1 shot of my Niece, PP critique

ZBlack

Just a candid shot at the zoo of my niece. It's actually rare when she smiles when a camera is near, so this shot is just fantastic in that regard. I realize not everything is frozen in the shot (her right hand). But I still love it anyways. The right hand around the sleeve, and the shadow is also where I had the hardest time trying to make that look somewhat normal.

I played around with a few things for post processing to make it much more lively. I would like your thoughts on primarily that, but anything to do with it at all is more than welcome.

1. Original


2. After

Cowboydoug

Howdy... Hey... Think about it... Here hand in motion is great... Shows she was beatin the drum... It's a nice touch.
What are you using for PP?

ZBlack

I was using Lightroom for some the basic exposure adjustments and such, but I was pretty happy with it straight out of camera, then I used Perfect Effects from OnOne. I can't recall the exact effects I used. It was 2 of them, one enhanced the tone on the drum and back wall a lot, and another enhanced the color and black of her jacket. The second effect made her skin tone really red, so I used the masking brush to remove it from her hair, face and hands so they looked more normal. Very new to post processing, and so far the simplicity of OnOne is great for me, but still very much learning all about that sort of thing.

Cowboydoug

I watched a super LR tutorial today by Matt Koslowski. If I were on my Mac I instead of my iPad I would have it in front of me but I'm sure you can search it. He is working on a redhead, a baby & a pumpkin... I think the search was for LR brushes... It's worth trying to find. Im a greenhorn to most of this PP stuff... Always had people to do it for me... Anyway...
I'm not overly thrilled with OnOnes stuff... It seems to run real chunky slow on my iMac even with 12 gb of ram.

Mike J

The post processing seems fine to me. I might tone her jacket down a bit though. I like the onOne software but I also find it to be buggy. My biggest nitpick with this shot is you need to be lower so you are not shooting down on her.

BrettDeutsch

Mike J wrote: »

The post processing seems fine to me. I might tone her jacket down a bit though. I like the onOne software but I also find it to be buggy. My biggest nitpick with this shot is you need to be lower so you are not shooting down on her.

I also think that the shot would have more impact if you were to crop it tighter. The background doesn't add anything in my view.

TomHarmon

The PP isnt too bad. I think the saturation in the colors are a little high, but other than that it looks good.

theprincereturns

I also vote for a tighter crop. Also instead of doing global contrast adjustments try some localized brushes in lightroom to get the contrast up on the drum and floor and wall in the background, but avoiding the jacket. I might do a little on the jacket and or add a little bit of exposure compensation, but just adding that much contrast is loosing detail in the dark areas on the jacket and looks a little overdone.

ZBlack

Thanks for the input I'll try some new stuff with the suggestions made and post back. Appreciate the feedback as I'm still definitely learning.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk, so all spelling and grammatical errors are not my doing.

PappyRoot

ZBlack wrote: »

Just a candid shot at the zoo of my niece. It's actually rare when she smiles when a camera is near, so this shot is just fantastic in that regard. I realize not everything is frozen in the shot (her right hand). But I still love it anyways. The right hand around the sleeve, and the shadow is also where I had the hardest time trying to make that look somewhat normal.

I played around with a few things for post processing to make it much more lively. I would like your thoughts on primarily that, but anything to do with it at all is more than welcome.

1. Original


2. After

I am confused, what is wrong with her hand in motion? It tells me it is not staged and that you caught such a precious moment. I say don't be too critical & just enjoy this beautiful shot. Wonderful job