A couple pics of the Babysitter for C&C

[NikonNewbie]

I wanted to try out my lens today...so I took some pics of my babysitter, her mom likes them, but I want to know what kind of PP to do on them. I was pretty happy with them all in all. They were taken in auto of course (still trying to get the hang of the apeteur settings) and with the new (used) 200mm lens, and on a tripod of course.

I know there is lighting issues, the flash only came on 2x, the sun was very bright...sometimes a little too bright and it was windy as hell. Well, I would appreciate your feedback for PP.
1.

2.

3.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Last time I tried "a couple pics of the babysitter" it nearly got me divorced!...:lmao:

Given your lens choices, these don't look too bad, but I would work on the exposure/lighting. don't be afraid to use a little fill flash.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Also, on a sidenote, I would maybe try to edit the color of her lips a little, or suggest maybe a shade of lip gloss/lipstick. Her lips look like she is frozen or dead to me. I don't mean this to be mean in anyway. I think its just the lighting or her skin tone or something.

 

[sobolik]

Here is what PP you need to do. Select her skin. Sharpen a great deal, Undo and then soften. This exercise should reveal that sharpening a woman's skin is almost never a good idea. She is young and has nice skin. 20 years from now when you take her photo again she will appreciated what you learned about Post Processing skin today.

 

[NikonNewbie]

Also, on a sidenote, I would maybe try to edit the color of her lips a little, or suggest maybe a shade of lip gloss/lipstick. Her lips look like she is frozen or dead to me. I don't mean this to be mean in anyway. I think its just the lighting or her skin tone or something.

1st of all....LMAO....to the first response!!!!

now...ya...i told her to put some on but she didnt want to, said she never wears it so didnt want to...ya Im gonna look into a side flash besides the camera one! thanks for CC!

 

[mrpink]

3.

Just a quick and somewhat sloppy edit to show you what these other guys are talking about...

In LR3. Auto Tone, Iris enhance (brushed), Skin soften (brushed), Added lip color (sloppy I know but I was rushing), Added some vignetting to simulate a fill flash look....

result:

DSC_0223-2 by Matt Francosky, on Flickr


edit: also teeth whitening, unless your teeth are explosively white... you need to do this in post.



p!nK

 

[NikonNewbie]

Here is what PP you need to do. Select her skin. Sharpen a great deal, Undo and then soften. This exercise should reveal that sharpening a woman's skin is almost never a good idea. She is young and has nice skin. 20 years from now when you take her photo again she will appreciated what you learned about Post Processing skin today.

wait...that was confusing...why would I want to sharpen a great deal and then undo and then soften....to reveal that sharpening a womans skin is almost never a good idea?
I didn't sharpen anything at all...so this is confusing to me...you want me to do those steps and then undo them? Please give it to me in a simplier manner because I feel the 2nd sentence contradicts the directions you gave me.
sorry

 

[NikonNewbie]

3.

Just a quick and somewhat sloppy edit to show you what these other guys are talking about...

In LR3. Auto Tone, Iris enhance (brushed), Skin soften (brushed), Added lip color (sloppy I know but I was rushing), Added some vignetting to simulate a fill flash look....

result:

DSC_0223-2 by Matt Francosky, on Flickr


edit: also teeth whitening, unless your teeth are explosively white... you need to do this in post.



p!nK

Thanks so much for making sense of the previous reply because I was utterly confused...ok I see what you did, I have my book out now in front of me...I was planning on teeth whitening that was the 1st thing I told her I would do...second was the zit on the side of her head...was also gonna try the "make the eyes sparkle" and "advanced skin softening"...about the lighting...what can I do pp to help with that? do I use a filter and change luminosity? or do an overall soften?
and second...I tried to do some other shots in grayscale, and I'm not at all happy with the way they come out, they seem weird in color, what method of pp for black and white do you think is best? using lightness channel or channel mixers?
how was the poses? did she look natural, did I get that part right?

 

[12sndsgood]

Here is what PP you need to do. Select her skin. Sharpen a great deal, Undo and then soften. This exercise should reveal that sharpening a woman's skin is almost never a good idea. She is young and has nice skin. 20 years from now when you take her photo again she will appreciated what you learned about Post Processing skin today.

wait...that was confusing...why would I want to sharpen a great deal and then undo and then soften....to reveal that sharpening a womans skin is almost never a good idea?
I didn't sharpen anything at all...so this is confusing to me...you want me to do those steps and then undo them? Please give it to me in a simplier manner because I feel the 2nd sentence contradicts the directions you gave me.
sorry

i think what sobolik was getting at was that by you sharpening her skintones, and then softening them that you would see with your eyes that you dont want to be sharpening the skin. kind of like a heres what not to do. so you can see the results of sharpening and the results of softening.


if im wrong im sure someone can correct me. and if i dont make any sence sorry ive been at work now for 15 hours now.

 

[NikonNewbie]

Here is what PP you need to do. Select her skin. Sharpen a great deal, Undo and then soften. This exercise should reveal that sharpening a woman's skin is almost never a good idea. She is young and has nice skin. 20 years from now when you take her photo again she will appreciated what you learned about Post Processing skin today.

wait...that was confusing...why would I want to sharpen a great deal and then undo and then soften....to reveal that sharpening a womans skin is almost never a good idea?
I didn't sharpen anything at all...so this is confusing to me...you want me to do those steps and then undo them? Please give it to me in a simplier manner because I feel the 2nd sentence contradicts the directions you gave me.
sorry

i think what sobolik was getting at was that by you sharpening her skintones, and then softening them that you would see with your eyes that you dont want to be sharpening the skin. kind of like a heres what not to do. so you can see the results of sharpening and the results of softening.


if im wrong im sure someone can correct me. and if i dont make any sence sorry ive been at work now for 15 hours now.

ok because I didnt touch these photos not one bit before they went up, and I didnt think any skin pp was necessary besides the zit (and I dont think I posted any of the zit...lol) I was thinking he was telling me I shouldn't have sharpened her skin...when I didn't....then I got from Mr. Pink that I should do it and get a glow...
I just want to know about the lighting and other stuff that NEEDS or should be done, right now I'm going thru 2 books, and I have photoshop class in a book that has a CD workbook, so I'd rather not learn a lesson right now that doesn't need to be "learned" yet...kwim?
Im sorry your at work so long...Jeez go the hell home would ya? it's thanksgiving eve...and btw...
HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL YOU TURKEYS!!!!

 

[NikonNewbie]

OK...so I've been up a while messing with this...is this overkill?
I whitened her teeth, *put a sparkle in her eyes* and changed the color of her lips..that was tedious to say the least...I couldnt find the right shade, I kept sampeling from her shirt and that was turning out just wrong...so I went with this because it said to open a picture that has the color you want in photoshop....and I have all my images on the pc downstairs not up here....anyway, so I used a color off a card (if it doesnt look good tell me and Ill give it another go after I get more colorful pics today)
This is the Before

and the after

 

[pbelarge]

Last time I tried "a couple pics of the babysitter" it nearly got me divorced!...:lmao:

I spit my coffee out when I read this...very funny, soo true. :mrgreen::mrgreen:

 

[clanthar]

Hi,

Happy Thanksgiving.

Before you start looking at things like white teeth and lip gloss you need to correct the fundamental tone/color errors in these photos. The one you just revised is flat and has a blue/red color cast -- gotta fix those problems first.

Here's that photo:

I inset the histogram from your original. It indicates a compressed tonal range that has to be corrected. I made the indicated Levels correction and used a mask to hold the hair highlight in place. Then I removed the color cast and then I whitened her teeth.

Joe

 

[NikonNewbie]

Hi,

Happy Thanksgiving.

Before you start looking at things like white teeth and lip gloss you need to correct the fundamental tone/color errors in these photos. The one you just revised is flat and has a blue/red color cast -- gotta fix those problems first.

Here's that photo:

I inset the histogram from your original. It indicates a compressed tonal range that has to be corrected. I made the indicated Levels correction and used a mask to hold the hair highlight in place. Then I removed the color cast and then I whitened her teeth.

Joe

Thanx Joe!
Ok I see a huge difference, that's what I was asking...the lighting etc...I see the compressed tonal range..but what did you use to correct it? and at what points did you know to use them? I'm still learning from this book, and unfourtantly it does not explain the histogram just shows me pics of it (so I know where and what it is) and it is in the channel mixing/ contrast section of black of white photos...I'm sure I'll get to it eventually but I have quite a few of these pics in this exact color and would like to change them all. I'm using Photoshop Cs2.
Thanks!

 

[redtippmann]

Oh and a quick fix for 1&2 would be to get a bounce card(could be anything from a white piece of paper to white poster board or white foam core board. I like the foam core the best) and she, or an assistant, could hold the board just out of frame. And that could also result in an over and under beauity light. But would defiantly give a nicer light than on camera flash.

Edit: it also could have lifted some of the shadows in #3 as well.