Some editing help and opinions again!

[jimim]

hi all. just wondering what u all think? are they too dark? how are my colors? kate has very fair skin and very red lips! so that's why they look like that. i'm in lightroom2 and if i lower vibrance anymore to control the redness in the lips i start to loose too much detail. plus it's how they are in real life! lol

thanks alot like always ANY opinions are so welcome!

thanks again!

jimi


Untitled by jimim, on Flickr


Untitled by jimim, on Flickr


Untitled by jimim, on Flickr

 

[SrisonS]

I think they could maybe be a tad bit brighter. I think the second pic is pretty spot on though, for some reason. As far as color, maybe boost vibrancy or saturation a little. And to control the redness of the lips, try going to the individual colors and increasing luminance of the Red.

 

[jimim]

I think they could maybe be a tad bit brighter. I think the second pic is pretty spot on though, for some reason. As far as color, maybe boost vibrancy or saturation a little. And to control the redness of the lips, try going to the individual colors and increasing luminance of the Red.

thanks for the luminance advice. i never used it actually. i have used the color sliders but never ventured off anywhere else there! lol

i hear ya about the brighter maybe. my screen dimmed when i was editing and i didn't realize till after. i do have to go back to brighten them a bit.

thanks for the help!

anyone else too?

jimi

 

[disneyboy2003]

All 3 of the photos are really cute. You did a great job capturing her expressions.

I also like that she's dressed in pink and you've got her in front of a pink floral background.

I think you used too much vignetting in these pictures. You're right noticing how dark the backgrounds in these pictures are. Since these are spring-time photos, I would hope to see brighter colors & brighter backgrounds.

Vignetting is not necessarily bad. It's a good technique to use to focus the viewers' eyes on your subject. But I think too much vignetting detracts from the photos. Try to dial-down the vignetting.

It looks like you took these pictures in a nice shaded area. Because of this, the pictures are slightly cool in color temperature (very slightly blue). Under "white balance", try increasing the temperature a little bit to warm up the photos. Again, this will also match the brighter "spring-time" theme of these photos.

You mentioned that the girl's lips were very red. I wasn't sure where you wanted to go with that...did you want to tone down the redness of the lips or did you want to bring out the redness? In the 3 photos, if you wanted, you actually have room to "bring out" the redness of her lips a little bit. In Lightroom, select the "Adjustment Brush" and increase the saturation slider. Then brush over the girl's lips to get them a little redder.

Or, if you wanted to bring down the redness (perhaps in her cheeks?), you can use the "Adjustment Brush" and decrease the saturation slider. Then brush over her cheeks to decrease the redness.

SrisonS is correct that you can also use the "Luminance" sliders and decrease the red slider. This would act globally throughout the entire photo, so any areas of red (not just the girl's lips & cheeks) would be affected by this. You can also try the "Saturation" slider and decrease the red slider, too. See which one works better, if at all.

In the 2nd photo, you can try brightening the girl's eyes. Again, use the "Adjustment Brush" and increase the Exposure slider, then paint over her eyes. If you wanted to also bring out a little more color in her eyes, you can also increase the "Saturation" slider (also within the "Adjustment Brush" window) at the same time.


Anyway, I'm just nit-picking at some possible options for post-processing. I'm certainly no expert at portraits or anything, so please keep this in mind. So please feel free to ignore any or all the above ideas.

However, if you do try any of the above, please don't overdo any of the above adjustments. Be subtle with your post-processing. You don't want people thinking that the photos are unnatural or "Photoshopped".

Overall, though, I think you did a great job capturing these photos. I also liked that you preserved the details in her dress, and nothing was "blown out" or overexposed. I also like the "catchlights" in her eyes, too.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I think Kate is adorable and you did a great job on the pics.

Personally, I find the flowers distracting (ie taking away from the portrait) and would have preferred to see them as a very blurred, slight background or a vertical perspective. In looking at it, you know the girl is the subject but your eye wants to enjoy the flowers as well.

I also think Kate is a tad overexposed (to my liking). I don't know if it's the flower color distraction or the flash, but I'd really like to see the pink dress but it looks almost white here (when I know it's pink!). I'd like to see her colors more natural.

JMO, of course.

 

[photo_chick]

I agree with a previous statement that they are too blue. I've found a lot of us tend to make color correction a lot harder than we need to. Before you adjust anything make sure that white balance is right. Then adjust the contrast because it needs a whole lot more. Many color issues tend to fall to the wayside when you get the contrast and white balance right.

 

[jimim]

All 3 of the photos are really cute. You did a great job capturing her expressions.

I also like that she's dressed in pink and you've got her in front of a pink floral background.

I think you used too much vignetting in these pictures. You're right noticing how dark the backgrounds in these pictures are. Since these are spring-time photos, I would hope to see brighter colors & brighter backgrounds.

Vignetting is not necessarily bad. It's a good technique to use to focus the viewers' eyes on your subject. But I think too much vignetting detracts from the photos. Try to dial-down the vignetting.

It looks like you took these pictures in a nice shaded area. Because of this, the pictures are slightly cool in color temperature (very slightly blue). Under "white balance", try increasing the temperature a little bit to warm up the photos. Again, this will also match the brighter "spring-time" theme of these photos.

You mentioned that the girl's lips were very red. I wasn't sure where you wanted to go with that...did you want to tone down the redness of the lips or did you want to bring out the redness? In the 3 photos, if you wanted, you actually have room to "bring out" the redness of her lips a little bit. In Lightroom, select the "Adjustment Brush" and increase the saturation slider. Then brush over the girl's lips to get them a little redder.

Or, if you wanted to bring down the redness (perhaps in her cheeks?), you can use the "Adjustment Brush" and decrease the saturation slider. Then brush over her cheeks to decrease the redness.

SrisonS is correct that you can also use the "Luminance" sliders and decrease the red slider. This would act globally throughout the entire photo, so any areas of red (not just the girl's lips & cheeks) would be affected by this. You can also try the "Saturation" slider and decrease the red slider, too. See which one works better, if at all.

In the 2nd photo, you can try brightening the girl's eyes. Again, use the "Adjustment Brush" and increase the Exposure slider, then paint over her eyes. If you wanted to also bring out a little more color in her eyes, you can also increase the "Saturation" slider (also within the "Adjustment Brush" window) at the same time.


Anyway, I'm just nit-picking at some possible options for post-processing. I'm certainly no expert at portraits or anything, so please keep this in mind. So please feel free to ignore any or all the above ideas.

However, if you do try any of the above, please don't overdo any of the above adjustments. Be subtle with your post-processing. You don't want people thinking that the photos are unnatural or "Photoshopped".

Overall, though, I think you did a great job capturing these photos. I also liked that you preserved the details in her dress, and nothing was "blown out" or overexposed. I also like the "catchlights" in her eyes, too.

Thanks so much for the compliments and the advice!

Today we got them printed out as 8x10's and now I'm seeing what u guys r saying about the vignetting. I have to deff dial it down. i'm getting carried away with it a little! lol

Color temp has always been a real bad point of mine. i adjust and then come back to the picture a few hours later and i feel it's off again and then readjust over and over. again when they got printed today i noticed this also. so thanks for bringing that up to me too.

Her lips I always feel like they are too red but she is so fare toned and her lips are just bright! lol same with her cheeks. we always think she is getting sick cause her cheeks are always so red. my wife and I are both dark skinned. i don't know where Kate got the fair skin we always laught about it.

i keep hearing about the adjustment brush. i never use it cause i'm afraid of it! this is going to be my next lessons for myself i think. i have to read up more on it cause whenever i ask for help it comes up.

thanks so much for all the help! this deff is helping me to learn since I have started posting up pics. i appreciate it so much!

we got lucky with the pink dress on cause i din't plan on taking pics of her that night. it was late in the day and after dinner but everything was in bloom so we stopped. she was so good for being late!

thanks again. i'll post back when i start to play with the brush!

jimi

 

[jimim]

I think Kate is adorable and you did a great job on the pics.

Personally, I find the flowers distracting (ie taking away from the portrait) and would have preferred to see them as a very blurred, slight background or a vertical perspective. In looking at it, you know the girl is the subject but your eye wants to enjoy the flowers as well.

I also think Kate is a tad overexposed (to my liking). I don't know if it's the flower color distraction or the flash, but I'd really like to see the pink dress but it looks almost white here (when I know it's pink!). I'd like to see her colors more natural.

JMO, of course.

i used fill flash for the 3 of them so that's prob why they are looking overexposed a bit. i'll have to try and dial down her lights with the tone curve. when u say her colors more natural what do u mean? more saturated? also the dress is actually spot on. it's a very light pink. i was thinking the same thing when i took em but when editing i grabbed the dress and the colors were correct. i thought i had to jack up the saturation of it but i didn't.

so getting back to her face being somewhat overexposed. . .this is a general question. if i was using an external flash with a diffuser would it have made a diff outside? i was shooting at 50mm about 7' i think from her?

jimi

 

[jimim]

I agree with a previous statement that they are too blue. I've found a lot of us tend to make color correction a lot harder than we need to. Before you adjust anything make sure that white balance is right. Then adjust the contrast because it needs a whole lot more. Many color issues tend to fall to the wayside when you get the contrast and white balance right.

it's funny u say this cause lately I adjust color first and then contrast and then go back for recovery and black and such in lightroom. i noticed it makes it easier to adjust the contrast early.

jimi

 

[DueyDooDah]

One thing I like to do on a photo of children is dial down clarity just a tad, i.o.w., decrease clarity. It tends to lend a softness that I find appealing. I also do this with female models but beware, do not over-soften. It can be offensive to some.

 

[jimim]

One thing I like to do on a photo of children is dial down clarity just a tad, i.o.w., decrease clarity. It tends to lend a softness that I find appealing. I also do this with female models but beware, do not over-soften. It can be offensive to some.

thanks for that. i learned that trick a couple of weeks ago from Scott. I use it alot now. U do have to be careful with it though cause it can over soften everything since it is global. i do like it though. i want to start to use it with the adjustment brush also.

jim