DSS #25 Image Feedback

MikeK

I wasn't able to shoot my original idea, but there were a few shots from my nieces Christening last weekend that fit the theme.

Below is one of my favorites, I'm curious if you all like it better in color or B/W?

Thanks, Mike

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Halite

Sweet expression and lighting on the baby's face!

I prefer the b&w. While the color in the baby's face in hair is quite nice, the vibrancy of the magenta vs the green in the rest of the color version tends to pull the eye away from the focus of the image. Could I also suggest that you try cropping the photo on the bottom to just below the baby's fingers and on the left to just behind the lady's ear. This would put more focus on the baby's face. Also, a slight darkening of the rails behind the baby's head would eliminate another distraction.

Katmitchell

I agree
Hi Mike..

I like the black and white too for the same reasons.. it draws the attention to the face, yes,,

and I agree with Halite on the crop on the arm too, up to right below the baby's fingers and definitely crop that third railing out that is right by the adults head to the left

Kat

MikeK

Good feedback, those are some great ideas I will definitely put to use as I polish up the final entry.

MikeK

So here's my lastest attempt, with the suggested cropping and some other subtle tweaks. It would be nice, as suggested, to lighten or remove the 2 railing posts in the background. Any tips on doing that in close to the heads and hair?

Thanks!
Mike

Katmitchell

aww
Mike,

Much Much better on the rework.... I just love the baby, gorgeous baby..

one more suggestion.. burn in the light spots on the adults head, they look like bald spots..

nice work..

Kat

dnie

Katmitchell wrote:

burn in the light spots on the adults head, they look like bald spots..

??? I don't see it

MikeK

Yep, I see them, a couple thin spots on the adults hair. I'll make her happy and fill those in

The baby's dress looks blown out to me. Histograms and setting a white point indicate it is not, but I was wondering if you all felt it was to bright, or like it as is?

Toning it down helps preserve its detail, but as-is gives a better range of tones.

Thanks,

dnie

MikeK wrote:

Yep, I see them, a couple thin spots on the adults hair. I'll make her happy and fill those in

The baby's dress looks blown out to me. Histograms and setting a white point indicate it is not, but I was wondering if you all felt it was to bright, or like it as is?

Toning it down helps preserve its detail, but as-is gives a better range of tones.

Thanks,

Oh duh, I was looking at the baby, I see what you mean. yea, that needs some work.
Detail would be nice, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to to get too dark. I feel like the light quality adds to the purity, therefore the fair, aspect.

Halite

MikeK wrote:

So here's my lastest attempt, with the suggested cropping and some other subtle tweaks. It would be nice, as suggested, to lighten or remove the 2 railing posts in the background. Any tips on doing that in close to the heads and hair?

Thanks!
Mike

I wouldn't lighten them, since it's the brightness of the rails contrasting with the carpet that draws the eye away from the baby. So I would suggest darkening them to reduce that contrast. Here's a short tutorial on how to do a non-destructive burn of those areas:

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/dodge-burn/

If you're gentle around the hair, you should be able to reduce the contrast of these rails without doing too much unwanted altering of the hair. If you want to go further you'll need to do a layer mask to focus the burning just on the rails. Selecting the rail around the adult's hair would be relatively easy since the contrast is so high. It's harder to do around the baby's hair since the tones are much more similar. You might be able to tease out enough additional contrast to make a good selection of the rail by using a temporary levels or curves layer to dramatically increase the contrast between the rail tone and the tone of the baby's hair. Once you've made your mask, you just discard the temporary levels or curves layer so it has no lasting impact on the final image. Good luck.

MikeK

Thanks for the PS tips, sounds like just what I need, I will try those out tonight.

Thanks!

MikeK

I was unable to pull off a decent mask around all that hair, but the dodge/burn tutorial was excellent. I was able to paint right into the hair without it being noticeable. I darkened the railings up as far as I could without them getting banded and obviously messed with. Here's what I've got now with everyones great suggestions taken into consideration.

Thanks!

Halite

Nice work. Glad the tutorial worked well. For what it's worth, I tend to use the brush tool at 10% or less, depending on the image, versus the 10% to 20% indicated in this tutorial.

Your choice, of course, but I would probably crop a wee bit off the top of the image to eliminate as much of the rails as possible. For me, the tips of the lady's hair is unimportant to the message of the image, and a tighter crop doesn't look claustrophobic to my eye.

Katmitchell

Nice Mike
I like it... You did a great job on the rework and the crop is much nicer and pulls us right to the baby.. I love those catch lights in her eyes.. well done and best of luck to you..

Kat