Advice please

[peanut170]

how about my fix?

except theres a little chunk out her head.

 

[RicJoe]

Thats awesome Schwettylens, if there is a chunk missing from her head I cannot tell .

 

[Robin Usagani]

I would certainly spend more time if it was my client's

 

[Vinny]

I think Schwetty's came out very good!

I deleted my images too early, thought my version would have stuck as I swear I deleted something once and it stayed here. I kind of get skittish on having picts of other peoples kids that I don't know on anything associated with me - LOL!! Sign of the times (for me anyway).

 

[RicJoe]

I think Schwetty's came out very good!

I deleted my images too early, thought my version would have stuck as I swear I deleted something once and it stayed here. I kind of get skittish on having picts of other peoples kids that I don't know on anything associated with me - LOL!! Sign of the times (for me anyway).

I actually thought about not posting them, but I really want to do them justice. I have also lurked on here for quite sometime (yes that was me in the bushes). After a discussion with my wife and she browsed the forum a bit to get a feel, we both decided it would be ok.

Me, it is when I am at the park and see other kids, I want to start snapping but think as a Father what would I do if some dude was taking pictures of my Daughter. Then I think maybe ask, but then get all shy and just keep snapping my child.

 

[KmH]

My intention was to have a picture in focus and filling as much of the frame as possible, the sun was at mid afternoon not right above us but down a bit.

I like the composition and perspective.

You don't mention which version of Photoshop you have: Cs(x), Lightroom(x), or Elements(x).

Do you ever use ACR (Adobe Camera Raw)? All 3 of the above have a version of it.

I did an edit using ACR and CS5. In ACR I checked the exposure and everything is correctly exposed. A good face wipe or some powder may have helped the hot spots on her face. I brought the hot spots down somewhat using the 'Recovery' slider. I added some 'Fill' to address the 'racoon eyes' (dark eye sockets). I did a minimum global sharpening (amount 50, radius 0.5, threshold 0), and I added 50 on the Clarity slider.
I then used the Luminance slider portion of the noise reduction tool in ACR and reduced the Luminance noise to taste.
I then opened the photo in CS5. I duplicated the 'Background' layer, and added a New layer that had the blending mode set to 'Soft Light' and I filled the layer with 50% grey. This New layer was set up for dodging.
I selected her irises, sharpened them using USM, inversed the selection so her irises would not be affected, and dodged her eye sockets to lighten them up. I deleted the selection and then dodged the whites of her eyes and her teeth.
Next I made the Background copy layer active and used the spot healing brush to remove some facial blemishes from her left cheek and the tip of her nose.
I then selected just her and the climbing wall using the quick selection tool, inversed the selection so only the sand was now selected, made an Exposure adjustment layer and reduced the exposure of the sand 1 stop.
Re-selecting the Background copy layer I globally sharpened the photo using USM and minimal values. I then used the Topaz Adjust plug-in and it's Clarity preset which I reduced to 25% in CS5.
The last thing was ading a thin black border to the photo. Total time, about 3 minutes.

 

[RicJoe]

I have CS5, but I was thinking of getting elements as I have read it is more user friendly. I get lost in CS5 very quickly and to try and fix I googled "how to fix overexposure in photoshop" . Maybe I would be wasting my money, might see if they have a trial version just to test drive it. I am one of those I have to buy now people, trying to step back from that attitude makes for a happier Wife also!

 

[Vinny]

Try watching Adobe TV. I've been trying to watch it and they have various people talking about all sorts of topics. I just started playing around with CS5 and it can do some amazing things from what I have seen on the Adobe TV. It is definately not something that youi watch something once, try it once and master it; like everything in life the more we practice something the better we get at it.

I have CS5, but I was thinking of getting elements as I have read it is more user friendly. I get lost in CS5 very quickly and to try and fix I googled "how to fix overexposure in photoshop" . Maybe I would be wasting my money, might see if they have a trial version just to test drive it. I am one of those I have to buy now people, trying to step back from that attitude makes for a happier Wife also!

 

[Blake.Oney]

The point of view from this shot really made me think it was a good candidate for this type of pp. I think it would look more dramatic if the shot was a little wider and her hand/head wasn't cut. I adjusted contrast and the brightness and then played around in Topaz.

 

[RicJoe]

You all have really given me some big shoes to fill :mrgreen:
I love all the different ideas and it really shows what practice can produce. I have written down all the advice and saved the links as this post alone was priceless to me.

I have to say, read one thread and it is like that blind date gone very wrong. Come to another thread and you see TPF work as one to help. :hugs:

 

[KmH]

I have CS5, but I was thinking of getting elements as I have read it is more user friendly.

More user friendly in so far as Elements only has about 40% of the capabilities CS5 has and is pretty much limited to doing edits in an 8-bit depth.

The 8-bit depth is only 256 tonal gradations per color channel, while CS5 can edit in 16-bit depth, or up to 16,384 tonal gradations per color channel.

 

[RicJoe]

More user friendly in so far as Elements only has about 40% of the capabilities CS5 has and is pretty much limited to doing edits in an 8-bit depth.

The 8-bit depth is only 256 tonal gradations per color channel, while CS5 can edit in 16-bit depth, or up to 16,384 tonal gradations per color channel.

I will stick with CS5 then, makes more sense then spending more money for less, thanks for the info!

 

[Blake.Oney]

If you're itching to spend on software look into Topaz labs adjust or detail. And Nik software plugins.