Blues Blending

Pixel Popper

Pixel Popper

I've been shooting for many years but, amazingly, I never had Photoshop with which to work. I got by using Lightroom 3. Well, I finally bit the bullet and laid out the money for Photoshop CS5, as well as for taking some online classes and tutorials to get up to speed. I've only had the software for a few weeks, and the studies have just scratched the surface of all that there is to learn in that software, but I finally feel like I am making some progress into understanding the program. I shot this image of my little girl as she was between opening presents on Christmas day. Then I started playing around with blending modes to see if I could mix her image into a different background, and this is the result.

I am anxious to hear your thoughts and comments. Thank you.

LittleLew

I think this is quite nicely conceived and executed with two small nits.
The divot in the fence on the left is very bright and pulls the eye. I would darken that considerably.
She is right dead center and thus the space to the left is sort of orphaned.

Lew

LittleLew

I think this is quite nicely conceived and executed with two small nits.
The divot in the fence on the left is very bright and pulls the eye. I would darken that considerably.
She is right dead center and thus the space to the left is sort of orphaned.

Lew

Cowboydoug

I think it is wonderful just the way it is... Isn't PS fun?

LittleLew

Cowboydoug wrote: »

I think it is wonderful just the way it is..

Without attempting to start an argument, it might be useful if you say why a central point of interest is OK in this image and why you think that bright spot in the fence isn't distracting?
That will give the OP some basis for internalizing these comments and placing them in a context.

Pixel Popper

LittleLew wrote: »

I think this is quite nicely conceived and executed with two small nits.
The divot in the fence on the left is very bright and pulls the eye. I would darken that considerably.
She is right dead center and thus the space to the left is sort of orphaned.

Lew

Thank you. And thanks for taking the time to share your observations. I tend to agree with the nits to some degree. I originally wanted to place the girl farther to the left and a little lower in the composition, which I agree would have been more interesting than having her high and centered. The problem there is the surface quality of the wood in the fence, as there are lightly colored squiggles and streaks that would fall on her face, and were considerably more distracting on her face than are the rust colored streaks that are in this alignment. At least, in my opinion.

As to the brightness of the divot, I had tried an earlier version that had it considerably toned down, much like in your example, but it wasn't quite working for me. One of the things I hoped to accomplish on the conceptual level was to give this image more depth, and an almost surreal sense of 3D. The idea was to portray the very thin line between physical reality and our ability to virtually and instantaneously lapse into an almost trance-like state, during which we can fixate our gaze a moment in time that only exists in a small pocket of memory. Yet, it is so REAL that seems it could occupy even a part of our physical sense of vision. I wanted to imagine and visually represent that kind of moment in this composition.

My take on how to possibly accomplish that vision was to make it look layered, with the girl occupying the space just behind the surface of the wall, and those other details appearing to be slightly out front. To do that, I masked away the divot, the No Parking sign, and the rusty nails and their trailings. Then, I went about adjusting the rest of the fence to add more contrast, saturation, push the color balance a bit more blue and magenta, leaving the masked areas untouched. Then, I added a slight brightness adjustment to those masked areas so that those details would specifically stand out against the darker tones of the fence.

And finally, to help along my metaphor of fleeting memory occupying current reality, I thought I would try to give the back layer, the girl, the look of having been projected from an old projector with a dim lamp, that is slightly off kilter in its aim, thus the heavy vignetting to her left side, and to a much lesser extent, farther to the right. In that context, I don't feel like the left side is orphaned because the dark negative space frames and gives shape to the projection "effect".

So that's what I was thinking about while making this image. Whether or not it was successful, I'll leave that for observers to decide. But I appreciate your comments. I strongly considered both of them in the making, but ultimately went in a different direction.

LittleLew

Thanks for great response.

Lew

zoomer

Fun idea and it came our nice.
I wouldn't clean it up either. I like a few distractions in a shot like this...it all evens out... once you start where do you stop?
I like it how it is.
Did you look at it in black and white with strong contrast...does it make her stand out more??

...if you do another one of these....just a thought...maybe paste her in focus photo onto a photo of the wall which is somewhat out of focus....just an idea.

Cowboydoug

Lewy Lew Ah...oh oh...

LittleLew wrote: »

Without attempting to start an argument, it might be useful if you say why a central point of interest is OK in this image and why you think that bright spot in the fence isn't distracting?
That will give the OP some basis for internalizing these comments and placing them in a context.

Little Lew... I dig ya man... no worries here... I'm a lot like you generally... and personally... I like input on my images & I generally offer more than my fair share about others...(wanted or not) <br> if you have read any of my previous posts you would see I can be quite direct and I'm not afraid to say what's on my mind. I think all of us need to be direct and agree with you that more should be said than (I LIKE IT)... pro or con without being rude... We should share our thoughts on each others images, it only makes us think and perhaps become better photographers... and we should be direct... Especially when a noob or a semi-pro really NEEDS the truth...
<br>There are a lot of people who want to be a pro and to photograph like a pro, even though the public might be better served were they to keep their day jobs...lol But as long as they/we are here we should all work towards helping each other to be all that we can be... So we agree on that I think.
<br> Having said that... I have some real crap posted on here... What do ya think of it? haha
<br> As for this photo... ( I like it)...lol

Pixel Popper

Cowboydoug wrote: »

I think it is wonderful just the way it is... Isn't PS fun?

Thank you. Yes, I'm having a blast learning Photoshop. Right now, I'd say I know just enough to be dangerous. Still lots of study and practice ahead, but I am excited about the possibilities opening up.

Pixel Popper

zoomer wrote: »

Fun idea and it came our nice.
I wouldn't clean it up either. I like a few distractions in a shot like this...it all evens out... once you start where do you stop?
I like it how it is.
Did you look at it in black and white with strong contrast...does it make her stand out more??

...if you do another one of these....just a thought...maybe paste her in focus photo onto a photo of the wall which is somewhat out of focus....just an idea.

Thank you! I haven't tried the black and white approach, but I'll give it a shot. If it's worth seeing, I'll re-post here for the comparison.

Cowboydoug

BTW... for what it's ... I like your original crop much better... Even the extra light on the area of the paint chip ... I just think it's better... It is just a neater photo with all the extra space and is BETTER...lol
I just wanted to see how many times I could use better But it is better.....