My First C&C

[JackandSally]

I watermark everything I put on the internet. I don't care if someone is going to steal it or not, I would just prefer it that way. When I actually print it, it will not have the watermark. And I've been in forums (not photography based) in which people have actually stolen photos of other peoples kids, it was disturbing because it happened a couple of times).

But thank you for your honesty, I appreciate it. It's given me a different way to view some of my other photos.

 

[ceejtank]

That's more just a peronal pet peeve of mine with the watermark. Keep in mind - everything I said is just my opinion, it's not fact. Pictures are art, and art is subjective.

That being said - I could remove your watermark in under 3 minutes. So that's not always the best way to prevent someone from "stealing" a picture. The best way I've found is uploaded really crappy versions to the internet.

For warming tones, I'd stay away from yellow (once again - personal preference). From this it makes it seem like your white balance setting was set to something like tungsten, or flash, and you didnt use those lights, so the tone looks yellow.

 

[JackandSally]

I'm pretty sure the ones that are stealing it aren't going to be too savvy at removing them. It just annoys me - I've actually stopped going to the "mommy forums" because it was getting a bit crazy. And I will take your advice about uploading crappy photos to the internet, I hadn't thought of that.

I see what you're saying about the yellow. I'm going to scrap this one and try to start over. Personally, I like that she's not looking at the camera or smiling because it shows that she's thinking, besides it's of my baby and of course I love the photo

 

[ceejtank]

I'm pretty sure the ones that are stealing it aren't going to be too savvy at removing them. It just annoys me - I've actually stopped going to the "mommy forums" because it was getting a bit crazy. And I will take your advice about uploading crappy photos to the internet, I hadn't thought of that.

I see what you're saying about the yellow. I'm going to scrap this one and try to start over. Personally, I like that she's not looking at the camera or smiling because it shows that she's thinking, besides it's of my baby and of course I love the photo

You don't have to scrap it.. did you shoot in RAW? Can you paste the EXIF data? You might be able to correct the white balance if you shot in RAW.

 

[JackandSally]

I did shoot in RAW. After reading everything that everyone wrote and looking back at the original, I really think I want to start over. Here's the original SOOC.

 

[JackandSally]

It's not letting me copy and paste the data. Is there an easier way to do it that I'm missing?

 

[ceejtank]

View attachment 24095I did shoot in RAW. After reading everything that everyone wrote and looking back at the original, I really think I want to start over. Here's the original SOOC.

This is a MUCH better photo. The focus is crisper, the colors are phenominally better. I wouldn't really touch this photo up much myself. I kind of like the blown out sky even for this shot. Maybe I'd crop the guy on the right out, but this shot is much, MUCH better IMO.

As for the EXIF data - I wouldn't worry about it anymore. This shot is much better, not much really needs to be done to it (if you ask me). I'm not sure why you can't copy + paste it.

 

[JackandSally]

Well thank you! That makes me feel better about my photography itself. Bad about my editing, but that's something I really have little to no knowledge about. At least taking photos I have a slight grasp on what I'm doing.

 

[ceejtank]

Well thank you! That makes me feel better about my photography itself. Bad about my editing, but that's something I really have little to no knowledge about. At least taking photos I have a slight grasp on what I'm doing.

A great underused resource for editing tips/techniques is youtube. I've found very helpful tutorials on how to do lots of photo editing on there, for example I needed to remove the bags under someones eyes for a shot, really didn't have a great way to do it. Youtube'd it, watched a few videos, and was able to accomplish what I wanted based off that. Perhaps you can look for some portrait tutorials and give it another go, however the original image you took I think is technically sound (my subject matter comments I listed originally still are valid.. in my book, but given you have sentimental value attached to it - it's your call on that one). But if you feel an aspect of the photo may be lacking, say you want to bring out the color of the eyes, try youtubing it, it will give you some ideas, and with time you'll understand lots of the features and how to use them without youtube.

 

[paigew]

I agree your sooc is way better! I did these quick edits for you

increase exposure, increase contrast, sharpen, adjust wb, small curves adjustment

 

[JackandSally]

Well thank you! That makes me feel better about my photography itself. Bad about my editing, but that's something I really have little to no knowledge about. At least taking photos I have a slight grasp on what I'm doing.

A great underused resource for editing tips/techniques is youtube. I've found very helpful tutorials on how to do lots of photo editing on there, for example I needed to remove the bags under someones eyes for a shot, really didn't have a great way to do it. Youtube'd it, watched a few videos, and was able to accomplish what I wanted based off that. Perhaps you can look for some portrait tutorials and give it another go, however the original image you took I think is technically sound (my subject matter comments I listed originally still are valid.. in my book, but given you have sentimental value attached to it - it's your call on that one). But if you feel an aspect of the photo may be lacking, say you want to bring out the color of the eyes, try youtubing it, it will give you some ideas, and with time you'll understand lots of the features and how to use them without youtube.

Thank you for the tips! I'll check it out.

 

[JackandSally]

I agree your sooc is way better! I did these quick edits for you

increase exposure, increase contrast, sharpen, adjust wb, small curves adjustment

The first one is exactly what I was attempting to go for! Thank you so much. I had stayed away from the black and white because I didn't want to lose her eyes, but yours was able to keep it.

And these are the reasons I decided to join a photo forum.

 

[The_Traveler]

That action did not serve you well.
In compensating for the blue tones in the highlights it added too much yellow in the mid-tones and shadows.
How foes this look?

 

[JackandSally]

That action did not serve you well.
In compensating for the blue tones in the highlights it added too much yellow in the mid-tones and shadows.
How foes this look?

You were definitely able to get rid of the blue for me. That was my biggest problem, I couldn't get rid of the blue in the whites of her eyes, and that's why I went with the action. I don't like her skin color in this picture as it looks very grey. But still looks better than my edit!

I will say, I'm a fan of photos that are taken well right from the camera. Mostly because I don't like editing, and as we all can see, I suck at it. So seeing the little bit of editing you all were able to do to my photo without it looking overly edited (like mine) makes me very happy.

 

[The_Traveler]

It can be forced to be brighter but it will never have a really beautiful texture because her face was in the shade and thus is sort of flat.
Wanting a picture to be perfect SOOC isn't realistic because the input light usually isn't perfect and the camera doesn't know how to compensate.