Jacob composite comparison

Gaby617

I have been trying to figure out when images seem to be to warm or not warm enough. Although alot is personnel preference, I wanted to share a composite I did last night. At first I liked the first image but then decided to bump down the temp to -10 from -5 on LR and now im just confused on which I would prefer. I would like to hear some of your opinions on which one you feel is better and some advice maybe on how you guys tackle this issue in your editing flow.

Sam

I much prefer your first image. The slight warm tone seems to enhance the girls skin tone and hair color.

Sam

michaelglenn

As of right now, the warmer image complements the background nicely. However, if you were going for a grunge look, I'd go with the colder image and increase the blacks quite a bit to give it more of a punch.

Gaby617

Sam wrote: »

I much prefer your first image. The slight warm tone seems to enhance the girls skin tone and hair color.

Sam

Thanks... unfortunately its a boy hence the title ... lol

michaelglenn wrote: »

As of right now, the warmer image complements the background nicely. However, if you were going for a grunge look, I'd go with the colder image and increase the blacks quite a bit to give it more of a punch.

Will I tried a technique I read on here on how to make a the background and subject (2 different layers) range in similar color tones. Will try to punch up the blacks and see how it looks. Im always nervous about adding to much black to a image... gotta shake it off. Thanks.

Dreadnote

Just as a stand alone shot without any further context I prefer the warmer image for he same reason that Sam stated. That being said, I didn't pay enough attention to the title either, and fifty looks later, I still don't believe that's a boy. There is something about the lips and hair that screams girl to me. I think you need to re-shoot this kid in a more dominant masculine posture if its really a boy. Or, if you have other shots I'd love to see them.

Tonto

I prefer the second version to the original, the slight desaturation makes it look crisper and punchier without being too grungy.

Gaby617

Dreadnote wrote: »

Just as a stand alone shot without any further context I prefer the warmer image for he same reason that Sam stated. That being said, I didn't pay enough attention to the title either, and fifty looks later, I still don't believe that's a boy. There is something about the lips and hair that screams girl to me. I think you need to re-shoot this kid in a more dominant masculine posture if its really a boy. Or, if you have other shots I'd love to see them.

A little backstory.. this is my brother inlaws kid from out of state. Him and his sisters come down once every couple of months so He doesn't see them much. Where he lives in Maine I guess is the thing now for boys his age to have highlights (which I totally make fun of and his father gets pissed). The kid lives for video games and in this pic I pulled him away from the xbox to shoot a couple shots for my brother inlaw to have. This kid can't stand taking pictures. I make fun of his Beiber dew every chance I get. Maybe cause I physically know him I don't see how he looks like a girl but hey it may be good for him to read this next time he visits... lol!

Tonto wrote: »

I prefer the second version to the original, the slight desaturation makes it look crisper and punchier without being too grungy.

I tried to bump the blacks and I wasn't really to happy w/ the grungy feel. The composite was more of a experiment in taking a background completely different in tonal range and a in studio (my living room) subject and making them evenly toned or atleast attempt to.

michaelglenn

Gaby617 wrote: »

Will I tried a technique I read on here on how to make a the background and subject (2 different layers) range in similar color tones. Will try to punch up the blacks and see how it looks. Im always nervous about adding to much black to a image... gotta shake it off. Thanks.

Definitely give it a shot. The grunge look makes him look a little more masculine, however, to improve this shot further, his shoulders should be more relaxed. In this photograph, they look tense and more narrow. Being tense makes him look less broad, hence, less masculine. To make him perceive bigger in size, shooting this from a slightly lower angle would totally do the trick. Just my two cents.

Here is how I would go about this type of photograph. Not much was done other than increasing blacks, and a slight dodge+burn. Definitely post your version here though! (I used the colder version image by the way).

Hackbone

Definitely like the redo the best.

Gaby617

michaelglenn wrote: »

Here is how I would go about this type of photograph. Not much was done other than increasing blacks, and a slight dodge+burn. Definitely post your version here though! (I used the colder version image by the way).

Thanks for your edit. For me I feel theres too much black and as I mentioned before I have always been cautious w/ that. I took a stab @ adding some more black and a few other minor edits to something I would probably feel comfortable w/...

Hackbone wrote: »

Definitely like the redo the best.

Thanks for commenting, where you referring to Michael's edit or my cooler edit? This site has been extremely helpful and i'm just trying to absorb as much as possible.

michaelglenn

Gaby617 wrote: »

Thanks for your edit. For me I feel theres too much black and as I mentioned before I have always been cautious w/ that. I took a stab @ adding some more black and a few other minor edits to something I would probably feel comfortable w/...

You're welcome! I tend to be more heavy-handed with my editing, so I'm glad to see what you came up with. I like your redo a lot, it definitely brings more character to the image