April in April

heatherfeather · May 5, 2009

Last weekend I met with April rather spur of the moment. I was just laying down for my lazy Sunday afternoon nap and the phone rings. It seems that she had been planning on meeting with another photographer that afternoon, and it didn't work out. She had just spent all day getting her hair and makeup done... and was so dissapointed. Could I come and do some photos for her? I asked for an hour to get packed up and off we went to play.

I have to admit that it was a real challenge. April has some pretty hard medical conditions and was pretty well exhausted before we even started. But her beauty made up for that.

1.

2. Also, she wanted really dramatic photos... So I went for it.

Critique my skin touch ups... I really wanted to maintain skin texture while softening any skin issues she had... How did I do? (killer eyes, huh!)

3. Another stipulation for the shoot is that she didn't want any "Alaska" in her photos. But if you knew my work, you'd know that is what I do best. So, I wracked my brain for places to go that weren't drop dead gorgeous landscapes and went for a bit more grunge. I think I like it!

4. While packing, I spur of the moment threw this little mirror into my bag... It was a really fun and usefull prop!

5.

6. Her dress reminds me so much of the Statue of Liberty in this one... ha ha!

7. By then she was pretty cold so we went to an indoor plaza and did just a few more.

It was a really fun unplanned afternoon.
It will be fun to see where these go...

C & C is heartily welcomed!

Snowgirl · May 5, 2009

I love #2 and really like #7 as well.

The first one is nice, but her knee in the bottom is distracting as is being able to distinguish the chair back (a shallower DOF maybe?).

gorgeous girl and what a neat 'surprise' on a sunday afternoon.

jeffreaux2 · May 5, 2009

HF you did great on these....Im sure she will be thrilled that it didnt work out with the other photographer.

My favorite is the phone booth shot.

On the BW and the skin treatment. Im not liking it. It just seems too blurry. When I do this, I use a mask so that I can reveal the sharp originality of the eyebrows, eyes, lips, and the outline of the nose. In shots that lend themselves to it, I also make sure the edge of the chin and jawline are not blurred. That will retain key features. As far as smoothing, I am not convinced that "blurring" is even the best approach. My usual approach is to use instead the clone tool. I will set it to lighten....at maybe 30ish percent....and go "lighten all the dark skin imperfections. Then I set it to darken...same opacity...and do the opposite. Grabbing a nearby sample for each correction. If the texture falls apart on a correction I will set to "normal" and use the clone tool the same as the other two methods. Keep brush edges softest and size it large enough to cover the imperfection. This is much slower than an action or filter that would simply attack the whole image and leave it up to you for the masking, but the results....generally...are worth the effort.

Ive never used an action or filter that did this to my liking...ever.:D

FWIW.....whatever you did to the skin in #1 works well......perhaps because it is less....close up?

Scott_Quier · May 5, 2009

Gorgeous lady and nice work.

#2 - that is a killer shot and #3 comes in second for me.

Nice afternoon. I would love to be called up out of the blue like that. That would fill my afternoon nicely!

D'Buggs · May 5, 2009

5 and 7...... IMHO, REAL NICE!!!

Mirror shot doesn't "do it" for me.

#2 I'd like to see one that has just a tad more smoothing on her right side, especially on her forehead. It's a nice shot too and you're correct; KILLER EYES!

heatherfeather · May 5, 2009

Snowgirl wrote:

I love #2 and really like #7 as well.

The first one is nice, but her knee in the bottom is distracting as is being able to distinguish the chair back (a shallower DOF maybe?).

gorgeous girl and what a neat 'surprise' on a sunday afternoon.

It was a neat surprise! Thanks for the comment...

heatherfeather · May 5, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

HF you did great on these....Im sure she will be thrilled that it didnt work out with the other photographer.

My favorite is the phone booth shot.

On the BW and the skin treatment. Im not liking it. It just seems too blurry. When I do this, I use a mask so that I can reveal the sharp originality of the eyebrows, eyes, lips, and the outline of the nose. In shots that lend themselves to it, I also make sure the edge of the chin and jawline are not blurred. That will retain key features. As far as smoothing, I am not convinced that "blurring" is even the best approach. My usual approach is to use instead the clone tool. I will set it to lighten....at maybe 30ish percent....and go "lighten all the dark skin imperfections. Then I set it to darken...same opacity...and do the opposite. Grabbing a nearby sample for each correction. If the texture falls apart on a correction I will set to "normal" and use the clone tool the same as the other two methods. Keep brush edges softest and size it large enough to cover the imperfection. This is much slower than an action or filter that would simply attack the whole image and leave it up to you for the masking, but the results....generally...are worth the effort.

Ive never used an action or filter that did this to my liking...ever.:D

FWIW.....whatever you did to the skin in #1 works well......perhaps because it is less....close up?

I didn't use an action... just did my darndest to fix the bad places with the patch tool and then did a layer of blur, lowered the opacity and painted back things. Probably not the best way to do it... I had a really hard time since there was way too much shine. I never even thought to suggest powder, but it would have been very helpful.

heatherfeather · May 5, 2009

Scott_Quier wrote:

Gorgeous lady and nice work.

#2 - that is a killer shot and #3 comes in second for me.

Nice afternoon. I would love to be called up out of the blue like that. That would fill my afternoon nicely!

Thanks, Scott! I love #3 too... really fun skies!

heatherfeather · May 5, 2009

D'Buggs wrote:

5 and 7...... IMHO, REAL NICE!!!
Mirror shot doesn't "do it" for me.

#2 I'd like to see one that has just a tad more smoothing on her right side, especially on her forehead. It's a nice shot too and you're correct; KILLER EYES!

Thanks!

divamum · May 5, 2009

Oh wow - the eyes.....

Beautiful girl, Heather, and as usual you caught an essence of her personality as well as her beauty. Lovely series!

I would love to see #1 cropped way down, so that the chair becomes a neutral background for a low-key portrait. Her eyes are SO gorgeous in that shot I think it could be really neat.

jeffreaux2 · May 5, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

I didn't use an action... just did my darndest to fix the bad places with the patch tool and then did a layer of blur, lowered the opacity and painted back things. Probably not the best way to do it... I had a really hard time since there was way too much shine. I never even thought to suggest powder, but it would have been very helpful.

How'd it look before the blurring, but after the other corrections?

I read once where a circular polorizer can help with shines, but...I havent the foggiest how you would set it up with a flash......you know...adjust it for a light that isnt there when you are adjusting it...

I wasn't really suggesting you had run an action...just thouroughly saying that to get it just so...I dunno an easy way.

I have been editing photos since 6am. Im not even half way through the stack. The photos have no problems to fix...just giving them a polish really, but boy is it time consuming!

heatherfeather · May 5, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

How'd it look before the blurring, but after the other corrections?

I read once where a circular polorizer can help with shines, but...I havent the foggiest how you would set it up with a flash......you know...adjust it for a light that isnt there when you are adjusting it...

I wasn't really suggesting you had run an action...just thouroughly saying that to get it just so...I dunno an easy way.

I have been editing photos since 6am. Im not even half way through the stack. The photos have no problems to fix...just giving them a polish really, but boy is it time consuming!

Hmmm... interesting. I hadn't heard of the polorizer working for that. I'll have to look into it!

I am pleased that nobody has said the skin tones were terrible. This is my first time processing a person with dark skin, and it wasn't nearly as different as I thought it would be.

The processing never ends does it! My hubbie was saying just this morning that I better go at it a bit slower or I'll get burned out. I am just happy to be doing what I love!

picturegirl · May 5, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

The processing never ends does it! My hubbie was saying just this morning that I better go at it a bit slower or I'll get burned out. I am just happy to be doing what I love!

I'm glad I'm not the only one being told to slow down!! But I have to agree with you I love it to much to slow down and I am making progress in building my business, I feel like if I slow down I may lose some of what I've gained! I keep telling him I would rather slow down on my day job, not the job I love

I love #3 and also #7. The 1st time I looked at #4 I was distracted by the glare but after looking at it a couple of times I noticed her face more and I kinda like it!

jeffreaux2 · May 5, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Hmmm... interesting. I hadn't heard of the polorizer working for that. I'll have to look into it!

I am pleased that nobody has said the skin tones were terrible. This is my first time processing a person with dark skin, and it wasn't nearly as different as I thought it would be.

The processing never ends does it! My hubbie was saying just this morning that I better go at it a bit slower or I'll get burned out. I am just happy to be doing what I love!

Well...I am not saying it WILL work...

...just saying that I read where folks use it, and I could see where if using a constant light source...like say a reflector...it could be managed. For flash...I doubt it!

I thought the skin tones were fine.

Im doing what I love too, but I REALLY don't enjoy when it actually turns itself into work!

Hows the new pc working out for you? I am enjoying that....working on something speedier than I have in the past....and listening to web radio....Fleetwood Mac blaring....while a virus scan runs......all at once!

Sucks that I had packed away enough $$ for those poppers only to have to spend it on a pc though!

divamum · May 5, 2009

Heather -

I had to work on a lovely AA gal for my theater-student shoot last month, and faced some similar things, particularly regarding shine.

I use a similar approach as Jeff to skin work - I've been experimenting with it for months now, and I find in general that the sheer cloning, gradually building up the opacity, works the best. I've only used blurring on my own SP's when I wanted a seriously heavily-touched effect, ie for that picture with the hat where I was going for old-world Hollywood Glamour style skin - no "natural" was intended!

Like Jeff, I open up a separate layer for cloning, and then with the tool on lighten go over the shadow areas with opacity of the brush at about 7-20%, seldom more (I can always build it up if needed). I will then use the "normal" blend to cover more serious flaws, and act as digital "powder". Once I have that done, I can play with the opacity of the layer and ensure enough texture shines through.

Slowly, I'm getting the hang of this as a procedure, and have been pretty happy with the results of the skin work I've done recently. It's time-consuming, but it does work.

Also, have a look at this thread - I haven't tried his approach yet, but the skin work he did was beautiful IMO.

heatherfeather · May 5, 2009

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Well...I am not saying it WILL work... ...just saying that I read where folks use it, and I could see where if using a constant light source...like say a reflector...it could be managed. For flash...I doubt it!

I thought the skin tones were fine.

Im doing what I love too, but I REALLY don't enjoy when it actually turns itself into work!

Hows the new pc working out for you? I am enjoying that....working on something speedier than I have in the past....and listening to web radio....Fleetwood Mac blaring....while a virus scan runs......all at once!

Sucks that I had packed away enough $$ for those poppers only to have to spend it on a pc though!

Oh yeah, I am loving the speed. Last week I was downloading a software update, doing a backup of a harddrive and was working on LR all at the same time while streaming pandora. Lovin' it. Super nice... But my poppers have to wait too! (Vacation next week is suckin' a bit of my moolah as well...)

Here she is before conversion and with the skin smoothing layer hidden...
Those shiny spots are not so nice... and this is after the 45 minutes of patching... Though I confess that today I took out an additional shiny spot on the tip of her nose....

No skin smooth layer :

Skin smooth layer:

Also, do you guys get rid of blood vessels in the eyes? I am not sure how to get rid of those easily...

divamum · May 5, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Also, do you guys get rid of blood vessels in the eyes? I am not sure how to get rid of those easily...

Giant size the image, and either use the healing brush (selecting a sample manually from nearby tissue), or use a sheer opacity lighten clone brush. I don't get rid of them entirely because I like a more natural look, but it tones them down some.

Learning that the clone brush could use different blend modes was the key for me (thanks Scott Kelby) - once i figured that out, it seemed like everything became possible.....

Now the thing I still feel I am useless at retouching is stray hairs.... sure, I can get rid of them, but I am NEVER happy with how it looks!

heatherfeather · May 5, 2009

divamum wrote:

Giant size the image, and either use the healing brush (selecting a sample manually from nearby tissue), or use a sheer opacity lighten clone brush. I don't get rid of them entirely because I like a more natural look, but it tones them down some.

Learning that the clone brush could use different blend modes was the key for me (thanks Scott Kelby) - once i figured that out, it seemed like everything became possible.....

Now the thing I still feel I am useless at retouching is stray hairs.... sure, I can get rid of them, but I am NEVER happy with how it looks!

Thanks Diva...
Here is your suggested crop (5x4AR)+ a little burning. Didn't want to spend too long on it since she is already so happy with these.

divamum · May 5, 2009

heatherfeather wrote:

Thanks Diva...
Here is your suggested crop (5x4AR)+ a little burning. Didn't want to spend too long on it since she is already so happy with these.

I was actually thinking of tight enough to turn it portrait from landscape and losing the lighter skin on her arms entirely, but I like what you've done here! I just absolutely LOVE her eyes. She's so beautiful. I hope that her medical issues don't tie her down too much - she looks so full of fun, which is what you've captured along with her obvious physical beauty

jeffreaux2 · May 5, 2009

From the two examples of the same shot, Id say somewhere between, but I honestly think the sharper version could fly as is with just a bit more work on the darker spots up the shadowed side of the bridge of her nose. She is s beautiful young lady...and really....well....looks great either way.

April in April

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