Family loves this shot...but it is a little out of focus.

mpriest13

Is this a good edit?

Original




Edit



Any advice on the color options?

MarkR

I like the original better. What were you trying to accomplish with the edit?

mpriest13

MarkR wrote:

I like the original better. What were you trying to accomplish with the edit?

Mostly just trying to sharpen his face.

Is this a little better?

MarkR

Well, on my uncalibrated work monitor it looks like you went from a slightly warm but pleasing white balance to a decidedly cool and off-putting wb. Also the tree, which is brown in the 1st image, looks to be blue-black in the second.

The second image also looks to be darker, which contradicts the mood set by the smiling face and the jaunty jacket-over-the-shoulder pose.

All this is just MHO, and you should trust your own judgement as to what you want.

MarkR

YES!

mpriest13 wrote:

Mostly just trying to sharpen his face.

Is this a little better?

mike_k

How about this:


I ran it through Focus Magic. Might even be able to tweak it a little more.

pathfinder

I rather like the composition. The added vignette in the second image seems stronger than needed to my eye. The skin tones seem better in the first image to me, but the shirt is a bit too blue. You can read about skin tones here - http://www.smugmug.com/help/skin-tone

The color is not that bad in the first image, but it needs a black point and a white point set and a small bit of a curve. The second image is way too blue, and I think both have a bit of green in them as well from all the green reflector they are standing on.

Just running the first image through Adobe Raw converter, setting a wb balance point on the shirt collar, and sharpening it in ACR will help significantly.

If you are going to shoot at f2.1 you must be very precise with your focusing. It looks like the tree got favored in the focusing department.

mpriest13

pathfinder wrote:

I rather like the composition. The added vignette in the second image seems stronger than needed to my eye. The skin tones seem better in the first image to me, but the shirt is a bit too blue. You can read about skin tones here - http://www.smugmug.com/help/skin-tone

The color is not that bad in the first image, but it needs a black point and a white point set and a small bit of a curve. The second image is way too blue, and I think both have a bit of green in them as well from all the green reflector they are standing on.

Just running the first image through Adobe Raw converter, setting a wb balance point on the shirt collar, and sharpening it in ACR will help significantly.

If you are going to shoot at f2.1 you must be very precise with your focusing. It looks like the tree got favored in the focusing department.

Which of these two look better. I am trying to hone my PS skills especially when it comes to color. I think this image is a better example because I don't have to worry about sharpening an out of focus image. This one is pretty much sharp. Thanks.

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