Help for processing bridal portraits (.CR2 files)

Pupator

Hi guys,

My wedding photo disaster saga is coming to an end as today Daphne and I went to the studios of Photo Lyrical Photography here in Charlotte and got the bridal potraits we'd been missing.

The photographer, Mimika, was fabulous and gave me the raw files for the 6 images we liked. Now it's time for the processing! Anyone care to lend a hand/take a stab at these with me?

I'm going to post thumbnails here with my initial thoughts for processing - let me know if you'd like the raws to give it a try. Otherwise, any help and ideas posted in this thread will be most appreciated!

I'll be using Lightroom, I2E Image Editor, & Paint Shop Pro X2.

It seems to me that the first step is to reduce the exposure by about 1/3 stop in A&B, and perhaps reduce it in E & F. Her dress isn't bright white, it's slightly off-white to avoid making her pale skin look downright ghostly. A slight S-curve will give it some more pop, I think. And I need to do something with the eyes to make them as vibrant as they are in real life.

Some can be cropped to remove the equipment, others will require cloning. Is the light reflected on the backdrop too bright? Do I need to clone out that glare...hmmm?
A. B.
C. D.
E. F.

aktpics

Hey! Real sorry to hear you are having problems with your wedding photos - especially around the holidays. Who needs all that stress! I would love to take a stab at them, but it would be mostly for my own experience...So if you are maxed out on all this already...There are tons of really talented image editors out here.

Image A doesn't look over exposed, but it's hard to tell because the image is so small - I am looking at Daphne's face.

You have a lovely bride, best of luck to you. If you post a link to the raw files or you can e-mail them...

SloYerRoll

While the work is not that tough. It's also not that easy. When your dealing with backgrouds that have dramatic light falloff. It can be tough to realistically clone.

From what I see on my calibrated monitor. You don't need to pull any stops for proper exposure. I'd play with your recovery slider in ACR or Lr if you want to bring back detail you see that's lost. SKin looks well exposed to me. I don't care if the dress or b/g is a tad blown if skin looks good.

Not sure why you'd send these shots through 3 applications. Why not just do all your edits in Lr then just bring in whatever app you use to clone for b/g? No matter what, make sure your color space is the same on each application, or you'll have disasterous results. No need in working harder than you need to.

Just some thoughts. Congrats on your new photos!

Cheers,
-Jon

Pupator

Thanks Jon and akt,

Your comments make me realize I need to clarify a few things.

I'm not running the photos through all 3 apps - I was just letting you know I have all three at my disposal. I should have been more clear.

My work monitor isn't calibrated, so I'm glad to hear that the exposure is right on.

I agree about the light falloff - that's the only part of this project that I think is extra difficult.

SloYerRoll

Pupator wrote:

Thanks Jon and akt,

Your comments make me realize I need to clarify a few things.

I'm not running the photos through all 3 apps - I was just letting you know I have all three at my disposal. I should have been more clear.

My work monitor isn't calibrated, so I'm glad to hear that the exposure is right on.

I agree about the light falloff - that's the only part of this project that I think is extra difficult.

In that case. I'd run all edits through Lr, export full sized images as jpeg using a sRGB color space & take it into paint shop and clone away.

Fin!

wellman

PM sent.

Pupator

Neither of my helpful volunteers are interested in "tooting their own horns," so I thought I'd post their results for you all. I'm interested to hear what others think of the corrections.

Greg and Alex - I'm thrilled that you two have been willing to help, thanks again!
bow

Greg's (wellman) versions:




And here's Alex's (aktpics):

aktpics

Pupator wrote:

Neither of my helpful volunteers are interested in "tooting their own horns," so I thought I'd post their results for you all. I'm interested to hear what others think of the corrections.

Greg and Alex - I'm thrilled that you two have been willing to help, thanks again!
bow

Greg's (wellman) versions:

It looks like Greg didn't set the white balance on Daphne's tinted dress like I did Nice job Greg!

Paul, how close is the color of the dress on Greg's?

Pupator

aktpics wrote:

It looks like Greg didn't set the white balance on Daphne's tinted dress like I did Nice job Greg!

Paul, how close is the color of the dress on Greg's?

He's pretty close. It's slightly more white than his version (at least as it's showing on this monitor).

I'll try to get a picture of it by itself up in just a moment.

wellman

aktpics wrote:

It looks like Greg didn't set the white balance on Daphne's tinted dress like I did Nice job Greg!

Paul, how close is the color of the dress on Greg's?

Thanks. Mine look a little warm to me now. Funny how your eye changes.

SloYerRoll

On my monitor, Greg's shots look a bit red & a tad hot on a few of them, Alex's look a bit blue. Just merge them and you should be golden! They are both well done though.

Hey Paul, is your home monitor calibrated?

I'm skinning a website tonight. But will toot my horn tomorrow if I can get a file. I'm sure my email is in my profile if you want to send a shot over Paul.

Cheers,
-Jon

Swartzy

I'd be thrilled to do these for you
If you can provide access to the RAW files for me, I'll take a run with it.

wellman

The difference in the eyes is great!

Swartzy

Ok....I was asked
to not post the original...so was sent the link with the watermark instead...in case some of you were wondering all the replies without seeing the imgages. Here's the final version of 1 shot I've edited..color balance...skin fix...sharpening...etc...spent about 20 minutes on it....I think it looks great but of course that's me....what do you all think?

Pupator

Swartzy wrote:

I agree with wellman on this - the eyes are really great. Also, the color of the dress is nice. The two odds colors I see are her hair, which seems to have a bit too much yellow in the highlights - and her right arm, which is a bit too pale.

I'm really excited though guys - all three of your versions have been better than the ones I've been working on! That's only a good thing because I'm learning as we go along.

Swartzy

Yes...
Her right arm is a bit washed due to the skin processing used....fortunately, I have the psd file saved and can mask that layer and bring it back....like I mentioned....monitors are all different as they are illuminating from behind to where prints are reflective....in print it may not look this way....now the hair??? not certain about that....since I don't see her each day.......hmmm. The skin tones are accurate (color wise) but may rework the processing.......in any case...the overly pastel pinkish was over powering the entire photo as the dress seems corrected, hence skin tones, hair too?????......I'll do a few things to see if we can't bring it back.

Fun stuff for sure.....my hope is to provide you with images to print and get this nightmare overwith......so sorry that you've had to deal with this since wedding day.