I Already Said Happy 4th Of July!!

smoke665 · Jul 2, 2017

Little stinker eyes!!! C&C anyone

no-image-available-grid.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

tirediron · Jul 2, 2017

Nice, but maybe just a tad heavy on the white white overlay.

smoke665 · Jul 2, 2017

tirediron said:
Nice, but maybe just a tad heavy on the white white overlay.

Yeah, the white you're seeing is an elliptical gradient over an underlying selective cream wash. I was playing with some ideas, trying to develop a work flow on this type of processing. Probably need to dial it back a hair.

tirediron · Jul 2, 2017

I like the effect and it's appropriate to the image, but maybe just not quite so much of it!

Derrel · Jul 2, 2017

I agree, a bit heavy on the foggy effect; I personally would like to see the corners of the image darkened a bit, but not so much that is appears as if a vignette has been added, but enough that the overall lightened effect appears pretty even in its intensity over the width and height of the frame.

Looking at this, it sort of violates an old maxim, which is that a white vignette ought not be used over dark subjects--like on her hair, which is dark, and on the dark blue flag field...I was taught that no-white-on-dark maxim back in the Eighties...maybe it's just the fuddy-duddy in those who taught me?

Perhaps there is another aertistic filter, preset, or overlay that would leverage the cuteness of this image? I bet there is. Perhaps more experimentation will uncover an amazing image processing treatment that will really,really elevate this photo.

smoke665 · Jul 3, 2017

Derrel said:
Looking at this, it sort of violates an old maxim, which is that a white vignette ought not be used over dark subjects--like on her hair, which is dark, and on the dark blue flag field...I was taught that no-white-on-dark maxim back in the Eighties...maybe it's just the fuddy-duddy in those who taught me?

80's were considerably "after" my school days. LOL By that time I'd already been playing so far outside the box I didn't remember where the box was anymore. All kidding aside I don't remember that maxim but I think like all rules they are generalization that are meant to be guidelines not hindrances to the process of creating.

The thought behind this was to place the emphasis on the eyes, and to specific colors, the red and blue in the flag, the steel blue in her eyes, and to subdue but not eliminate the brown, resulting in a triadic color harmony. If you'll note the red is dominate, the blues secondary. The brown/tan was a play on the third point of the triangle, but was much to dominate in the original, hence part of the softness. The vignette is not white but an elliptical desaturation gradient filter. I tried it darkening the edges, but felt like it didn't add to the effect. I wanted the colors visible, just not over powering.