Two friends

[mrpolitics]

After a bit of background blurring, level editing, and the like I came up with this before and after. Tell me did I destroy the image, go to far?

Before:


After:


I also made use of selective color to remove reds, and make the teeth whiter. To do the dreamy blur or Orton effect as some have called it I made a copy of the background used a 17 radius Gaussian blur and set the blend mode to multiply; I then used a level mask to brighten the resultant image back up.

[Major_Small]

I would personally say you went too far.

[wulf]

The result is obviously heavily processed - perhaps too far but, from my point of view more critically, also maybe not in the best direction.

Looking at the original shot, I would identify weaknesses as skin tone, background details, overall framing and composition and, not to put too fine a point on it, the bosom uplift caused by the pose. Therefore, I would have taken the image in a different direction.

Did you have a particular set of goals in mind for the image or were you just playing around with different ideas to see what they looked like?

Wulf

[dimitrz]

Background seems ok but the skin tone looks very artificial now

[mrpolitics]

Well in response to Wolf here, the image was taken at a nightclub near Cincinnati. It is one of only a few where both subjects were smiling and looking at the camera. I was trying to glam up the shot a bit, just trying to se what some blur, and multiply could do with some lighting changes. I agree the skin tone looks bad in my edit, and perhaps not to well with the origonal shot.I have produced a version that is less modified here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21061635@N07/2545457194/

[wulf]

I think the skin tones are still a problem. One of the difficulties is that the two girls have quite different skin types. I can see the attraction of pulling away from a natural look. For example, you could go for a cross-processed / old polaroid type of image:



Now the skin tones are definitely way out but the funkiness of the result looks deliberately retro. Cropping to a square is both more polaroidesque and avoids a lot of the distractions while making the most of the faces.

Finally, if these two are friends of yours, it would definitely be worth asking if they would like their picture taken in better lighting conditions!

Wulf

[mrpolitics]

I'll try a cross processed look, as to the lighting conditions, well dark clubs can be an issue lol.

[cristiano007]

Nothing technical but I would like to see the front girl hand responding to the hug, without that she looks a little uncomfortable.
I agree that the push up effect was distracting.
About the lightning, I'd try a little more emphasis with some kind of vignette, like a lomo...