Beach Portrait - PLEASE C&C

[Theantiquetiger]

Some ladies were trying to take this picture, but their camera fogged up on them. I happened to be walking up to use the same spot for my portraits, so I took it for them and emailed it to them (I actually took about a dozen). I like this one the best, but I don't like her foot behind the barrier


paula3 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

 

[Starskream666]

the background looks flat n dull, too dark, n that metal fence, eugh could of used a wider aperture to get the ugly backdrop away. Play around with the curves a bit

 

[Rosy]

the little one's face looks a bit over-saturated. I wish the other girl's foot would not be hidden in back of that post. Like mentioned above, it would of been nice if the background would have been blurred out more so the subjects can stand out
cute girls

 

[Trever1t]

Cute girls! First thing that strikes me is how flat it is, second the color is pretty orange/red.

Take the flash off camera or...don't use it. This shot didn't need flash at all. Spot meter on the face and you would be good. The flash is why the color is off and flat. On axis lighting will do that.

That all said, you can correct the color and add depth to a degree if you shot in raw and with some talent at the computer. Regardless I am sure they love it!

 

[ronlane]

I like the location you are shooting all of these in. The above have covered this pretty well. That all being said, I think you are doing good and you seem to have a lot of nice subjects to shoot.

 

[Robbo521]

little dark for me but love the background.them old wood fences at the beach seem to make things look better to me.

 

[jowensphoto]

^Your posted photo.


^Quick and dirty edit in ACR - slightly adjusted: wb, exposure, blacks, contrast and fill light. Also played with the Luminosity tab under HSL.


^Intense PS edit. Can provide details if you like.

^B&W rendering of the intense PS edit.


*****You don't have edit/do not edit marked, so if you want me to delete these let me or a mod know *****

 

[ronlane]

<<<< is sending all of his hard to edit portraits to Jess in the future

 

[frommrstomommy]

They edits jess did look great. Really give some pop!

 

[jowensphoto]

Thanks

OP's original wasn't bad at all. The pose is nice, and the background is the well-known OBX style sand dunes. Just needed a little kick (for my personal taste, at least, others mileage may vary).

 

[ktan7]

Great composition. Love it simple.

 

[KmH]

From a lighting perspective, it is good that they are separated from the background and have some 'pop'.
The lighting might have been a bit higher and a bit more off axis to the left to provide a bit more shadow to better accent facial mask modeling.
As mentioned the white balance was off a tad, and some other color correction was needed.

I would not have added exposure globally keeping the background darker than the subjects and thus somewhat enhancing the 'pop'.
A rule of thumb for portraits is that facial highlights should be between 235 and 240 in the red channel. In your shot facial highlights are about 185 in the red channel indicating under exposure.
Her white dress was likely sufficient to fool your camera's light meter if you used center-weighted or matrix/evaluative metering instead of spot metering.

There is a horizontal reed behind them that is kind of like fingernails on a chalk board.

I corrected white balance in ACR, capture sharpened, and added a bit of Clarity (+35).
In Photoshop I selected the subjects and foreground with the Quick Selection tool, made an Exposure adjustment layer with the selection active, which makes an Exposure adjustment layer mask, and added 0.5 EV of exposure to only the subjects and foreground. The added exposure helps correct the skin tones.
I used the Magic Healing Brush in Content-Aware mode to get rid of that jarring horizontal reed. I used the Polygonal Lasso tool to select various parts of their eye whites and teeth, then with the selections active made (masked) Hue/Saturation adjustment layers, then somewhat desaturated and lightened the selections.
I used the Sharpening tool (not the filter) at a strength of 65% on their eye areas, nose areas, and mouth areas. Doing so not only sharpens some, but it helps to add local contrast too.
I cropped the right side enough to loose the fencing, and made a basic mat and frame.

 

[ronlane]

^^^^^^

 

[emdiemci]

View attachment 48795
^Your posted photo.

View attachment 48796
^Quick and dirty edit in ACR - slightly adjusted: wb, exposure, blacks, contrast and fill light. Also played with the Luminosity tab under HSL.

View attachment 48797
^Intense PS edit. Can provide details if you like.
View attachment 48798
^B&W rendering of the intense PS edit.


*****You don't have edit/do not edit marked, so if you want me to delete these let me or a mod know *****

The third one makes a great improvement. It soothes everything down from the high saturation on the faces.

From a lighting perspective, it is good that they are separated from the background and have some 'pop'.
The lighting might have been a bit higher and a bit more off axis to the left to provide a bit more shadow to better accent facial mask modeling.
As mentioned the white balance was off a tad, and some other color correction was needed.

I would not have added exposure globally keeping the background darker than the subjects and this somewhat enhancing the 'pop'.
A rule of thumb for portraits is that facial highlights should be between 235 and 240 in the red channel. In your shot facial highlights are about 185 in the red channel indicating under exposure.
Her white dress was likely sufficient to fool your camera's light meter if you used center-weighted or matrix/evaluative metering instead of spot metering.

There is a horizontal reed behind them that is kind of like fingernails on a chalk board.

I corrected white balance in ACR, capture sharpened, and added a bit of Clarity (+35).
In Photoshop I selected the subjects and foreground with the Quick Selection tool, made an Exposure adjustment layer with the selection active, making a Exposure adjustment layer mask, and added 0.5 EV of exposure to only the subjects and foreground. The added exposure helps correct the skin tones.
I used the Magic Healing Brush in Content-Aware mode to get rid of that jarring horizontal reed. I used the Polygonal Lasso tool to select various parts of their eye whites and teeth, then with the selections active made (masked) Hue/Saturation adjustment layers, then somewhat desaturated and lightened the selections.
I used the Sharpening tool (not the filter) at a strength of 65% on their eye areas, nose areas, and mouth areas. Doing so not only sharpens some, but it helps to add local contrast too.
I cropped the right side enough to loose the fencing, and made a basic mat and frame.

You killed it with the edit in color you did on this. Very impressive.

 

[DustinWPhotography]

If I were going to edit it this is how I would do so. But it's only my eye and how I see it.

Your Version:



My Version:



It may seem a bit harsh but that's just how I like my pictures. I like them to stand out. Just my taste.