Processing and Photo C&C, please

[RxForB3]

A little background info: My son and I were visiting my parents and we took a ferry boat ride. Of course, there were lots of cars lined up waiting to get on the ferry, so when my son got back to the house, he lined up everything he could and told me they were all waiting to get on the ferry

So, please C&C the photo in its own right, as well as the post processing. I can't tell which I like better...


No processing by RxForB3, on Flickr

or


IMG_5559 by RxForB3, on Flickr

Honestly, I think I like the original better...what do you think?

 

[tirediron]

The thing that bothers me most is the tightness of the crop on the RH side. I do prefer the more realistic WB of the editied version however.

 

[SCraig]

The thing that bothers me most is the tightness of the crop on the RH side. I do prefer the more realistic WB of the editied version however.

I agree. He's looking outside the side of the photo that he's cropped onto and parts of him are cropped off.

The reason that the white balance in #2 doesn't look right is that you went too far. All of the whites have an excessive blue component making the overall photo look cold. Warm it back up some and it looks pretty good.

 

[RxForB3]

Thanks for your time and thoughts! I definitely agree about the right hand side of the image. Unfortunately, I was still in the "honeymoon" phase with my 100mm macro lens. It was on the camera at the time and I didn't think he would cooperate for long. As you can see, he was already getting a little impatient I should have used a shorter focal length. I guess hindsight is f/8.0? I know...bad joke...

I'll give the WB another shot once I get back to my desktop. I won't have any luck trying to fix it on this laptop

 

[gingerol]

I prefer the original

 

[RxForB3]

Here's a new attempt. Also did some noise reduction, though I'm not sure I can notice the change with the reduction...


ReEdit by RxForB3, on Flickr

 

[SCraig]

From a white balance standpoint that is a HUGE improvement. That blue component in the white areas is gone now and his skin looks like skin. Much better.

There wasn't much need for any noise reduction, there wasn't any noise in the original that I could see. I don't know what ISO you shot that at, no EXIF data available, however the shadows are clear and that's where it should have been most noticeable.

I still don't like the composition but probably not much you can do about that now.

 

[RxForB3]

Thanks for the input! I agree about the composition, but yes, it was a one time opportunity. Live and learn What do you think about the color saturation I did on his eyes?

 

[SCraig]

Thanks for the input! I agree about the composition, but yes, it was a one time opportunity. Live and learn What do you think about the color saturation I did on his eyes?

I think his eyes look good although they might be a little bit overdone. Having never seen him it's hard for me to say. He's your son, do they look natural to you?