If it's not what you were asking about...well then never mind

In Photoshop

Go to >>Layer >>Duplicate Layer
Go to >>Select >>Color Range
I clicked in the little gray area above her knee. Each image will be different, but usually right around 100 is accurate.
Click >>OK
Go to >>Select >>Feather
Again, experiment. But I usually use 25 pixels
Go to >>Image >>Adjustments >>Levels
Bring the white (far right slider) to the right to line up the histogram. Then, slide the gray (middle slider) as far to the left as you need to.
Click >>OK
Go to >>Select >>Deselect
Next, grab your eraser, use a soft brush at 100%. Erase the surface of the girl.
And it's not necessary, but I bumped the contrast +5.

 

[grafiks]

Gotta love Photoshop. So many ways to do things. There is certainly nothing wrong with woodsac's method, however. Just another of the many ways to do the retouch.

In this example, I used the magic wand tool with a tolerance of 10 (additive mode). Clicked on the problem area until I selected everything I wanted. Under the Select Menu, clicked Feather 15. Created new Curves adjustment layer and changed the RGB Input to 30 and the Output to 58.

 

[pickypics]

Very nice pictures and a great job they did in photoshop