Rescuing an uninspiring photo

[Stryker]

I thought the original looked a bit flat and uninspiring, so I tried my PS skills on it.

Before:


After:


EXIF:
Exposure ------------ 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture -------------- f/5.6
Focal Length ------- 110 mm
ISO Speed ---------- 200
Exposure Bias ---- -1/3 EV
Flash ----------------- No Flash

What I did:

1) Used the Filter->Extract... technique to select the subject
2) Used Gaussian blur to slightly blur the rest of the image
3) Used the Curves tool to darken the background
4) Played with saturation and color correction till I achieved the look
5) Used Unsharp Mask after selecting the eyes for the pop
6) Slight vignette applied using Filter->Distort->Lens Correction
7) Reduced the image from its original 6MP to 1024 x 679

I seem to have made some slight mistakes while selecting the edges, so I had to additionally use the Clone Stamp tool at a couple of places above the ear to mask out the effect.

I did try a crop to remove the silhoutted faces in the background, but it didn;t add anything to the image. Moreover, I feel that they add a kind of framing for the subject, the way they are positioned in profile.

Do you think it has made the image a little more interesting?

[aspencade]

Thats a very striking portrait now...Paul

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by aspencade

Thats a very striking portrait now...Paul

Thanks, aspencade. Does it look over processed, though? Maybe I shouldn't look at the image too much myself

[samhail]

I think it looks great and not over processed. I tend to look at my images too much too. If you look long enough your bound to find problems. Stop looking and start enjoying.

[harvey3]

wow!
I just though of removing the red spots on her head...
this is great!

thanks for sharing

[MSidPhoto]

I'd say this a great "Before and After" image and shows how editing can bring a new life to the photo. Great Work, good job.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by samhail

I think it looks great and not over processed. I tend to look at my images too much too. If you look long enough your bound to find problems. Stop looking and start enjoying.

I fully agree with you, samhail. It is not a good thing to look at your own images too much, you generally tend to become over critical at some stage. At least, I do that to myself. That is why I feel it is better to post it here to see what others think about it.

Originally Posted by harvey3

wow!
I just though of removing the red spots on her head...
this is great!

Thanks, harvey3. Incidentally, it is a he and he is my nephew but at this age it is a little difficult to differentiate, isn't it? Especially when there is no hair! Yeah, those red spots were a contributing factor for me to decide to process the image. It was caused because he had just had all his hair removed.

Originally Posted by KazeFox

I'd say this a great "Before and After" image and shows how editing can bring a new life to the photo. Great Work, good job.

Thanks, KazeFox. The whole idea was to bring "new life" to a boringly flat image. Hope I succeeded in doing that.

[MSidPhoto]

Stryker you indeed did succeed in doing what you wanted to achieve...i say once again, great work

[Stryker]

And I thank you again, KazeFox (Hope we don't appear to others as some kind of mutual admiration club!) As a follow-up on all this, I'd like to ask this poser:

While editing such a photo, is it better to have a fixed look in mind? Or will the results be better if one goes with the flow and kind of end up with a look that feels just right?

Yes, I understand that a meld of these two is the best approach, since one can start out with a specific look in mind and still have the flexibility to change horses in mid-stream, so to speak. But sometimes the "go with the flow" approach leads to a lot of wastage of time. How best can I identify what kind of look suits which image best? Is there some kind of rule of thumb that can at least point me in the right direction to choose a look I want for a particular type of image?

For example, the "Acidification" technique looks good on street scapes, but almost never on any other type of image. The "Darkened Pastel" (my phrase for it) look I did above looks best on portraits, but yucky on landscapes. I hope you guys understand what I am asking. Is this only by trial and error (experience in other words) or is there a better way?

/Edit: Incidentally, this last has led to me adding the line about experience to my signature.

[The Bing]

Beautiful!

Thanks for the inspiration!

I think I'm going to take a second look at a few old photos that may be worth saving.