How's my photoshopping?

smackitsakic · Feb 6, 2011

Took some time this weekend to play around with Photoshop. I'm still fairly new to this technology, but wanted to give it a go with some older photographs that are in my archives.

Too much photoshopping in some? Not enough in others? My priority for the majority of these was some adjustments to colouring and some selective sharpening.

1

2

3

4

l0ser · Feb 6, 2011

I think some of the colours are a bit bright especially on the teeth, its quite difficult to distinguish between the differant teeth.
number 3 is really good, it might look look alright with a lighter shade of sky as well

Robin Usagani · Feb 6, 2011

IMO you made them worse. Why did you add faux lens flare on #3?

RauschPhotography · Feb 6, 2011

In #3, you really should have cloned the hand out.

Samerr9 · Feb 6, 2011

no.4 sky looks unrealistic to me .. too much saturation of colors

no. 3 i am not trying to be funny but are those fingers down there?

smackitsakic · Feb 6, 2011

Yes those are fingers in #3 - I should have cropped them out.

The faux lens flare was just an experiment to try to draw the eye to the light. Point taken. I agree that the rim/tire would have benefitted from less saturation.

Anyone else agree that these images are worse than the originals? I have a hard time buying that, especially in photo #2.

misstwinklytoes · Feb 6, 2011

#2 is the only one that works, for me. As far as photoshopping is concerned. My opinion is that the befores in all of the others were better and even in #2, I think it's too much, but it's not horribly too much.

skieur · Feb 6, 2011

In a well postprocessed image, even an experienced photographer should NOT be able to tell for sure whether it was photoshopped or not. Contrast should not be too extreme, colours not too red, grass not too green, along with a realistic sky in colour and brightness.

All this takes a light and careful touch with Photoshop which is gained from lots of experience. You are not there yet, but keep at it.

skieur

xjoewhitex · Feb 6, 2011

Sadly, I do agree I like the originals better but I think they could be improved.

Sbuxo · Feb 6, 2011

1. Your edit makes her hair look like it's greasy, you blew out her teeth, and the tree is atrocious. Too much post processing, sometimes less is more.

2. Not as bad as #1, but saturation is a bit too heavy if you wanted to enhance the original, it looks fake not only because I know you used (and abused) Photoshop, but because when something is rusted, it usually means it is old/aging, which means it wouldn't have the punchy color you gave it. However, it can kind of work..but it's not my taste.

3. Like everyone said already, the fingers. The edit again has too much saturation for something that's this rusty/old but it did need some bump in saturation, but not to the point you took it to. I do like the sky color change though.

4. I don't really care for the original nor the edit, but you should have just bumped the contrast just a bit. The sky looks fake and cheesy.

D-B-J · Feb 6, 2011

They look over saturated and over sharpened. Try not to go too crazy when editing. Less is more.

Regards,
Jake

bigtwinky · Feb 6, 2011

smackitsakic said:
Yes those are fingers in #3 - I should have cropped them out.

The faux lens flare was just an experiment to try to draw the eye to the light. Point taken. I agree that the rim/tire would have benefitted from less saturation.

Anyone else agree that these images are worse than the originals? I have a hard time buying that, especially in photo #2.

I find they are worse off after the processing.

1- she went from a kind of natural faded look, which could of been fixed with some levels and a bit more, to a bit yellowy, bright and with weird skin

2- This went from a badly composed close up shot of a train car, to a badly composed and way overly saturated quasi HDR like thing. Probably my least fave of the set

3- again, composition is totally whacked, the fingers...and rust which can be so much fun to play with, was pumped into a surreal colour
*Did you add in some lens flare over the tire??

4- the grass is borderline, but the sky is just not natural looking at all.

psyclop · Feb 7, 2011

You should try learning how to use mask

smackitsakic · Feb 7, 2011

psyclop said:
You should try learning how to use mask

Thought not great, every photo has a mask in its photoshopping.

Photo 1 - tree (converted to b/w)
Photo 2 - top half (train saturdation)
Photo 3 - truck (sky colour)
Photo 4 - gravel road (sharpening of road only)

Chatty721 · Feb 7, 2011

If you're wanting to make ajustments to the color and sharpening in some, I suggest you try shooting in raw. I agree with the others, the editing kind of messed them up a little.. :/ Even though #2 looks alright, as stated earlier.. isn't it supposed to be old and rusty and not pop with color? And #3 would be okay if you cloned out the fingers, and didn't do the lens flare and messed with the sky a little.. Don't stop editing, you get better as you go! And as always, you learn from mistakes or just bad editing in this case! Keep posting on here!