My Girlfriend- NSFW!

[Alpha]

You can't just chuck a bad photograph into black & white or sepia and expect it to become a good photograph.

Post-processing is not a crutch to lean on with bad shots. More people need to learn this. Give up on the images and take what you have learnt into a re-shoot.

+1

 

[monkeykoder]

There is one thing a conversion to B&W might fix and that is the color cast some of these images have try it on some of the ones with the worst white balance it will also give you some info to work with on your lighting that won't be as easy to see in color due to the white balance.

 

[Sirashley]

1)Going on what Pugs said, I would invest in a tripod. Also, make sure the image stabilization on the camera is turned on. I know on the p80 it is a fixed lense camera with optical image stabilization so it may be on all the time, but it is possible that it may be set up to turn off by default when the camera is in manual mode, so you may want to check that.

2)As far as smiling goes, I wouldn't say just smile. I think moreover you need to relax you mouth. Your avatar is the perfect example, your mouth is very relaxed in that picture and it produces a kind of sexy deviant smile that would work well with these photos. My wife forces me to watch America's Next Top Model (which isn't all bad because you learn allot about photographing models just by watching) and this past weeks episode mentioned this about smiling.

3)From a technical standpoint, be careful not to cut out pieces of limbs in the photos. The elbow in the 4th photo is a great example.

The cool thing is you and your husband are learning together and its a hobby you both can enjoy. I think Nikon has a DVD on the P80 on how to use the features, might be a good investment for him. I'll be honest in saying that I am not very good at photographing people, landscapes are my strong point. I refer to this for allot of guidance, the articles are very informative http://www.popphoto.com/howto/
There are tons of articles on all different types of photography.

Anyway, best of luck on the next shoot and let us know how it turns out...

 

[kundalini]

Excluding #3 & 4 ('cause we can't see) you have a furrowed forehead. 1) relax, 2) subconciously, try to pull your ears to the back of your head 3) tequila (aids in relaxing and ambient temperture is less noticable).

Also, you have lovely long hair........ use it girl.


Final thought......... keep posting your shots.

 

[Big Bully]

1)Going on what Pugs said, I would invest in a tripod. Also, make sure the image stabilization on the camera is turned on. I know on the p80 it is a fixed lense camera with optical image stabilization so it may be on all the time, but it is possible that it may be set up to turn off by default when the camera is in manual mode, so you may want to check that.

2)As far as smiling goes, I wouldn't say just smile. I think moreover you need to relax you mouth. Your avatar is the perfect example, your mouth is very relaxed in that picture and it produces a kind of sexy deviant smile that would work well with these photos. My wife forces me to watch America's Next Top Model (which isn't all bad because you learn allot about photographing models just by watching) and this past weeks episode mentioned this about smiling.

3)From a technical standpoint, be careful not to cut out pieces of limbs in the photos. The elbow in the 4th photo is a great example.

The cool thing is you and your husband are learning together and its a hobby you both can enjoy. I think Nikon has a DVD on the P80 on how to use the features, might be a good investment for him. I'll be honest in saying that I am not very good at photographing people, landscapes are my strong point. I refer to this for allot of guidance, the articles are very informative http://www.popphoto.com/howto/
There are tons of articles on all different types of photography.

Anyway, best of luck on the next shoot and let us know how it turns out...

We are going to try additional shots. Thank you for the advice and the help, I appreciate it.

Excluding #3 & 4 ('cause we can't see) you have a furrowed forehead. 1) relax, 2) subconciously, try to pull your ears to the back of your head 3) tequila (aids in relaxing and ambient temperture is less noticable).

Also, you have lovely long hair........ use it girl.


Final thought......... keep posting your shots.

Ok ok, next time my hair will be down. And I promise I will post the pictures. I am no professional, and my husband is still an amature, but we can still have fun.

 

[Pugs]

So,

Meg gave me special permission to edit her photos to see what they would look like with some noise reduction, hue/saturation/WB/brightness adjustment.

Basically I ran them through Noise Ninja to remove some noise, did a bit of sharpening to bring out her stunning eyes a bit more, lightened the pics, and adjusted the hue and saturation a bit. I might have been able to do a bit more with the original high-resolution files and more time, but I'm not a PhotoShop expert by any means. I enjoy being able to practice and learn more about PhotoShop, though.

I'm honored that Meg allowed me to pracitce on her pics given that her flag is set to "not okay to edit". I'm also honored to work on photos for such a lovely woman! Thank you, Meg!

DSCN0229.jpg (Big Bully's original):

DSCN0229 - Edited.jpg (My edit):

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DSCN0231.jpg (Big Bully's original):

DSCN0231 - Edited.jpg (My edit):

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DSCN0275.jpg (Big Bully's original):

DSCN0275 - Edited.jpg (My edit):

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DSCN0278.jpg (Big Bully's original):

DSCN0278 - Edited.jpg (My edit):

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DSCN0318.jpg (Big Bully's original):

DSCN0318 - Edited.jpg (My edit):

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DSCN0419.jpg (Big Bully's original):

DSCN0419 - Edited.jpg (My edit):

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DSCN0421.jpg (Big Bully's original):

DSCN0421 - Edited.jpg (My edit):

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DSCN0429.jpg (Big Bully's original):

DSCN0429 - Edited.jpg (My edit):

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DSCN0434.jpg (Big Bully's original):

DSCN0434 - Edited.jpg (My edit):

 

[mark h]

As I said before...

You can't just chuck a bad photograph into black & white or sepia and expect it to become a good photograph.

Post-processing is not a crutch to lean on with bad shots. More people need to learn this. Give up on the images and take what you have learnt into a re-shoot.

You didn't really improve on anything, as they are bad images to start with. You've just turned bad noise into bad smudging/artifacts. Fair enough for having a go... but I still say give up and wait for the re-shoot.

 

[Pugs]

As I said before...



You didn't really improve on anything, as they are bad images to start with. You've just turned bad noise into bad smudging/artifacts. Fair enough for having a go... but I still say give up and wait for the re-shoot.

Wasn't expecting to make great photographs. I already gave a great deal of advice for how to do a reshoot (which is more than most people in this thread have done).

What I wanted to show is that better lighting, less noise, proper white balance/color balance will make a reshoot that much better. If those things can improve these images in post-processing (and they are improved, but still have issues, I agree) then imagine how much better they'll be when those elements are done well in the camera.

 

[Big Bully]

As I said before...



You didn't really improve on anything, as they are bad images to start with. You've just turned bad noise into bad smudging/artifacts. Fair enough for having a go... but I still say give up and wait for the re-shoot.

You my friend need to learn some tact. It is people like you that make some of the newbies on this forum not want to try to improve their photo taking skills. You are lucky that I am one of those people that love photography and art. But one of these days you are going to be too harsh, tactless and rude that you will make someone who could be great, give up. Think about what you say, and try to be less harsh. I never said I was a professional, which is why they are not in that section of the forum. These were tester shots, and with or without the noise. These shots are some of the best damn shots of me. I look fantastic, whether the lighting is correct or not.
Yes I agree the lighting may be off, but they are still good photos, maybe not technically, but I look good.

Thank you so much Pugs! You are awesome!

 

[mark h]

I understand your point of view, but I don't see why I should sugar-coat everything I write on a forum where people are asking for advice.

If they want to be told that everything they do is amazing, and not the truth, then maybe people should ask their family for critique rather than fellow photographers online.

I encouraged a re-shoot, not to give up on photography.

 

[Jon_Are]

I encouraged a re-shoot, not to give up on photography.

Yes, he did.

Since you specifically asked for criticism...

C&C Welcome.

...acting offended when it arrives is not playing fair.

I look fantastic...

...is a subjective statement that certainly could be argued.

Try the re-shoot. I predict we'll see dramatic improvement.

 

[Big Bully]

I understand your point of view, but I don't see why I should sugar-coat everything I write on a forum where people are asking for advice.

If they want to be told that everything they do is amazing, and not the truth, then maybe people should ask their family for critique rather than fellow photographers online.

I encouraged a re-shoot, not to give up on photography.

I never said you had to sugar coat everything. You just don't have to be such an @ss about it. There are other people on this thread who have basically given the same critique as you did, but weren't so rude about it. Yes I know you said do a reshoot, I plan on it I just have to figure out my lighting situation..

 

[DRATOM]

Meg and I spoke previously about editing her images...

OK, they do have technical issues, and they do need to be re-shot, but that has all been covered. Meg, I tried to do a little work on this one to bring it back, I think with a full size file I could do better, but not much. Any way here it is....

I am looking forward to seeing your re-shoot.

 

[Big Bully]

Dratom, PM me and we can talk about the full size file. I really like what you have done. I don't care what some of the more opinionated members think. I think that whatever you did makes it look nice. Thank you.
And Thank you PUGS!!

 

[Alpha]

These can't be fixed. End of story. Chalk it up as a learning experience and try again.