Photo Treatment... Is this pushing it too far?

Jeremy Winterberg

I've been working on photo treatment in PP, because that is one thing that I'm not very good at. I'm good at editing photos, but the final treatment is were i need to work on.

anyways... This is a photo I took back in January, some of you might remember it from the Mike and Liz engagement pictures I posted.

Is this overdoing it? I want to know what you professional wedding photographers think, and get an idea of what you do with your photos in PP.



Just messing around with some new filters I installed in PS. I did some skin smoothing, b+w fade, vignette, contrast boost, and something called forest dream or something like that (gives it a softer look)

anyways, what should I change? Any links to good treatment guides? I've been reading some things, and doing mostly messing around stuff, but more sources of help would be nice.

urbanaries

Since you asked for specific critique, here's my take:

I like:
Skin tones (although not on a calibrated monitor ATM)
BW fade, it's a cool/modern effect
Expressions
Skin texture on the lady

I don't like:
Way too much vignette IMO. Vignetting is supposed to draw the eye TO the subject, not away from it
Too much softening on the guy's skin

Bottom line:
Matt Saville said it best in another thread, the easiest way to a great photo is a great background. This one is wayyyy too cluttered and in focus. Short of reshooting...the vignette is actually adding to the clutter rather than reducing, IMO. If it were me I'd crop tighter (as long as her hand is in it, the shot still works), PS out the "arm" on the left side behind the male, and possibly the critter on the wall.

joshhuntnm

I agree. I know this isn't your question, but the background is distracting to me.

Candid Arts

You could do a gradient on the background and use a lens blur to blur it.

Something similar to this.

Swartzy

The first tool to implement is the clone tool. That deer head with the Santa hat MUST GO. Sorry, and don't mean to sound (or be for that matter) cruel, but realistically, this is a snap shot taken with a DSLR. So, all the ps work one could put into it still won't save the shot.....now, the question really is all about how the processing is done...not the actual photo...so.....skin smoothing (which I'm all about) is just a tad much (lower opacity, especially on brother/paint it away somewhat. Her cheeks and his forehead are almost blown exposure wise. Simply paint those back in w/opacity brush in a curves layer. When it comes to post processing it boils down to personal taste and more so, what the client likes.

Overall Jeremey, this is on the right track process wise. Selective blur (think of a tilt shift lens), gradient overlays, textures, color enhancement in LAB, etc. are fair game. Look at the photo and see what it tells you, then allow it to "develop" as you apply treatments.

Jeremy Winterberg

yep, this photo is a snap shot. I understand it is cluttered. but at the same time it describes alot about them as a couple and where we are located.

The both like to hunt, watch movies, she likes to play the piano (thats what the photos are sitting on), and its Christmas time (new years at midnight to be exact).

Anyways, yeah this is not a photo I would brag about. Its just something I grabbed out of my huge folder of pictures that looked decent that would help me get better at processing images.

I'll look into that blur filter/gradient DOF thing.