My Dad, my photoshop skills

jpl

So let me start this post by saying my mom is crazy. She is a pack rat, she "collects" everything, she is a stereotypical buyer of the "as seen on tv" goods, and she tries to sell stuff on Ebay. Well her pictures for Ebay were really bad so rather than learn about photography or upgrade her camera (she is using an old 3MP P&S) she bought a light box kit with two lamps and stands. Needless to say, her pictures are still sucking, and she didn't want my advice on how to improve them.

Anyway, I went to visit my parents a few weekends ago and I was very suprised by the fact that my mom had lamps. I took advantage of the lamps and tried my hand at off camera lighting for the first time.

Now, I took a bunch of pictures of various people. I really like this shot of my dad though (as shot):


I've played with this image at least 10 separate times in PS. I've been reading alot here about how to add pop, increase contrast, and fix skin tones. I can't seem to get it right though. I find I like the results of doing a overlay or luminosity layer with the Green channel. Beyond that, I'm not sure what is right or looks good. No matter what I do with the CMYK color adjustments suggested in the skin tutorial, I can't seem to get the skin to a pleasing tone. So I guess I'm looking for thoughts and suggestions on processing this image:

My first attempt and still my favorite:


My latest attempt:


Which is better? Why? What can I do different? Can you point me to good links on portrait improvements in PS?

davidweaver

You know your subject better than any of us. So I would go for your first pic.

The crop is a bit tight (IMHO) but easily corrected in PS.

I like the density of the top head hair in the first shot myself. A very good studio shot too.

For a pointer I would get Katrin Eismann book on retouching 2nd edition, It is a must read for anyone doing portrature work in PS.

Congrats!
David

pathfinder

I strongly prefer the skin tones in the first image over 2 and 3.

The first image MIGHT profit by a little higher contrast, but the color is far and away the best of the three. I like the softness of the lighting better in 1 also.

jpl

This is hard. #2 above looks bad to me today but yesterday I liked it. I like the contrast in #2 but I agree the skin tones just aren't right.

I think I've settled on this version
original +17 clarity in LR

pyrtek

Well, just increasing the clarity didn't really do much for this portrait. The main
problem with it is lack of contrast, not skin tone. Here's a very simple fix. Just
a curves adjustment and sharpening:




By the way, your dad looks like a very cool guy and certainly is a very cool
subject. You should take advantage of that as much as you can.

jpl

I guess this is one of those things where practice makes perfect. My eye and my processing aren't there yet.

davidweaver

Keep in mind that they never will. Keep in mind the same thing happens to viewers. Same thing happens when listening to music too.

Shoot for now. Edit when later becomes now.

Cheers,
David

jpl wrote:

I guess this is one of those things where practice makes perfect. My eye and my processing aren't there yet.