First "paying" Senior portrait shoot

GoofBckt

My first "paying" Senior portrait shoot (very casual). This young woman wanted beach shots and it was hazy but bright. She was really cute and fun to shoot. C&C Welcome. (Shot with a Canon D40, Canon 70-200mm F4 L)
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marikris

Hi! I think you can use a bit of brightening and contrast on these. I'm sending you a pm right now to show what I mean.

bendruckerphoto

+1. A lot of these lack pop, partially because of the haze. Nothing that can't be fixed in PP.

GoofBckt

Would you be willing to help me out? Tell me what I can do in PP to make these pop. I tried bumping up the saturation on alot of them, but it had a tendency to turn her hair auburn or red and she doesn't have red hair. I didn't want them to look fake. Thanks for the advice.

bendruckerphoto wrote:

+1. A lot of these lack pop, partially because of the haze. Nothing that can't be fixed in PP.

marikris

Carrie, don't only bump saturation (and if you do, do it in tiny increments only). Here's three different ways I fiddled with it this morning in Photoshop.

Simple curves adjustment



Duplicate layer > overlay > merge > curves adjustment



This one I sent you last night that might be a bit bright. This is with three different curve adjustment layer on top (each set to 10-18% opacity) and a channel mixer layer at 50% opacity (red 160%, blue and green -30%) with her masked out.


Anyway, experiment with the flavor you like. Your basic arsenal is Brightness/contrast, levels, curves and don't forget to adjust the layer opacity. Dodge and burn too.

bendruckerphoto

marikris gave you some good advice. If you'd like to email me a file and have me do some post processing in a PSD and send it back so you can see what adjustments I did, I'd be happy to do so.

GoofBckt

Thanks, that DOES look better, but not overly obvious. I like it. I have some work to do.

marikris wrote:

Carrie, don't only bump saturation (and if you do, do it in tiny increments only). Here's three different ways I fiddled with it this morning in Photoshop.

Simple curves adjustment



Duplicate layer > overlay > merge > curves adjustment



This one I sent you last night that might be a bit bright. This is with three different curve adjustment layer on top (each set to 10-18% opacity) and a channel mixer layer at 50% opacity (red 160%, blue and green -30%) with her masked out.


Anyway, experiment with the flavor you like. Your basic arsenal is Brightness/contrast, levels, curves and don't forget to adjust the layer opacity. Dodge and burn too.

whiteagle

Good job making the best out of a crumby day.

Check out this thread. That's how I would correct them. You might even be able to create an action that would work for all or almost all of the ones you shot that day. The lightness channel is going to be the one that'll take tweaking with each image, but the A and B channels should all pretty much be the same. Also, that book is worth it's weight in gold.

GoofBckt

Are these better?
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Thanks for looking again.

whiteagle wrote:

Good job making the best out of a crumby day.

Check out this thread. That's how I would correct them. You might even be able to create an action that would work for all or almost all of the ones you shot that day. The lightness channel is going to be the one that'll take tweaking with each image, but the A and B channels should all pretty much be the same. Also, that book is worth it's weight in gold.

bendruckerphoto

The first is much worse. Notice how you created strong blown highlights in the nose and face by overdoing your adjustments. You improved the others by a lot, however.

marikris

I agree with Ben. #4 looks good to me. You can also try going to LAB mode, hit apply image > soft light 25%ish, then experiment in either LAB or B channel, then press ok.

GoofBckt

No offense, I don't know what you're talking about with "channels and lab" etc. I use PS Elements 7. Are you referring to CS3 or 4 functions? I don't have full photoshop. lol

marikris wrote:

I agree with Ben. #4 looks good to me. You can also try going to LAB mode, hit apply image > soft light 25%ish, then experiment in either LAB or B channel, then press ok.

marikris

GoofBckt wrote:

No offense, I don't know what you're talking about with "channels and lab" etc. I use PS Elements 7. Are you referring to CS3 or 4 functions? I don't have full photoshop. lol

Oh none taken! Yes CS3. Drats!

GoofBckt

I know, drats here too. Easy assumption to make.

marikris wrote:

Oh none taken! Yes CS3. Drats!