I need CC on this retouch.

FITBMX · Jun 1, 2019

I haven't been here in a while, I have had so much going on.
Anyway, I have been working on my retouching and would love some CC on this one.
I am posting the before and after. I am well aware how bad the before is, it was a hard location and I was second shooting, and to be honest I just messed the exposer.

Shot with a Canon T3i, vintage f2.8 135mm lens. 100ISO, 1/125 at F2.8

Granddad · Jun 2, 2019

"The camera never lies but sometimes Photoshop and Lightroom have to remind it of the truth." (Me, 2/6/19)

Most of us screw up from time to time, I know I do. Much improved but I think it's still a little cool and the dress still has green bits around the edges. If you don't mind me asking, why did you change the colour of the dress?

FITBMX · Jun 2, 2019

Granddad said:
"The camera never lies but sometimes Photoshop and Lightroom have to remind it of the truth." (Me, 2/6/19)

Most of us screw up from time to time, I know I do. Much improved but I think it's still a little cool and the dress still has green bits around the edges. If you don't mind me asking, why did you change the colour of the dress?

I love that quote, that guy is really smart!

I was shooting at the Joshua Tree retreat center at the Promoting Passion Conference. It was very sunny and I didn't adjust my settings when moving from the sun to the shade, my camera's meter isn't always 100% right either. This was the first time shooting with a model and after this, I watched my settings more carefully.
Shooting with all of that reflective sand was very new to me! LOL

I will warm it up some more, I had it a bit warmer but lowered because I thought I added too much. Thanks for pointing out the green, I will remove it. I took a test the other day and it turns out I am a bit color blind, a friend sent me the test after I edited a photo giving the model totally green skin and I couldn't see it. So I am learning edit while watching out for those color those don't show up so well for me.
I changed the dress color for two reasons, the first being that I just liked how it contrasted the background. And I was shooting with friends, and she was posing for one of them for a full body photo. So I was shooting headshots at the same time, and I hated the dress to totally match my friend's photos.

Derrel · Jun 2, 2019

Pretty cool color change on the dress, but not needed IMO. But I understand WHY you changed the dress from green to red.

Granddad · Jun 2, 2019

Good heavens! If you have colour blindness then you've done amazingly well! ... And yes, I see your point about the colour of the dress.

I had issues with settings in harsh sunlight a couple of years ago in the desert in Namibia so I totally understand. I get so taken up with framing the shot and pushing the shutter button that the details go completely out of my head.... which is why I often spend a lot of time in Lightroom.

FITBMX · Jun 2, 2019

Derrel said:
Pretty cool color change on the dress, but not needed IMO. But I understand WHY you changed the dress from green to red.

Thanks, changing colors of things is a really handy thing to know. I personally just don't care for the green dress she had on, including the sequence it has on it, but I was too lazy to remove all of them! LOL My friends I was shooting with were the ones that picked out her wardrobe.

Granddad said:
Good heavens! If you have colour blindness then you've done amazingly well! ... And yes, I see your point about the colour of the dress.

I had issues with settings in harsh sunlight a couple of years ago in the desert in Namibia so I totally understand. I get so taken up with framing the shot and pushing the shutter button that the details go completely out of my head.... which is why I often spend a lot of time in Lightroom.

It is mostly greens I don't see as vividly, I watched some Joel Grimes videos on YouTube where he talked about his being colorblind. And he gave the tip of selecting the green channel in PS and putting the saturation all the way to the top, this way any green you may not be seeing lights like a Christmas tree, so that was a great tip that really helps.

The EVFs on these mirrorless cameras would be nice for this reason, you see the exposure right there through the eyepiece.
The retreat center had some really great shaded areas, but that also meant you were going from bright light to deep shade and back and forth. So it is an incredible place to shoot, but a bit of a challenge at times. I thought it was funny, my 1970's F2.8 135mm handled the harsh light way better than my two newer (Kit) lenses. It did much better about not blowing out the background, giving a more even exposure. Some times you just can't beat old quality.

DanOstergren · Jun 2, 2019

I agree with your decision to change the dress color, and you came up with a really beautiful tone of red. The lighting is really great as well.
As for the retouch, it looks pretty clean, but the neck and chest look a little overdone. As well, I would be careful not to remove too much of the shadows under the eyes, as eyes are round and getting rid if that shadow contradicts that fact.

FITBMX · Jun 3, 2019

DanOstergren said:
I agree with your decision to change the dress color, and you came up with a really beautiful tone of red. The lighting is really great as well.
As for the retouch, it looks pretty clean, but the neck and chest look a little overdone. As well, I would be careful not to remove too much of the shadows under the eyes, as eyes are round and getting rid if that shadow contradicts that fact.

That is great, thank you so much!

DaPOPO · Jun 15, 2019

It looks like you painted the exposure slider directly at the hair line and chin. Her face looks to bright as related to her hair and top of her neck in shadow. I would bring the face and lower chest down a little, otherwise a very nice editing job...

FITBMX · Jul 7, 2019

DaPOPO said:
It looks like you painted the exposure slider directly at the hair line and chin. Her face looks to bright as related to her hair and top of her neck in shadow. I would bring the face and lower chest down a little, otherwise a very nice editing job...

Thanks, I will defiantly watch out for that next time.

vintagesnaps · Jul 7, 2019

The exposure being off was obviously the problem. I'd just try brightening it up some; the more you try to adjust sometimes the worse things get. You might need to use this as a learning experience. Get more practice taking photos out and about in various light conditions to get good at getting proper exposures (before you bring people/models into it). Then with more practice you'll get better and be able to adjust in various conditions.

Derrel · Jul 7, 2019

Yep today here I am looking at the original photo on my iPhone and it looks about 1.5 stops under-exposed. I think that had you just simply slid the brightness over to the positive direction a ways, the original would've looked pretty good..

FITBMX · Jul 7, 2019

vintagesnaps said:
The exposure being off was obviously the problem. I'd just try brightening it up some; the more you try to adjust sometimes the worse things get. You might need to use this as a learning experience. Get more practice taking photos out and about in various light conditions to get good at getting proper exposures (before you bring people/models into it). Then with more practice you'll get better and be able to adjust in various conditions.

Derrel said:
Yep today here I am looking at the original photo on my iPhone and it looks about 1.5 stops under-exposed. I think that had you just simply slid the brightness over to the positive direction a ways, the original would've looked pretty good..

This convention taught me so much just because of the light conditions and shooting someone else besides myself for the first time ever. After this, I have worked much harder at making sure my exposure is always right, or at least close. I was a bit nervous the whole time and that didn't help! LOL