Putting Wig in Berlim

Alec246

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Hello all, my first post in C&C Gallery.

So, I just got back to Photography after almost 10 years away. I never practice much, I remember the theory, but I am in my first steps in terms of the art of composition, light, exposure, basically everything that takes an eye and the camera can't do it for you.

I purchased a second hand Olympus OM-D EM-10 Mkii, which is a very nice camera, and all photos were taken with a Oly 25mm f1.8, which to my eyes is a very sharp lens, i really like the results I get from it in terms of definition.

This one shot is the one I picked from my trip, where i took about 300 photos, and from all that, only about 8 I found to be keepers. I missed the moment, this woman was putting a blond wig, unfortunately it doesn't show that in the photo, to my opinion.

I also had trouble trying to do the best crop to the original image, i will then post the original, and the crop I did, and would please accept input if I could do it better.

25mm

ƒ/5.6

1/250s

ISO 200

DxO PhotoLab 7 + B&W Film Emulation Filter

ORIGINAL

P6050296_60.webp


CROP

P6050296_DxO.webp



Thank you!!!
 
Nice capture. My first impression was that the lady is upset about the mural that she may have created. Knowing about the wig changed all that. Bottom line, there's some mystery in this image. Nice.

My adjustments included tightening the crop a little to put more emphasis on the possible relationship between the woman and the mural. I also wanted a little bit more of the background behind the wall to create depth. I added a touch of contrast primarily to lighten the mural and to create stronger differentiation between the mural and the woman's blonde hair. More contrast also brought out additional detail to the wood in the fence, the background behind the fence, and the brick.

tpf 001a.jpg
 
Nice capture. My first impression was that the lady is upset about the mural that she may have created. Knowing about the wig changed all that. Bottom line, there's some mystery in this image. Nice.

My adjustments included tightening the crop a little to put more emphasis on the possible relationship between the woman and the mural. I also wanted a little bit more of the background behind the wall to create depth. I added a touch of contrast primarily to lighten the mural and to create stronger differentiation between the mural and the woman's blonde hair. More contrast also brought out additional detail to the wood in the fence, the background behind the fence, and the brick.


Thank you very much, Gilbert!

I am happy this image generated some mystery. One point I had not thought about was that even without the Wig story, it also has something generating interest going on with a young woman that dramatically has hands on the head while looking at the photo of the city some decades ago. Great feedback!

Your crop does look much better than mine. Closing in more on her makes sense. The additional contrast also adds to it. I didn't ever think about the background behind the wood fence, this is an area I should work on, it wasn't even on my radar. I just didn't want just the wood fence to lose all reference of the location she was in. But this created some nice depth to the image
 
I like this and agree with what has been said. I also think the arches in the background add a lot of context and might try to keep the two on the right fully in the crop.
 
A very nice shot, really interesting and IMO agree with GBGilbert`s crop which really maximises it.
 
Thank you all! The positive feedback from experienced photographers really encourage me to keep going out and taking photos, even when frustration kicks in.

Following the advices for a better crop, mostly inspired in Gilbert edit, but also PJM suggestion of putting more of the arches in the background, i did this new version. Improved? Or a step in the wrong direction?

 
Thank you all! The positive feedback from experienced photographers really encourage me to keep going out and taking photos, even when frustration kicks in.

Following the advices for a better crop, mostly inspired in Gilbert edit, but also PJM suggestion of putting more of the arches in the background, i did this new version. Improved? Or a step in the wrong direction?

Much better. Good job.
 
So, I just got back to Photography after almost 10 years away. I never practice much, I remember the theory, but I am in my first steps in terms of the art of composition, light, exposure, basically everything that takes an eye and the camera can't do it for yo

First of all welcome to the forum. I followed a similar path only I was AWOL for closer to 20 years, during the transition phase from film to digital, so it was a whole new world for me.

It's a good idea on your profile information to put "Photos okay to edit" or "Photos not okay to edit". Since there's nothing and there's been no complaints on other edits, I took the liberty of downloading and doing some minor editing. This is what I found.

1. In any composition, you need to first decide the focal point, everything else in the frame should work to accentuate and draw the eye to the focal point. Echoing earlier comments this works better with a tighter crop, the bits and pieces of the arches, fence breaks, etc. are in my opinion distractions from the woman and painting in the center.

2. As presented in the OP the image is a solid stop underexposed. Underexposing and raising the exposure post will increase any noise, especially in the shadows. This is the original histogram
Screenshot 2024-06-10 113403.jpg

These are the changes made in the basic panel of LR.
Screenshot 2024-06-10 111828.jpg
This is the histogram after changes made.
Screenshot 2024-06-10 113319.jpg

3. I applied a medium curve and choked the blacks which were over-saturating.
Screenshot 2024-06-10 112031.jpg

4. I set the sharpness slider to 40 and set masking to 70, so that it only cleans up edges.
5. I add some mild noise reduction
6. The biggest area of concern for me was the perspective distortion created by the camera being off center to the left of the subject. By correcting the distortion, I was able to level the frame and crop in.
Screenshot 2024-06-10 112429.jpg

7. Finally a subtle post crop vignette was added to draw the eye inward. Here's the final
P6050296_60-3.jpg
 
Last edited:
First of all welcome to the forum. I followed a similar path only I was AWOL for closer to 20 years, during the transition phase from film to digital, so it was a whole new world for me.

It's a good idea on your profile information to put "Photos okay to edit" or "Photos not okay to edit". Since there's nothing and there's been no complaints on other edits, I took the liberty of downloading and doing some minor editing. This is what I found.

1. In any composition, you need to first decide the focal point, everything else in the frame should work to accentuate and draw the eye to the focal point. Echoing earlier comments this works better with a tighter crop, the bits and pieces of the arches, fence breaks, etc. are in my opinion distractions from the woman and painting in the center.

2. As presented in the OP the image is a solid stop underexposed. Underexposing and raising the exposure post will increase any noise, especially in the shadows. This is the original histogram
View attachment 276131

These are the changes made in the basic panel of LR.
View attachment 276126
This is the histogram after changes made.
View attachment 276132

3. I applied a medium curve and choked the blacks which were over-saturating.
View attachment 276128

4. I set the sharpness slider to 40 and set masking to 70, so that it only cleans up edges.
5. I add some mild noise reduction
6. The biggest area of concern for me was the perspective distortion created by the camera being off center to the left of the subject. By correcting the distortion, I was able to level the frame and crop in.
View attachment 276129

7. Finally a subtle post crop vignette was added to draw the eye inward. Here's the final
View attachment 276130
Well done.
 

@smoke665


That was a lot of great information. Thank you for the detailed step by step! I need to learn to use the tone curves, i usually just use the sliders above. About the photo being a Stop underexposed, is there a sciente to measure this in Lightroom, or does it go by eye?

The Perspective correction was the most interesting topic of your correction, it is somethign I had never considered, didnt even think about it! So much to learn
 

@smoke665


That was a lot of great information. Thank you for the detailed step by step! I need to learn to use the tone curves, i usually just use the sliders above. About the photo being a Stop underexposed, is there a sciente to measure this in Lightroom, or does it go by eye?

The Perspective correction was the most interesting topic of your correction, it is somethign I had never considered, didnt even think about it! So much to learn

You're welcome.

The tone curve is a precision tool for many things. Here's a link to using it in LR. The Lightroom Tone Curve: A Hands-On Guide

As to exposure the histogram is a visual representation of the data in your image. Additionally most cameras have the ability to display the histogram in view. Here's a link on using it in LR A Practical Guide to the Lightroom Histogram

While the Transform module is an excellent tool, the better choice is to minimize "unwanted" distortion before you take the shot. In Perspective Distortion there are two types - extension (where something gets smaller in the background) as in here-
test20231026_6327.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr
and compression (background objects appear closer than they are). Compression on a telephoto, gives you the added advantage of more separation/blur behind the subject that's why portrait photographers like the 200 mm.
That Look by William Raber, on Flickr
Its a good idea to read up on the different types of distortion. Anytime you have vertical or horizontal lines in a scene, you need to be cognizant of your camera angle/position. Had you been at 90 degrees to the fence there wouldn't have been any horizontal distortion. Holding you camera level (Not pointed up/down) will minimize vertical distortion. That's not to say you shouldn't ever have distortion, because it can be utilized to add depth to the image. Just be aware so you can make an informed decision.
 

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