Bodacious First Shot - Taylor

[DGMPhotography]

I guess I'm confused. Even with the new refine edge tools in PS it is a job and takes time to do it right. So why are you finding the need to mask? I've always been a believer in work smarter not harder. Pre-planning is something that could save you a tremendous amount of time. If you know you're going "not" going to use the background, going with a chroma key background will save you time later in the masking. Even better, pre-planning your background for the final shot would prevent masking at all.

Masking out the background opens the image up to many different options as to what you could use for a background. It also saves one from having to buy a number of expensive backdrops. Yes it takes time, but I think that time is worthwhile for what you get.

What Dan said ^

Also, "chroma key" backdrops suck for photography. Unless you get the high end ones. Green screens reflect a ton of green light onto the model, especially if you don't have a lot of space to work with. I just use a plain gray backdrop and mask from there. Chroma key backdrops are better for video work.

And Derrel, that sounds like exactly what I need to do.

 

[Granddad]

Why are the pics so small? You can not blow them up to inspect them at this size. Hard to critique something small.

Dean, if you click on the small image it brings it into a slightly larger slide show style image strip thingy - Then when you right click on the image you get the option to view the image in its own browser window and the magnifying option to view full size (discovered this last bit about 3 months ago quite by accident).

 

[Granddad]

Am I the only person that has issues with her left breast? I don't know if it's lighting or post processing but it looks to ME to be a different colour tone to the rest of her skin and the merge line between the breast and her body is very sharp. Since no-one else has picked that up I'm wondering if I'm a bit of a weirdo.

.... Other than that I really like the shot and agree that #4 is the background that best suits the image. VERY good work on the background, by the way.

 

[Designer]

Am I the only person that has issues with her left breast? I don't know if it's lighting or post processing but it looks to ME to be a different colour tone to the rest of her skin and the merge line between the breast and her body is very sharp. Since no-one else has picked that up I'm wondering if I'm a bit of a weirdo.

There is a sharp line between light and shadow cutting across her skin. Now that you've pointed it out, Daryll can fix it.

 

[smoke665]

Masking out the background opens the image up to many different options as to what you could use for a

I understand "why" someone would select, mask and delete/change a background in post. I've done it when conditions dictated, but in OP's case the "changes" appear as if they could have just as easily been prevented by the use of gels on lights. I've questioned you in the past on "why" you do things in a certain way, not to be critical, nor to disagree with your methods, but to learn and in your case I've ended up adopting some of those methods in my workflow.

@DGMPhotography Okay, so you don't like Chroma Key (which can be another color besides green, and doesn't have to be expensive), but you didn't answer the other part of the question. I merely repeated something posed earlier by @Designer Are your edits something that could have (should have) been done when you took the shot? Are you planning to do a similar amount of editing to every shot? I'm not being critical of you because knowing your way around PS is a valuable skill, but it seems that you're creating extra work for yourself when minor adjustment in lighting would have prevented it. Photographers routinely adjust the color of the background How to Use Lighting Gels to Change your Background Color . I have a set of gels (again not that expensive) that will easily change a neutral gray background. You may have a reason for doing the extra work that I'm not understanding, and if you'd explain that reasoning, I might (as in Dan's case), decide your method is better and incorporate it into my workflow.

 

[Braineack]

Am I the only person that has issues with her left breast? I don't know if it's lighting or post processing but it looks to ME to be a different colour tone to the rest of her skin and the merge line between the breast and her body is very sharp. Since no-one else has picked that up I'm wondering if I'm a bit of a weirdo.

.... Other than that I really like the shot and agree that #4 is the background that best suits the image. VERY good work on the background, by the way.

I have issues with the entire image. I think the pose looks odd, her facial expression odder, the processing makes her look cgi (no joke I thought this was a rendering at first), and I very much dislike the masked out background here.

 

[DanOstergren]

Masking out the background opens the image up to many different options as to what you could use for a

I understand "why" someone would select, mask and delete/change a background in post. I've done it when conditions dictated, but in OP's case the "changes" appear as if they could have just as easily been prevented by the use of gels on lights. I've questioned you in the past on "why" you do things in a certain way, not to be critical, nor to disagree with your methods, but to learn and in your case I've ended up adopting some of those methods in my workflow.

@DGMPhotography Okay, so you don't like Chroma Key (which can be another color besides green, and doesn't have to be expensive), but you didn't answer the other part of the question. I merely repeated something posed earlier by @Designer Are your edits something that could have (should have) been done when you took the shot? Are you planning to do a similar amount of editing to every shot? I'm not being critical of you because knowing your way around PS is a valuable skill, but it seems that you're creating extra work for yourself when minor adjustment in lighting would have prevented it. Photographers routinely adjust the color of the background How to Use Lighting Gels to Change your Background Color . I have a set of gels (again not that expensive) that will easily change a neutral gray background. You may have a reason for doing the extra work that I'm not understanding, and if you'd explain that reasoning, I might (as in Dan's case), decide your method is better and incorporate it into my workflow.

I noticed a pattern/texture in the added background that didn't exist in the original one. To be technical, in this case his edits could not be attained just by adding gels to the lights because it's a different background altogether. In order to get that effect in camera he would have to switch the backdrop out completely. There are many editing techniques beyond masking out a background that are time consuming yet necessary if you want certain results, such as a completely new background (and to me, even the tiniest bit of texture on a background makes a huge difference and makes a completey new background). As well, perhaps this is his favorite image; there would be no way of getting the exact same image by having her redo the exact same shot over and over with different gels on the background. It seems like a waste of valuable shooting time actually, and most photographers would rather mask out the background and replace it on one particular image if that was their plan, not reshoot the same image a ton of times hoping you achieve the same pose and expression, just with a different gel over a background light.

 

[DanOstergren]

Am I the only person that has issues with her left breast? I don't know if it's lighting or post processing but it looks to ME to be a different colour tone to the rest of her skin and the merge line between the breast and her body is very sharp. Since no-one else has picked that up I'm wondering if I'm a bit of a weirdo.

.... Other than that I really like the shot and agree that #4 is the background that best suits the image. VERY good work on the background, by the way.

I have issues with the entire image. I think the pose looks odd, her facial expression odder, the processing makes her look cgi (no joke I thought this was a rendering at first), and I very much dislike the masked out background here.

What about the pose is odd? I think it looks quite good in the cropped version. Also, what about the expression is odd to you? I personally think it looks great. The CGI look in my opinion is from a mixture of perfect lighting with the added color gel, as well as a bit of over processed skin retouching, but either way I think the lighting is going to cause this image to look a bit like CGI no matter what.

 

[DGMPhotography]

I'm aware of the sharp line on her chest, but I think I'll keep it. It is consistent with the lighting across the rest of the image. If anything, I may soften it just a little bit.

As for using color gels, I literally used color gels in this, so I don't understand what your question is, smoke. Using color gels on a backdrop will never be 100% uniform, like what you can achieve in Photoshop. It's not extra work. It's work that I already planned to do, because I prefer that look.

 

[Braineack]

What about the pose is odd? I think it looks quite good in the cropped version. Also, what about the expression is odd to you? I personally think it looks great. The CGI look in my opinion is from a mixture of perfect lighting with the added color gel, as well as a bit of over processed skin retouching, but either way I think the lighting is going to cause this image to look a bit like CGI no matter what.

Her hands for one, they are just held to side, it doesn't look natural or pleasing -- she looks posed like a mannequin. She could have put her hand on that big 'ol hip, she could have been peaking over her shoulder, or arms up, or one on her face, in her hair, anything, but no, just hands to the side! And that brings me to her facial expression: she's not fliting with the camera. She has a dead stare to her eyes, looking beyond the camera, lifeless eyes -- almost a grimace. In fact, she looks a bit masculine; looking again, the only thing that's actually conveying it's a female her a hint of breast.

To me it's just boring. I don't like the lighting pattern, and like I said, I hate the pose and facial expression. A big swing and a miss here for me. milk toast. give me drama, give me movement, give me interest, give me something!