all three are excellent, though I find the first most striking... and, with regard to the first I'd say only that her face could do with a little less blur and those buses in the background are unfortunate... oh yes, and I'd crop it down to just above her head... that extra space diminishes the imposing effect of the angle at which it was shot (cropping here would 'lengthen' her legs)
We are the music-makers; and we are the dreamers of dreams.
... come along.
Considering this is my first post I wanted to say I like it here alot. Second I like these photos as well and you present a very nice mood. I would like to see her face a little sharper, but overall very well done!
Considering this is my first post I wanted to say I like it here alot. Second I like these photos as well and you present a very nice mood. I would like to see her face a little sharper, but overall very well done!
well, may be the first to welcome you to dgrin, Trilogy.
I have been told before to get the color fixed on my monitor, so it probably is green. I tried an action on these and I think it did blur them too much.
I will try cropping the first one - I was trying for that long leg look so I will take your advise on that LeDude.
And thw bus shouldn't be a problem to take out.
and gefillmore... will you shut up already, quit rattling on...kidding, I wouldn't want it any other way, the more I get from everone the more I get from everyone (did that make sense)
thanks everyone, anymore?
Is it me and my crappy monitor? Or, is there a green hue to the pictures?
Giselle all the poses are great. I particularly like the first one but her face is a little too shadowed. I agree with others that you are using way too much blur. A young girl like her needs very little if any. I also am seeing a slightly greenish cast especially in the 2nd and 3rd shots. It's almost as if your curves aren't adjusted correctly, but I'm not sure what's causing it. Good job on the poses, I'm sure your friend will love any of them!
#1 is probably not going to look good cropped any further down. It will force her head closer to the border and become even less the focus of attention. Her face needs less blur, more contrast or something to give her eyes and lips more definition. The skin tonality is best in #1, but we (the viewers) need more to draw/focus our attention. The pose is great. I agree the busses have to go.
#2 has a slight greenish cast, and her chest is too bright and has not enough depth. (... and a pox upon me for looking at her chest in the first place.) Her neck has great length in this image. (... and another pox upon me ...)
#3 is a very interesting pose. There is more greenish cast than the other two images, and again her face has too little definition. Her eyes and mouth need to be protected from the softening process, which works well for her skin.
ziggy53 (The current, self proclaimed, "King of Ugly".)
Is it me and my crappy monitor? Or, is there a green hue to the pictures?
Yeah, I thought it was just my monitor, but the last two for sure seem green to me. Can't tell about the first one.
I do think, after the color cast is taken care of that there are three very excellent images. Having to vote, I would say the third one is my favorite.
The composition is great.
The model is beautiful.
Her poses are great.
Unfortunately, your blur technique (as the others have mentioned) kills the image.
It appears that you're going for a "soft glow" type effect. If you're using photoshop, try this technique:
1. duplicate the layer
2. add a guassian blur so that the skin softens quite a bit.
3. change the layer's blend mode to soft light or overlay. I prefer softlight since the effect isn't as drastic. You can also tune the effect by changing the opacity of the layer.
For even more advanced control, you can click the layer styles button, choose blending options and use the "blend if" controls to soften up the dark areas by spliting the black slider.
If you're interested in learning this technique, you can post one of your images without any post processing and I can walk you through it.
The composition is great.
The model is beautiful.
Her poses are great.
Unfortunately, your blur technique (as the others have mentioned) kills the image.
It appears that you're going for a "soft glow" type effect. If you're using photoshop, try this technique:
1. duplicate the layer
2. add a guassian blur so that the skin softens quite a bit.
3. change the layer's blend mode to soft light or overlay. I prefer softlight since the effect isn't as drastic. You can also tune the effect by changing the opacity of the layer.
For even more advanced control, you can click the layer styles button, choose blending options and use the "blend if" controls to soften up the dark areas by spliting the black slider.
If you're interested in learning this technique, you can post one of your images without any post processing and I can walk you through it.
Nikos
Thanks for the technigue, I will try it. If I have a hard time with it, I will take you up on your generous offer. I will post my "fixed" image soon.
Thanks for posting the image. One thing that I noticed is that your pics are set in the AdobeRGB color space. I use AdobeRGB for printing but if you want to post pics on the web, the colors will be far better if you convert a copy to sRGB.
All you have to do in Photoshop CS or CS2 is go to the EDIT menu, choose CONVERT TO PROFILE and select the sRGB from the DESTINATION pull down menu. Now when you post your image on the web, you'll be in the proper color space and your pics will have a lot more depth to them.
I cropped the image to save some space.
Here's your original image:
Here's the image converted to sRGB:
And here's the image with the Soft Glow procedure:
Here's the procedure:
1. duplicate the layer
2. goto FILTERS / BLUR / GAUSSIAN BLUR
3. choose about 5 - 6 (larger resolution images will require more blur).
4. set the layer's blend mode to SOFT LIGHT You can stop here but if you lose too much shadow information, then proceed to the next steps. You are going to effectively punch through the layer and let the shadows from the background layer show through by using the BLEND IF controls.
5. click the layer styles button on the bottom of the layer palette (it looks like a scriptive f on the left side) and choose BLENDING OPTIONS.
6. Using the top (this layer) BLEND IF slider, slide it from the left to the right to about the 30. You're going to see the shadows punch through to the image in a coarse fashion. Don't worry, this will be smoothed out in the next step.
7. Each slider has 2 parts to it, if you hold down the OPTION key, click to the right of the slider and drag it to the 80 position. This will split the slider in two and create a nice, smooth transition for the shadows to show through.
When I use the BLEND IF shadows, I usually try to just bring back the shadows in key areas of the image -- eyes, face, hair etc.
EDIT: added another picture
This last picture is touched up w/various dodge/burning techniques which adds more body to the hair & decreases the attention to Amanda's hands which are brighter than her face. It was finished with a final sharpening which is slightly overdone but you get the idea.
Ok, I like what was done with Photo Three. the Greener Glass is a nice touch. Pretty Subject helps as well. Her hand looks a little off maybe palm down.
Comments
... come along.
im no critic, i can only say that this one #3 stands out for me - actually i think its a great image.
troy
love the photos except-
ledude mentioned the buses-you could probably clone those out of the pic-
he also mentioned blur--I think you've got too much-
it's hard to say where your subject's color should be, but I think it might be off some-
hope you don't mind; just trying to help-
besides, these are just my thoughts-
and your subject is very pretty-
pps?- I vote for #3-maybe the only thing off on it is color (maybe)-
www.casongarner.com
5D MkII | 30D | 50mm f1.8 II | 85mm f1.8 | 24-70mm f2.8L | 70-200mm f2.8L IS II | Manfrotto 3021BPRO with 322RC2
I want to be clear that overall I think these shots are nicely done-
www.jennifernicholsonphotography.com
All three of them are awesome...
I like #3 the most
great job ! - jr
SmugMug Sites - Creative Examples
Favorite Images and SmugMug Designs
I have been told before to get the color fixed on my monitor, so it probably is green. I tried an action on these and I think it did blur them too much.
I will try cropping the first one - I was trying for that long leg look so I will take your advise on that LeDude.
And thw bus shouldn't be a problem to take out.
and gefillmore... will you shut up already, quit rattling on...kidding, I wouldn't want it any other way, the more I get from everone the more I get from everyone (did that make sense)
thanks everyone, anymore?
Giselle all the poses are great. I particularly like the first one but her face is a little too shadowed. I agree with others that you are using way too much blur. A young girl like her needs very little if any. I also am seeing a slightly greenish cast especially in the 2nd and 3rd shots. It's almost as if your curves aren't adjusted correctly, but I'm not sure what's causing it. Good job on the poses, I'm sure your friend will love any of them!
#1 is probably not going to look good cropped any further down. It will force her head closer to the border and become even less the focus of attention. Her face needs less blur, more contrast or something to give her eyes and lips more definition. The skin tonality is best in #1, but we (the viewers) need more to draw/focus our attention. The pose is great. I agree the busses have to go.
#2 has a slight greenish cast, and her chest is too bright and has not enough depth. (... and a pox upon me for looking at her chest in the first place.) Her neck has great length in this image. (... and another pox upon me ...)
#3 is a very interesting pose. There is more greenish cast than the other two images, and again her face has too little definition. Her eyes and mouth need to be protected from the softening process, which works well for her skin.
ziggy53 (The current, self proclaimed, "King of Ugly".)
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
I do think, after the color cast is taken care of that there are three very excellent images. Having to vote, I would say the third one is my favorite.
My Photos
Thoughts on photographing a wedding, How to post a picture, AF Microadjustments?, Light Scoop
Equipment List - Check my profile
The model is beautiful.
Her poses are great.
Unfortunately, your blur technique (as the others have mentioned) kills the image.
It appears that you're going for a "soft glow" type effect. If you're using photoshop, try this technique:
1. duplicate the layer
2. add a guassian blur so that the skin softens quite a bit.
3. change the layer's blend mode to soft light or overlay. I prefer softlight since the effect isn't as drastic. You can also tune the effect by changing the opacity of the layer.
For even more advanced control, you can click the layer styles button, choose blending options and use the "blend if" controls to soften up the dark areas by spliting the black slider.
If you're interested in learning this technique, you can post one of your images without any post processing and I can walk you through it.
Nikos
Thanks for the technigue, I will try it. If I have a hard time with it, I will take you up on your generous offer. I will post my "fixed" image soon.
Reshoot #2 from eye level and less-is-more on the soft focus post work. stunning model.
Thanks for posting the image. One thing that I noticed is that your pics are set in the AdobeRGB color space. I use AdobeRGB for printing but if you want to post pics on the web, the colors will be far better if you convert a copy to sRGB.
All you have to do in Photoshop CS or CS2 is go to the EDIT menu, choose CONVERT TO PROFILE and select the sRGB from the DESTINATION pull down menu. Now when you post your image on the web, you'll be in the proper color space and your pics will have a lot more depth to them.
I cropped the image to save some space.
Here's your original image:
Here's the image converted to sRGB:
And here's the image with the Soft Glow procedure:
Here's the procedure:
1. duplicate the layer
2. goto FILTERS / BLUR / GAUSSIAN BLUR
3. choose about 5 - 6 (larger resolution images will require more blur).
4. set the layer's blend mode to SOFT LIGHT
You can stop here but if you lose too much shadow information, then proceed to the next steps. You are going to effectively punch through the layer and let the shadows from the background layer show through by using the BLEND IF controls.
5. click the layer styles button on the bottom of the layer palette (it looks like a scriptive f on the left side) and choose BLENDING OPTIONS.
6. Using the top (this layer) BLEND IF slider, slide it from the left to the right to about the 30. You're going to see the shadows punch through to the image in a coarse fashion. Don't worry, this will be smoothed out in the next step.
7. Each slider has 2 parts to it, if you hold down the OPTION key, click to the right of the slider and drag it to the 80 position. This will split the slider in two and create a nice, smooth transition for the shadows to show through.
When I use the BLEND IF shadows, I usually try to just bring back the shadows in key areas of the image -- eyes, face, hair etc.
EDIT: added another picture
This last picture is touched up w/various dodge/burning techniques which adds more body to the hair & decreases the attention to Amanda's hands which are brighter than her face. It was finished with a final sharpening which is slightly overdone but you get the idea.
Hope this helps,
Nikos
Bogan Tripod. Gaint Yukon 25' Bike,
Like it or not we most often get what we deserve in the end.