My best friend

Mustangfreak · August 5, 2004

thoughts?

ginger_55 · August 5, 2004

Mustangfreak wrote:

thoughts?

I love that lighting Mustang, you did that well. And she looks very nice.

A good soft light portrait, natural light.

ginger

DJ-S1 · August 5, 2004

Really nice, and a great look in her eyes. I was wondering if you might try cloning out or cropping to remove that bright section on the left edge at eye level? It's a bit distracting to me, but it's just a nit pick.

Oh, and welcome!

wxwax · August 6, 2004

Hi Mustangfreak, great to have you here. That's a really nice portrait. Good lighting on her face and nice expression and pose. Good composition. The bright background's a bit distracting. Do you have a software program for messing around with photos? If so, you might try to darken the background and her arm - that way her face will really stand out against the dark background.

cletus · August 6, 2004

Hiya MustangFreak!

First off, welcome to dgrin. Second, great shot! Third, keep up the good work and be sure to stick around!

snapapple · August 6, 2004

Mustangfreak wrote:

thoughts?

Hi there, welcome! Beautiful shot. Love the natural light. The background is a little distracting, but in a way, it's nice to have her in a natural setting. Trying to keep her as natural as possible, just a smidgeon of touch up could help. Hope you don't mind if I tried a quickie. Just darkened the background and her arm and a touch of blur on her face. What do you think?

Mustangfreak · August 6, 2004

nice PS!

wxwax · August 7, 2004

Snapapple, that looks pretty good. I might be tempted to darken the background even more - the change seems quite subtle right now.

wxwax · August 7, 2004

Sam · August 7, 2004

Mustangfreak wrote:

thoughts?

OK! I have refrained from commenting on this photo for three days, but it keeps staying at the top so here goes.

Disclaimer: I in no way wish to denigrate or diss you or your friend. That said, on my monitor it looks horrable! she looks like an alian from Star Trek. I realize this is a low resolution photo, and I normally take that into account, but this one seems so bad, technically, that I can't really determine if it's good or not.

It appears to me that there is a ton of artifacts, defects, not sure of terminology, on her face.

Again the full version bay be wonderfull.

So Is it my monitor, or what? Are you seeing what I am seeing?

Thanks

Sam

cmr164 · August 7, 2004

wxwax wrote:

I hope you do not mind is I expess some negative comments...

I think this mod is too contrasty, the freckles and the tip of the nose in particular. I also do not like the blurring. I think it needs to be backed off a lot. Sorry if it sounds harsh it is just me and others may feel differently.

Mustangfreak · August 7, 2004

Sam wrote:

OK! I have refrained from commenting on this photo for three days, but it keeps staying at the top so here goes.

Disclaimer: I in no way wish to denigrate or diss you or your friend. That said, on my monitor it looks horrable! she looks like an alian from Star Trek. I realize this is a low resolution photo, and I normally take that into account, but this one seems so bad, technically, that I can't really determine if it's good or not.

It appears to me that there is a ton of artifacts, defects, not sure of terminology, on her face.

Again the full version bay be wonderfull.

So Is it my monitor, or what? Are you seeing what I am seeing?

Thanks

Sam

are you talking about her freckles? or her acne? the only reason she has acne is because shes on some medication that the Air Force (we are both Airmen) gave her. But, since you did not mean to offend her or me, I guess I cant be upset. I know my works are onky amature and cant please everyone

snapapple · August 7, 2004

Hey there Mustang Freak...We need your input here...

snapapple wrote:

Hi there, welcome! Beautiful shot. Love the natural light. The background is a little distracting, but in a way, it's nice to have her in a natural setting. Trying to keep her as natural as possible, just a smidgeon of touch up could help. Hope you don't mind if I tried a quickie. Just darkened the background and her arm and a touch of blur on her face. What do you think?

I still like my approach. I assumed we were working with a "candid" type shot, not a portrait. Your friend has freckles. Freckles are beautiful. Acne is not really beautiful. So, I cloned out the defects and kept the natural. The background likewise. In a candid, we like to have a sense of place. Maybe you want to remember where you were when this shot was taken. The light above her head is still a distraction, but you could decide to crop it tighter, clone it out or whatever. I guessed that you would prefer to keep the shot as natural as possible. I would want my friend to look like herself.

I am assuming that you have some sort of photo software. Why don't you try a little touch up yourself and show it to us. We're a friendly bunch, and really didn't mean to massacre your shot. Sometimes we just get carried away.

wxwax · August 7, 2004

cmr164 wrote:

I hope you do not mind is I expess some negative comments...

I think this mod is too contrasty, the freckles and the tip of the nose in particular. I also do not like the blurring. I think it needs to be backed off a lot. Sorry if it sounds harsh it is just me and others may feel differently.

You SOB, I know where you live, and there's only 6 million of you to sort through, so beware!

No problem at all Charles, feedback is good. I played with several styles, and I kinda liked this one. Some would say it's too dark, too.

wxwax · August 7, 2004

Sam wrote:

OK! I have refrained from commenting on this photo for three days, but it keeps staying at the top so here goes.

Gotta say I don't see it the way you see it, sam. She has a lovely expression, the framing leaves opportunities, and I'm not seeing the artifacts you see.

I do see a blown out area on her left forehead and also along the bridge of her nose. But given the circumstances, I'd say that 'stang got a good shot that can be made really good with some post-processing.

As we can see from this discussion, there are lots of opinions about what those post-processing improvements should be!

snapapple · August 7, 2004

Sam, you must have a really bad monitor...

Sam wrote:

OK! I have refrained from commenting on this photo for three days, but it keeps staying at the top so here goes.

Disclaimer: I in no way wish to denigrate or diss you or your friend. That said, on my monitor it looks horrable! she looks like an alian from Star Trek. I realize this is a low resolution photo, and I normally take that into account, but this one seems so bad, technically, that I can't really determine if it's good or not.

It appears to me that there is a ton of artifacts, defects, not sure of terminology, on her face.

Again the full version bay be wonderfull.

So Is it my monitor, or what? Are you seeing what I am seeing?

Thanks

Sam

Sam, this photo is not thechnically bad. It is a lovely candid shot in natural light. It is just not retouched. You could try being a little more tactful with a new member. You may need to check your monitor.

snapapple · August 7, 2004

Sorry Sid, I agree with Charles...

wxwax wrote:

I think your fix is way too dark and I don't care for the blur either. Seems like the wrong mood for a fresh young girl. I tried to do just a minimum touch up so as not to offend Mustang Freak. She may have her own ideas on how she wants her friend to look.

wxwax · August 7, 2004

snapapple wrote:

I think your fix is way too dark and I don't care for the blur either. Seems like the wrong mood for a fresh young girl. I tried to do just a minimum touch up so as not to offend Mustang Freak. She may have her own ideas on how she wants her friend to look.

Thanks for the feedback!

snapapple · August 7, 2004

Hey there Mustangfreak...
I went back and did some more work on this. The others thought the changes were a little too subtle. I didn't do any global changes. I spent a fair amount of time touching up by hand. I used the clone tool and the blur tool on the face. I darkened the background a little more. I was careful not to darken the slight highlight on the top of her head. I used curves to darken the brightest areas a bit to tone down the forehead. Then after darkening it, I brightened it up using lighting effects. I picked a warm color for the light and angled it from the top to avoid hitting the already highlighted part of her forehead. This brightened up the eye area and the cheek.

I wouldn't change anything else. I like being able to see the background. I was careful not to blur the hairline and the tiny hairs coming out from the head. These add naturalness to the picture. And, I definitely didn't blur the eyes or the eyebrows or lips. I hit the eyes with the dodge tool to brighten the highlights. I love the way you caught the light in her eyes. This picture really didn't need much PS. It's a beautiful shot. I'd frame it just like this. If she were my daughter or friend, I'd be proud to give her a copy of this.
Hope you like it.

Sam · August 7, 2004

snapapple wrote:

Sam, this photo is not thechnically bad. It is a lovely candid shot in natural light. It is just not retouched. You could try being a little more tactful with a new member. You may need to check your monitor.

I apologize profusely! Sometimes communicating via the written word can be difficult. I have NO intention of saying anything negitive about the photographer or his friend. I didn't have anything negitive to say about the composition, light, backgroud, or anything else. My query is with regard to the quality of the photo as I see it on my monitor. I was attempting to relate what I was seeing, not being negitive about her. I can see a few freclkes clearly, and one or two acne spots. That's not what I was asking about. The rest of the face seems to be full of artificial "stuff". Why am I seeing this stuff on this photo when it appears by your replys you are not? Sometimes the photos posted are crystal clear and other times they are not. This one just seems to be very bad on my monitor. Why can I see some very clear and other not so clear?

Again my apologies.

cmr164 · August 7, 2004

wxwax wrote:

You SOB, I know where you live, and there's only 6 million of you to sort through, so beware!

No problem at all Charles, feedback is good. I played with several styles, and I kinda liked this one. Some would say it's too dark, too.

That has been said before:(:

Seamaiden · August 8, 2004

I really liked the photo as it is. LEAVE the freckles, LEAVE the acne (hell, I'm 40 and I still suffer). Do as our favorite Snappy One did and crop close - I really like the elimination of the distractions, those being the white edge on the left, and the little light over her head. The close crop that someone did is exactly what I'm thinking, then I like to see it left alone. The final test, in my entirely uneducated/ignorant opinion, would be to see this shot cropped, in b & w. I betcha it would be a fantastic "piano-top" print in black and white!

She's an absolutely lovely young woman, and in my attempts to get those uber-candid shots I find I'm having difficulty sneaking up on people. I really like the quietness of this shot.

My best friend

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