The power of photoshop

Ra1n · Oct 17, 2011

Hey people, I am a newbie here so please play nice. Anyway, here is a photo that was heavily photoshoped by me. Do help me to see where I can improve. Cheers!

Action figures used are from the movie Real Steel.

PhotoWrangler · Oct 17, 2011

What part of the photo did you 'heavily photoshop', and what specifically are you requesting help on?

Ra1n · Oct 17, 2011

I took a week to photoshop the colour and the blur in the background as you can see from the picture and I was wanting to ask you professionals where I can improve in the picture in photoshop (like colour temp, contrast ect.) Any help would be greatly appreciated.

SteffJay · Oct 17, 2011

did you blur the action figure too, or was it out of focus to begin with?

the punch in the photo is completely out of focus now.

Ra1n · Oct 17, 2011

I did use photoshop to blur the picture but it was just a micro adjustment. Or it could be that the aperture was too small cos my settings was at f/4... Now that you found that fault, how should I sharpen that area in photoshop?

Bitter Jeweler · Oct 17, 2011

You can't.

JAC526 · Oct 17, 2011

The best advice I can give you is to get as much right as possible in camera.

By right I mean the following:

What are you trying to convey in your shot?

What is the subject. IMHO in this shot the punch should be the subject. If that is the case why blur it out? It should be sharp.

The better the shot is straight out of camera the better it will be after post too.

Post can fix some things....but not others.

Ra1n · Oct 17, 2011

Thanks guys, been a great help. Gonna redo the shot again. Just a question, for this situation, should I use manual focus or auto focus?

JAC526 · Oct 17, 2011

Manual focus for sure. If you have the time and a tripod you'll have a better chance at having everything sharp.

Derrel · Oct 17, 2011

Unless this began as a photo of two Barbie dolls, I cannot understand how you managed to spend a week on Photoshopping this, and winding up with an out of focus shot of one robot kickin' another robot's a$$...I mean, you really spend "a week", as in seven days, on doing this?

Ra1n · Oct 17, 2011

Derrel said:
Unless this began as a photo of two Barbie dolls, I cannot understand how you managed to spend a week on Photoshopping this, and winding up with an out of focus shot of one robot kickin' another robot's a$$...I mean, you really spend "a week", as in seven days, on doing this?

Yep, 1 solid week on photoshop dude. I'm still a novice so, a week's already quite fast for me. My best shots took about one solid month on photoshop. This was just a random shot I took. C:

Destin · Oct 17, 2011

Ra1n said:
Derrel said:

Unless this began as a photo of two Barbie dolls, I cannot understand how you managed to spend a week on Photoshopping this, and winding up with an out of focus shot of one robot kickin' another robot's a$$...I mean, you really spend "a week", as in seven days, on doing this?

Click to expand...

Yep, 1 solid week on photoshop dude. I'm still a novice so, a week's already quite fast for me. My best shots took about one solid month on photoshop. This was just a random shot I took. C:

Dude, what the heck did you change in this shot that took a WEEK? I see, maybe 10 minutes of color correction and a layer mask with a blur. MAYBE 10 minutes, and that's a BIG MAYBE

memento · Oct 17, 2011

Ra1n said:
My best shots took about one solid month on photoshop.

please post these!

12sndsgood · Oct 17, 2011

i also wonder what you spent so much time on. i have just started cs5 without ever knowing how to work in it at all. and i only see a few minutes worth of changes. what did the origonal look like?