what would be a good filter for portraits?

rosselliot

I ask y'all's help with your emmense knowledge in this conundrum I seem to be having.

I'm sick of editing photos on the desktop - in a short run: my laptop died, our desktop sucks, I'm sick of using photoshop on this crappy thing because it takes forever, so I can't for graduation when I'll be getting my brand new MacBook Pro 17" with all the bells and whistles I want. but until then I have to put up with "this." so either way, on to the question:

in my photos I really like the way it looks when I adjust the colors in photoshop elements with "adjust colors for skin tone" they look SO much better. then I'll do a little more tweaking and stuff, but I'd like to be able to edit a FEW and I put ALL of them on the internet without going through EVERY picture and editing EVERY SINGLE ONE of THEM.

so...what's a filter I could use to get good skin tones and make the background (such as trees or grass or blue skies) better?

also, what's a really good all around filter to have on my camera while on vacations?

I'd really appreciate whatever knowledge you can bestow unpo this!!!!


Thanks in advance!!!


- RE

Seymore

Well, I doubt if a filter will help your shots. Most of what you may want to pay attention to is setting your white balance to the environmental conditions at the time of shooting.

On another note, doing all the funky color changes in your post is somewhat childish and very distracting to the question you're trying to ask. It's sorta like typing your post in all CAPs. I'd suggest you may want to correct that back to something that's easier to read.

Andy

No filter will do this. Learn the proper techniques of lighting, setting white balance, and exposure at shoot. Learn to get and or correct to, good skin tone, in-post. http://www.smugmug.com/help/skin-tone

+1 on all the colors in the posted question. Bleh.

rosselliot

Seymore wrote:

Well, I doubt if a filter will help your shots. Most of what you may want to pay attention to is setting your white balance to the environmental conditions at the time of shooting.

On another note, doing all the funky color changes in your post is somewhat childish and very distracting to the question you're trying to ask. It's sorta like typing your post in all CAPs. I'd suggest you may want to correct that back to something that's easier to read.

well, if you had read only the orange sections, it would have taken you much less time to read, the number one blog for the past three years has only the main points emphasized, makes it faster because you don't have to read through all the jibberish. and since it was a long post I decided to help out. sorry it was unappreciated.

thanks for the help nonetheless.


- RE

steelephotography.com

I hope you have a skylight or uv on your lens now....
Polarizer is good for nice skies outdoors as well.

Agree w/ Andy on the technique for portraits, I don't know of a filter that cuts pp time.

Concur on the colors as well. Maybe I'm old fashioned.

DS

rosselliot

oh good god,

better?




thanks for the comments (minus the ones on the colors )

what would a polarizer do to portraits?

- RE

Andy

rosselliot wrote:

oh good god,

better?

Is what better?

what would a polarizer do to portraits?

- RE

Not help, unless the person was in water, IMO.

rosselliot

Andy wrote:

Is what better?quote]


the colors haha

gluwater

rosselliot wrote:

oh good god,

better?




thanks for the comments (minus the ones on the colors )

what would a polarizer do to portraits?

- RE

People are lazy, if a post is hard to read they pass it by without reading it. People are just trying to give you advice on how to get your post read. Leave the colors as default, they are easy to read and take you less time. Look at the attachment, that is how your black text looks with the default skin, can you read that? Also keep in mind that there is a skin with a white background, so don't do white text either.

As for your question. You are looking for a filter and program that does not exsist. Post Processing shots is part of shooting with a DSLR, think of it as developeing film. A polerizer will not really do anything for a portrait. It is meant to remove reflections from water, boost colors in landscapes and as a side effect will slow your shutter speed down. The best advice I could give you is get the in camera settings set the best you can and then shoot jpg. That way you will not have to process RAW, but if you do need to process a shot later you will have less options.

claudermilk

There isn't an easy shortcut.

There is no filter to improve portraits--yeah the net filters & soft-focus filters are meant for portraiture--but are just another tool to use only when you know why you're using it. Knowledge & experience are the keys, attained through lots of practice.

Dealing with a slow PC sucks, but PP on the computer is just part of the process. Tough it out until you can get the replacement. Been there, done that.

rosselliot

claudermilk wrote:

There isn't an easy shortcut.

There is no filter to improve portraits--yeah the net filters & soft-focus filters are meant for portraiture--but are just another tool to use only when you know why you're using it. Knowledge & experience are the keys, attained through lots of practice.

Dealing with a slow PC sucks, but PP on the computer is just part of the process. Tough it out until you can get the replacement. Been there, done that.

thank for the replies! I really appreciate it. there's so much knowledge here!!!

I think it looks like I'm better off with paying a lot of attention to the white balance, which isn't something I'm well-known for :S I'll work on it though.

however, I do feel a polarizer would help for other things though, I should look into it.

THANKS AGAIN!!!! sorry again about the crazy colors.

- RE

claudermilk

WB is very important & easy to deal with. Just go down to the local photo place & get yourself a greycard. Then shoot a WB frame just before a session & set your camera's custom WB to that frame. Done.