The Model and the Gardener.

[Granddad]

Grandma and I did a shoot at the local beach yesterday. The bright sun and a decision to try Aperture Priority instead of Manual meant that most of the first batch were ruined by patches on the hair and face that were totally burned beyond recovery... and it was too bright to see the screen properly and check. Later some cloud came in... (who wants clouds on a day at the beach? Photographers, that's who!) ... and I switched to manual and got some better shots. A little work in LR, Photoshop and Portrait Pro was used, but not a lot.

I'm also attaching a photo of her taken today when I caught her coming in after a day of gardening, just so no-one gets the impression that I'm married to a super model who lazes a round all day eating bon bons and watching soap operas while she touches up her nail polish. Versatile is the best word to use to describe her.
The right clothes, makeup and an £18.99 wig make a wee bit of a difference, don't you think?

The Model

The Gardener

 

[smoke665]

Versatile is the best word to use to describe her.

Don't know that I'd let that lovely lady hear you calling her "Versatile", she might show you some other sides of her "versatility". LOL

One of the issues I struggle with among my senior friends, is skin color, blemishes and wrinkles. How much processing is enough......to much and it looks bad, to little and it looks bad. I had a lady friend tell me once, that she was 70 years old and she knew that if I made her look 20 she'd look foolish, but if I wanted to knock a "few years" off, she wouldn't mind. I'm still looking for a definition of "few". LOL

Great job on the beach shot!!!

 

[tirediron]

The second photo makes me think you're about this >< far from needing a camera surgically removed from an orifice never meant to contain a camera!

The first one is great!

 

[jcdeboever]

The second photo makes me think you're about this >< far from needing a camera surgically removed from an orifice never meant to contain a camera!

The first one is great!

Thats called a colonoscopy

 

[smoke665]

@jcdeboever don't you mean a "cameraoscopy"

 

[Fred von den Berg]

Great exercise in compare and contrast!

 

[Granddad]

One of the issues I struggle with among my senior friends, is skin color, blemishes and wrinkles. How much processing is enough......to much and it looks bad, to little and it looks bad. I had a lady friend tell me once, that she was 70 years old and she knew that if I made her look 20 she'd look foolish, but if I wanted to knock a "few years" off, she wouldn't mind. I'm still looking for a definition of "few". LOL

Great job on the beach shot!!!

Thanks! I'll tell the lovely lady's secret because this is not a Facebook type platform... and because she's really not bothered who knows how old she is; she'll be 68 next month. It's not so much knocking a few years off as softening the years and bringing out the full potential. I'm sure I could cast her in a gritty image of a babushka in a black dress and headscarf that maximises the character of the wrinkles etc (which some people would prefer) but that's not what I like to do (nor how SHE likes to look).

In my book Photoshop and Portrait Pro work on a mature lady should be credible (the viewer who knows the subject should be left wondering if Photoshop has been used or if it's just lighting and camera angles) and keep her recognisable. The question should be "Is that you a few years ago?" not, "Who's that?"

In Portrait Pro it's very easy to overdo the skin smoothing, those sliders are very tempting. And if you use their lighting controls it's very easy to end up with skin looking like a bad "Mother of the Orange Bride of Dracula" make up job. Many times, even with careful use, I bring a photo back into Photoshop, look at it and think "That's overdone!" I ALWAYS save the original separately and work on a copy so I can either go back and try again or paste the original face over the worked face and then fade it to return the skin texture. Note that you can only get away with that if you avoid using the Face Sculpt sliders, in that section I generally only ever use the eye widening feature and the plump lips feature. Where Portrait Pro excels (for me) is with the eye cleaning and sharpening and the mouth/teeth cleaning and sharpening and with their make up controls. Their make up controls are really excellent. Grandma was never into make up so I've used Portrait Pro to show her what a good modeling makeup job should look like; so now I have less work to do in that area.

I also use Portrait Pro Body to take off a few pounds (same rules apply). It's more than just a slimming tool though, it's also good for mature ladies for smoothing the skin on the arms, legs and lower neckline.

Is it fakery? Possibly to some extent. A little illusion, a little looking through rose tinted spectacles, a little gilding the lilly. BUT done properly it can also be confidence building. Over the years that SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED has been my main model she's gone from semi reluctant to loving every moment. She knows she's free to work in the garden, work up a sweat and get dirt under her finger nails if that's what she wants to do. She also has the knowledge always at the back of her mind that, if she feels like it, she can go into her telephone booth, spin around a couple of times and emerge as a head turning super model!

One of these days I should do a tutorial on using Portrait Pro and Portrait Pro Body... I'll have to see if there's a Youtube tutorial on how to do a Youtube tutorial!

 

[Granddad]

2nd photo its seems to good like first one. anyway if you make mistake nobody dies. try again. the fantastic photographer capture image very good.

Thank you Adam. She's just as beautiful to me in the 2nd photo (straight out of the camera, apart from Lightroom) because I have 40 years of experience of the beautiful person behind that face.

 

[smoke665]

@Granddad the older I get the the more I realize how important "inner beauty" is. When you can catch a glimpse of that, then wrinkles, age spots, sagging skin sort of melt away. Some might call it cliche, but you do maintain images of your DW, as they were at their most attractive points in life, so that when you look at them you see a composite, one in which the imperfections of aging fade away.

Unfortunately the camera only records the reflected exterior and all the effects of aging. I have found that lighting plays a vital role in minimizing those effects. The angles that define and create stunning facial features in a 20 year old, also highlight and enhance the aging imperfections. To me it seems that a soft, slightly flat lighting approach seems to work better at hiding those. That and sometimes the introduction of a silver reflector to minimize red spots.

 

[tirediron]

...It's not so much knocking a few years off as softening the years and bringing out the full potential.

Nailed it!!!!! Subtlety and care are what are required. Sure, you can slam those sliders over to the left but will anyone believe it? My goal is generally to portray the client as they see themselves ('though every now and then you meet someone who's mirror obviously needs to go in for a tune-up! ), and generally this requires a fairly light touch.

 

[CherylL]

Your wife is great in both photos. I like the pose in the first one and her looking away. Carefree feeling. I take candid photos at a non-profit's events each year. My older friends at the events say they like my photos of themselves. I do a just a little retouching. The harsh lighting in the hall gives too much contrast to the lines on a face. A 40ish person that attends does not like anyone taking her photo with a cell phone, but allows me to take to her photo.