wrinkles :(

[stephras07]

So I will post more from today's shoot for C&C in a bit, but right now my question is this: Even with the manual focus, and the focus being on the belly, the wrinkles are really prominent. I am having a hard time blurring/smudging them out in GIMP. Any suggestions on 1) how to make them less prominent in future shoots, and 2) how to smooth them out a bit in PP??? TIA

(Unedited)

 

[reznap]

So I will post more from today's shoot for C&C in a bit, but right now my question is this: Even with the manual focus, and the focus being on the belly, the wrinkles are really prominent. I am having a hard time blurring/smudging them out in GIMP. Any suggestions on 1) how to make them less prominent in future shoots, and 2) how to smooth them out a bit in PP??? TIA

(Unedited)

To get it right in camera you need more light on the sheet. You can even light it from behind... but you need it bright for it to be 100% white in camera.

To get it right in post, well.. I like a photoshop plugin called 'Viveza 2' for this type of stuff. Otherwise you have to make masks and it takes a while.

Here's what I came up with, 5 mins with viveza (it uses 'control points')

Then I added some pink into the background (with viveza) and added a texture to the new color background.

 

[stephras07]

Where do I get that plug in? Will it work with GIMP? Those are awesome, and exactly what I want them to look like! I have some studio lights on the way, but she is due in less than 2 weeks so we couldn't wait much longer.

 

[reznap]

As far as I know, it's only sold for Photoshop and apple Aperture. Looks like you're doing it the hard way in Gimp

How's life on that Navy base? I got to visit it a few times.. I thought it was awesome.

 

[stephras07]

Phooey Its going to take a while to smudge these all out. You said something about masks - how do I do those? I may have to look into getting Aperture.

Life here is good. I'm a little tired of the navy wife drama, but.... oh well. We leave in August, no idea where too yet. Yay - moving with a 2year old, 5 month old, and a cat. UGH lol. Looking forward to being back in the states for good shopping - I've had a hard time with getting things shipped over here. What were you doing over here?

 

[oldmacman]

1) how to make them less prominent in future shoots, and 2) how to smooth them out a bit in PP??? TIA

(Unedited)

For future shoots, increase the distance between the subject and the background. I would also consider paper on a roll if you don't want details to worry about.

Here's a PS edit with masks which helps to avoid the halo in the pink edit. I also reduced the clarity a bit to give an overall softness to the image which seemed to suit the moment:

Here's a test shot we did a couple days ago in one of my classes. There is a white piece of foam board about three feet behind the student and a blue gel strobe firing on the white. This make it really easy to drop something else in the background, but also shows that you can get decent results with simple materials.

 

[mrpink]

All edits, while good, are obvious edited photos. When dealing with something that takes up as much frame as your backdrop, the only way to get it to look right is straight out of the camera.

Goto a fabric store. Get some white polyester fabric, use that as your backdrop- you will not have to worry about wrinkles again.

Also, the lighting on her left arm (closest to camera) has very noticeable lines, most likely from the blinds on your window. Put that now unused white sheet to work and place it in front of that window to soften that distraction.

Also, some clamp lights aimed at your backdrop will help get that white look, for very little money.







p!nK