Hoodie: PP & CC

[kanuski]

It is -20 C today in northern Saskatchewan. A good day to play indoors.

I took a shot of my son with a bunny hug (hoodie). I need to make some changes, either in my setup or in PP.
I used a hard flash behind his head and a shoot though umbrella from below. I think the face looks good but the hoodie is too bright. Should I change the setup somehow?
I have Lightroom 4 for PP but it can't fix my mistakes. I want to make his face darker but have his eyes pop. When I get his face right the hoodie is too bright, esp the button and the strings. When the hoodie is right the face is too dark. I can't seem to fix this in LR4 and don't have Photoshop. If you want to give it a shot the raw file is here.

Edit: On closer look it looks like pretty hard light on his face. Probably wasn't using an umbrella on this one.

 

[tirediron]

It is -20 C today in northern Saskatchewan. A good day to play indoors...

Huh... +10 and light rain in Victoria. Just thought you might like to know that!






I like the right image.

 

[pixmedic]

at his age i am guessing he doesn't want you calling it a "bunny hug"...I would anyway though.

 

[unpopular]

you said "PP".

 

[kanuski]

you said "PP".

I thought that meant post processing. Just making it open for editing.

 

[tirediron]

you said "PP".

I thought that meant post processing. Just making it open for editing.

It does; ignore the donkey, he's off his meds again.

 

[unpopular]

careful, john. else there will be ponies.

 

[The_Traveler]

Not so easy in LR.
The U-point thing doesn't do fine masks well, I don't think.

 

[kanuski]

Thanks. That looks a lot better.
I can't afford Photoshop right now so I am trying to get GIMP working with raw files. Not having much luck.
(I hope GIMP isn't a 4-letter word around here.)

 

[The_Traveler]

there are free raw converters that will produce a tiff that Gimp will use, I believe.

 

[unpopular]

The slight tilt adds a degree of derangement, while corrected I think the image more implies power.

 

[kanuski]

The slight tilt adds a degree of derangement, while corrected I think the image more implies power.

He was holding his head on an angle in the original. I suppose it should be tilted first and then cropped. I will see if I can get GIMP working.

 

[unpopular]

I can understand why people would find this distracting. I kind of like it. Like he's going to pull a knife or something. Like he's all cracked out. It really depends on what kind of feelings you want to get from the image.

Is he more deliberate and powerful, like a hitman - or futz up, unpredictable and irrational, like a meth head?

 

[kanuski]

How does this look. Tilted straight, cropped and adjusted as close as I could get to the last version.

I learned how to use a brush in Lightroom to adjust exposure to different locations. I also used spot remover to remove some of those teenage spots on his face. Then I realized the the spot remover works great on buttons as well.
Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[AgentDrex]

Well, here's my take on it. Laugh at my weak abilities to edit: