My First Post - Critique please.

[GaryMoffat]

Hello all,

I am new to SLR Cameras and photography in general and have recently purchased a Pentax K10D.

I used to do some computer graphics work and thought I would combine both digital photograph and graphics (Mainly Photoshop).

One of my first photos with the Camera of my daughter Jennifer enhanced with Photoshop:



As I said new to photography and any critque comments welcome.

Thank you for looking.

Gary.

[wyndhydra]

Gary,
Welcome to this forum. I hope that you enjoy it. I started much the same way. I had played with stuff and got a SLR just to do more with computer graphics. I very much like the shot. I find it to be a lovely capture of your daughter. My only concern is that I think the blur is a bit to strong on her. I think if the blur were less on her hair and shoulders the shot would have even more pop. Additionally a quick clone of the line on the closet door (?) would be good to get rid of the horizontal and vertical lines which are kind of distracting. Other than that the lights are in a pretty good place and nothing looks compositionally wrong. Great shot. I hope these comments help. Keep the shots coming.

[Andreas]

Hi there Gary!

I'm looking forward to getting one of those K10D's myself ... soon, very soon.

First of all, could you give more details on the shot? Like what were you trying to accomplish and what kind of enhancement you did?

I'm guessing from the lighting in the shot that you took this one in doors using the on-camera flash. Is that right? The problem with that is your daughter's face is washed-out with no shadows modeling it and giving it volume.

Try positioning your daughter next to a window so that light comes from her side Then try snapping some shots without flash, with flash but only as fill-flash and, if possible, with a reflector opposite to the window (white card board would do). Experiment!

One last question? What lens are you using? If you are using the Pentax kit lens, try to choose a neutral background as it won't help you much by blurring it. As a Pentax user myself, I greatly recommend the Pentax FA 50mm/1.4. It's cheap, it's top-quality and will greatly enhance your portraits.

Have fun!

[peeperita]

what a pretty girl you have there, gary....

it is a nice capture of your daughter and i am assuming you used one of the blur filters on it...in my opinion it's too soft on the center of her face....also, do keep in mind that her arm and shoulder are on the same plane as her beautiful face and should be treated as such with your blur tool....

i'd love to see you give it another go of it in photoshop.....

peeper

[GaryMoffat]

As said previously I am absolute beginner to this, the shot was taken more or less spontaneously as my daughter walked through the door.

The Tech details of the camera etc...

Camera: Pentax K10D
Lens: Pentax-DA 18-55mm F3.5 – 5.6 AL
Shutter Speed: 1\60th
Aperture: F5.6
Capture Mode: Aperture Priority Exposure
Metering: Multi-segment
White Balance: Automatic
Built In Flash: On

Enhancements in Photoshop:

Removal of spots etc from face and blemishes with patching and healing.
Some eye and teeth highlighting.
Blurred the background more as DOF was not good.
Set up as radial glow for the face (seems to have removed quite a lot of shadow, will watch this next time)
My daughter was pleased with the picture but wanted her hair “sorted” as she said due to several loose strands on the forehead, I probably went overboard again with the blur to remove them.

I have removed the door lines, not sure... and added the picture:



I will have another Photoshop session with the original image and try and implement some of the comments.

Many thanks for the comments by the way most encouraging.

Gary.

[RexK_Cozumel]

I think that you went a little overboard with the blur on this one. The fact that so much of your subject is blurry is more of a distraction than anything in my opinion. I would try to mask out the background and just blur that leaving the hair alone. or if you want you can do multiply layers and blur the background then go in and blur the hair but less. What does the original look like?

Oh and beautiful daughter you have there.

[TheOtherOne]

Wow she is pretty
is she around 17 cuz i am also 17. But damn I live in sweden

back to the topic,
yes I would also like to see the original and I totally agree with RexK_Cozumel.
You shouldnt blur her body IMO. Did you want to soften her skin o something?
and I often dont use flash.

[GaryMoffat]

Originally Posted by TheOtherOne

Oh she is pretty
is she around 17 cuz i am also 17.

but back to the topic,
yes I would also like to see the original and I totally agree with RexK_Cozumel.

Ahh! She is 15 going on 16.

If she is willing i will upload the original.

[odark30]

Try unsharp mask, then duplicate the layer and play with blending modes (I liked dissolve on this pic) then duplicate again and run another unsharp mask at around 10-15 percent. I can't give you exact numbers because I'm working with your already processed picture.

Next time try a surface blur on the original. It leaves the eyes and mouth sharp just softens the skin a bit.

[goshort]

mr gary, congratulation for the shot of yr beautiful daughter and for yr first efforts with K10D. though late, the pentax have brought this amazing camera. but for close ups i would recommend the long focal length of yr lens, since it distorts less. the hairs's blur is unnecessarily exaggerated which noticeably takes the attention off the face. in future pl don't overdo. experimentation is different where u are free to move. thanks.