C&C - Teenager portrait with some effects

[Chairman7w]

Hey guys - took a pic of my son last night, I've added some effects as well. C & C welcomed:

 

[Enem178]

If you want the portrait to look like a drawing/painting then I think it looks good. Did you use PS?

 

[chrisburke]

looks to much like a drawing for me... its also quite underexposed.. and he seems to have a green tinge to his skin

 

[rufus5150]

Could use some separation from the background (hair light, kicker maybe?). I agree with Chris as it looks like the pre-processed image was probably a bit on the underxposed side.

Processing looks good and I've used similar in the past. You need to be mindful of things like the subject's right hand. Where it blends against the shirt, the massive increase in contrast has made the shirt extremely white there to the point where there's a very, very stark white line between the shadow of the shirt and the flesh tones.

That being said the texture of the shirt (or rather the smoothness while retaining detail and shadow) is quite impressive.

It may be my monitor (at work, uncalibrated), but there seems to be a slight green tint to the skin tone.

 

[chrisburke]

It may be my monitor (at work, uncalibrated), but there seems to be a slight green tint to the skin tone.

mine is calibrated, and it is greenish as well

 

[rufus5150]

Sweet! Calibration by proxy!

 

[Chairman7w]

Actually, he IS part green. My real name is Bruce Banner...

(pause)

Okay, that was lame.

Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate the feedback. Gonna have to dial back the green tint, for sure.

And yes, his head does get lost. Can you give me some more about the "hairlight" ?

It is underexposed (as was the original). But not on purpose. Just not that good yet.

I'm trying to learn how to do the pics in a darker type room with a flash, and boy is that hard. Any advice on that would be very appreciated. The majority of the pics I took were a blurry as well, no where near as sharp as they should have been.

 

[chrisburke]

i strongly recommend you check out strobist.com lots of great info on lighting.. also prophotolife.com (specifically their youtube channel) has some great guides on lighting placement and things like this

 

[Chairman7w]

Thanks Chris - will do!

I'm planning on picking up a single strobe and softbox this weekend, so it's gonna be a fun few weeks coming up.

 

[LuckySo-n-So]

Your son looks like a man-child (like Shaq at age 15)--a gentle giant. Is he an athlete? If so, could I possibly steer him toward LSU? Seriously, he's a good lookin' kid--great smile.

 

[Chairman7w]

LOL!! Yea, he's a big, strong, kid. Turned 16 yesterday. He benches 275 (really) and plays football and wrestles. Most importantly, he's a good student and a great young man. I'm very lucky.