SOOC, My Edit, and help needed....

[mrpink]

Took this last weekend. I like a lot about it, I just cannot seem to get the edit done correctly.

here is the SOOC shot (jpeg)


Blooms and Berries 2010 045 by Matt Francosky, on Flickr

Here is my best edit (edited in RAW)


DSC_7499ww by Matt Francosky, on Flickr

Now I know it is a little soft, but it is the best one of this setup that I got that day. I have tried removing the orange fence in the background, every time I do it seems painfully obvious that PP work was done in that area. The overcast sky is giving the photo a darker look than I want.

So there you have it. Any edits are welcomed, more welcomed is what exactly you did to achieve the edit.

Thanks




p!nK

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

What about a bit of a tighter crop?

From Gimp I did an auto White balance, adjusted the color balance a hair and did a slight sharpen...

But this will give you an idea what I mean...

 

[ababysean]

I think you need a tighter crop. Also I wish the orange fence was not in the photo. My eye goes straight to it. Are those sunflowers in the background? This is where a nice zoom lens helps, you stand far away and zoom in and it would compress the background and the subject so we would see more sunflowers....

real quick edit with kid in lap.... lol

eta I like to edit bright...

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

I did several edits. Just having fun with it. I liked the ones that kept the sort of orange/saturated tone to it as I think that conveys the autumn feel well.


1
Edit1 by GooniesNeverSayDie11, on Flickr

2

Edit2 by GooniesNeverSayDie11, on Flickr

3
Edit3 by GooniesNeverSayDie11, on Flickr

4

Edit4 by GooniesNeverSayDie11, on Flickr

5

Edit5 by GooniesNeverSayDie11, on Flickr

My favorite is probably #4, but I am kinda digging the softness on #1

 

[sobolik]

Are you ready to get all offended?

It looks really fake , staged and a total dud. Maybe that is why it is so hard to get the right edit. So how does one rescue a fake, staged dud?

First of all get rid of any evidence that speaks fake staged dud. Really how many tan grass fields with orange plastic snow fences have flowers like that planted as they are with coincidentally a couple pumpkins and a baby thrown in to boot? So crop very tight and get rid of any context of the field. You will be left with a canned composition of flowers pumpkins and a baby. Crop much much tighter than any have offered in previous posts. Just a hair from touching pumpkin flowers feet etc on all 4 sides.

And this makes it a panoramic crop. The panoramic view might distract from the canned faked staged element enough to rescue it somewhat.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

What doesn't scream staged about baby shots? Babys don't typically crawl around searching out photo ops, so that they can "sash shay" in front of the camera. Cmon, OBVIOUSLY its staged. Unless you are shooting a candid shot of a baby playing with their toys, crying, throwing up, pooping, or eating, its staged. They really don't do much else than those things listed. I don't think anyone needs to hide that fact.

[not offended or being pissy so don't take this response as such]

 

[mrpink]

4

Edit4 by GooniesNeverSayDie11, on Flickr
My favorite is probably #4, but I am kinda digging the softness on #1

Totally agree. Can I ask how you removed that fence?

As to it being staged. Goonies got it right again. Pictures of my 5mo baby in her pumpkin seat strapped to a stroller just didn't look right, didn't exactly scream "autumn". Until they really start walking and playing everything is staged.

Nice work Goonies.





p!nK

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Totally agree. Can I ask how you removed that fence?

As to it being staged. Goonies got it right again. Pictures of my 5mo baby in her pumpkin seat strapped to a stroller just didn't look right, didn't exactly scream "autumn". Until they really start walking and playing everything is staged.

Nice work Goonies.





p!nK

I used a combination of the clone stamp tool and the patch tool in CS5. Its probably not the cleanest edit, but given that it wasn't a large resolution image, you couldn't zoom in close enough to tell anyway. Just press Alt to choose the other flowers as your stamp and then stamp them in. Just don't drag as if removing a lamp post or something, you have to keep sampling various spots of the flowers to get a nice randomized pattern that helps hide any imperfections.


The hard part is that the flowers slope inward on the left so I tried many times to get a better balance on the right without causing the "tilted horizon" look with the row of sunflowers, but it just didn't look natural everytime. I guess the tree line kinda gives that impression too so it wouldn't have mattered much if the flower line is slanted a bit.

Also, I think the first "soft" edit works better on the baby than the overall scene. The contrast and sharpening on the other edits take away from that, so I think perhaps a combo of the techniques applied to seperate parts of the photo would work best.

 

[Hardrock]

Here is my attempt...

 

[reznap]

I edited your edit pink.

p!nK

I cloned out the orange fence. I rotated the picture slightly counterclockwise. I used Nik Software's Viveza 2 to brighten up your subject a little, clothes and skin tones (could do the same with the dodge tool). I made a black and white layer with red filter and slightly darker and blended it normally to 50% opacity. I added a vignette and then opened up the color balance tool. I can't remember exactly where I put the sliders but I tried to give the shadows some red hues and put some green and cyan in the highlights. Gave it a touch more midtone-highlight contrast with levels. That's it I think.