1st Post! Need Critique on a Photo's Edits

daisyish · Sep 25, 2015

Before:

After:

Hello everyone! My name is Daisy, and this is my first post! I've had a fashion blog (www.daisyishdays.com) for about three years now, and I've always edited my own photos. I don't consider myself a professional, but I hope to improve my skills through this forum! That being said, what do you all think about my edit? I edited it through Photoshop and mostly played with curves. I didn't do any skin retouching because I am not very good at doing it, but I want to learn how to do it. Thanks so much and any criticism and feedback would be so appreciated.

ak_ · Sep 25, 2015

I would lift/desaturate the tonality of the whole picture as you did for her skin, clothing, the sunny-side of her hair, and the path of sunlight through the trees behind her. If there's stuff in the back that you wish to obscure, I'd crop the picture instead. That would look better anyways IMO.

This monitor's iffy but I can see that some parts of the image are more dense-looking than the center.

SCraig · Sep 25, 2015

What is the subject of the photograph? Is it the girl, the green flare on her neck, or the sun blasting through the trees? The sun is so overpowering and the flare so inappropriately placed that everything else is secondary to those.

daisyish · Sep 25, 2015

ak_ said:
I would lift/desaturate the tonality of the whole picture as you did for her skin, clothing, the sunny-side of her hair, and the path of sunlight through the trees behind her. If there's stuff in the back that you wish to obscure, I'd crop the picture instead. That would look better anyways IMO.

This monitor's iffy but I can see that some parts of the image are more dense-looking than the center.

First off thanks for reply means a lot! What do you mean by lift the tonality? How would I go about doing so on Photoshop? And you're right the outer parts of the shot are more dense, so cropping the outside would be a good idea.

daisyish · Sep 25, 2015

SCraig said:
What is the subject of the photograph? Is it the girl, the green flare on her neck, or the sun blasting through the trees? The sun is so overpowering and the flare so inappropriately placed that everything else is secondary to those.

First off thanks for the reply means a lot! I wanted the subject of the photograph to be the girl, but looking at the photograph again it looks like the sun is the subject. The green flare was unintentional. It happened because of the sun. I will probably try to remove the green flare and tone down the sun if I can.

KmH · Sep 25, 2015

daisyish said:
What do you mean by lift the tonality?

In Camera Raw move the Vibrance slider to the right to add tonality.
Adding Clarity would also add some tonality by adding some mid-tone contrast.

Or you could add a Vibrance Adjustment layer and increase the Vibrance. You can use the Camera Raw filter.

A lot of the problems with the photo now needing to be 'fixed' with post production editing could have been solved when the shutter was released by adding supplemental light (reflected or flash) to the girl to balance against the strong back lighting.

ak_ · Sep 25, 2015

daisyish said:
What do you mean by lift the tonality?

E.g: In PhotoShop, open the first of the two images you posted here. Select the Levels tool. Move the midpoint slider (situated beneath the middle of the RGB histogram) - move it from"1.0" to "1.90".

KmH · Sep 26, 2015

Yep. Use Levels to set the black point, the white point, and the mid-point.

The OP could also use the Curves tool to edit the photo.

vintagesnaps · Sep 26, 2015

Looks like you needed to move a little to the left to get the appropriate amount of sun coming into the camera - this is too much. A little flare can sometimes work but a large green circle is letting you know that this is too much, that you needed to be positioned differently. This makes me want to squint looking into that much sun.

This can work but you'll need to figure out how to position yourself - go out and practice without a model and notice how if you move a little it will change how much sun you get, think about the angle, and as the sun's going down you'll need to adjust (especially getting into fall and shorter days).

Looks like you have good ideas and would benefit from further developing skills in how to get the subjects properly lit; notice the shadows, how you're positioning people, etc. (and double check how the hair's arranged before releasing the shutter).

Derrel · Sep 26, 2015

That big, green blob looks awful. I've never ever seen something that looks like that. What the heck *is* that from? It is right on the neck...it utterly kills this shot.

Donde · Sep 26, 2015

Daisyish first a belated welcome to the forum. I like the "before" better because of the skin tone. I hope you will post some more of your images. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

spiralout462 · Sep 26, 2015

It would be pretty cool if it wasn't for the "green blob". I would scrap this one if it was me.

MLCIII · Sep 27, 2015

Agree with Derrel, though his to tonality could be turned "down" a bit

I would've moved left just a bit, and maybe taken her hand down to get cheek. The current pose suggests a feeling of, "oh damn, I'm lost in these woods!"

Braineack · Sep 27, 2015

UV fitler on lens?

Granddad · Sep 27, 2015

Welcome to the forum.

The green blob kills the shot for me and would take so much time to remove in photoshop (with not much chance of doing it well) that it's not worth working on at all (IMHO). Save time and stress - shoot again taking the advice given here into account before you start.

You have to know when to walk away from a shot.

Don't let the C&C get you down. This is a great place to learn loads, I know that from experience!