How's my edit?

[jowensphoto]

I am working on the whole "clean edit" thing. I love bright baby eyes, but have overdone it in the past. I also want to make sure the skin isn't over processed.

This one has a small amount of RAW processing done in DPP

This, I further edited with GIMP

My cloning skills leave something to be desired. What do you think of the edit? If anyone wants to try something different with it, please feel free!

 

[jowensphoto]

Anyone?

 

[Trever1t]

the edit is ok I guess. The photo just doesn't do much to inspire though. I mean the baby is very cute but her head is chopped due to the landscape crop. Why not try portrait orientation for a portrait? The clone on the bib is a little visible but not a big deal, the red-eye reduction ok but why the red-eye to begin with is the question. Skin smoothing a baby seems to be counter-intuitive.

 

[Ysarex89 83]

Adorable baby -- you've got a blue color shift you want to remove.

Joe

 

[jowensphoto]

My shirt was red and reflected in her eye. So not actual red eye, per se, but was distracting nonetheless.

I am a tight shooter. I always try and fix this, but it's something that I habitually do. Back when I "learned" photography at a "studio" I was actually told that cutting the top of a head off is okay, but never the chin. And I dig landscape headshots. Don't know why (and I know it's not traditional), but I like it.

The skin smoothing I think I could step back on a little. She has great skin, but I do like the look of just a small noise adjustment. I suppose with better lighting technique, I could ditch this step all together.

Not excuses, just wanted to let you know why I did what I did

I mean the baby is very cute

Thanks, that's my baby

 

[jowensphoto]

Adorable baby -- you've got a blue color shift you want to remove.

Joe

I get that mine may be a little on the cool side, but this looks super warm to me (I had an edit that kind of looked like this one, but scrapped it). Is it just my monitor or does it appear warm to anyone else?

 

[mommy-medic]

Just you. I saw blue too.

 

[jowensphoto]

Back to the drawing board...lol

 

[BlueMeanieTSi]

Perfect photo suite's perfect portrait might help you in this area.

 

[paigew]

Her skin tones seem very pink. Perhaps a reflection of her outfit? I would decrease saturation in the red/magenta levels some. I'll play around with it

 

[paigew]

here is my edit
I adjusted white balance (warmed it up and added some green to lessen the pink hue on her skin). I desaturated it a tiny amount. Lowered the highlights (blanket) and shadows. Desaturated red level. sharpened. de noised and small curves adjustment. Oh and added vignette since the background was so bright.

 

[paigew]

hmm...it still seems too dark/underexposed. I'd prob adjust that a bit more.

 

[jowensphoto]

It looks pretty nice though Paige! And you're right about the skintone. DiskoJoe told me it's a "Caucasian problem" LOL

 

[kric2schaam626]

To the OP, why are you airbrushing a snap shot of a baby? Like previously mentioned, first work on your crop/orientation and getting your lighting right before jumping to the cloning.

 

[Kerbouchard]

To the OP, why are you airbrushing a snap shot of a baby? Like previously mentioned, first work on your crop/orientation and getting your lighting right before jumping to the cloning.

You know all those perfect shots of babies you have seen for years and years? Well, they don't really look that way. Babies have splotchy skin, often overly red tones, and usually a rash of some sort.

I won't disagree about the lighting, I do feel like it is too bright, but that is the background, not the subject(a rule of sorts, that the subject should probably be the brightest part of the image). As far as the cropped off head, that doesn't bother me in baby photos. Most of the time, it is just a stupid hat. In this case, I think the hat could have been pulled forward just a bit so that the forehead didn't look quite so large.

In any case, the overall photo is a bit too bright, the background is much too bright and is competing for attention, and the placement of the hat is a bit off.

Luckily, the OP happens to also change this babies diapers so she can reshoot it however often she wants.