What’s Your Preference?

mlbillard · #1 (**permalink**) 05-08-2010, 01:40 PM

I have been reading dps for a long time now but this is my first post...eeek so sorry if somethings wrong. Along with my first post it was also the first time I attempted portraits. I say attempted because it didn't go very well. My brother decided he wanted me to take a picture of him to give mom for mothers day, when the time came to actually take the picture he just wanted to fool around. I got some technically better shots than this but this is the one he chose to give her. There is no pp simply because I don't know how without making it look over processed... Im working on that... My question is what could I have done better at the time of shooting to make this photo pop and not look so boring? Any other C&C welcome.

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

I am pretty sure I switched from manual to program at this point because I was getting frustrated that I couldn't get what I wanted.

Michelle

peeperita · #2 (**permalink**) 05-08-2010, 02:02 PM

welcome, michelle....

i think you did a marvelous job with your brother...he looks relaxed . ..you exposed well...... and made a good choice with your depth of field.....i think your mother will be very pleased with this image.....

on the technical side of town......the open shade has your brother's skin tones a bit cool.....i fiddled with it in editing and found they could be warmed without much damage to the rest of the scene......i also experimented with a tighter crop, taking a bit from the top, bottom and left side......it seemed to help focus in more on your brother and not the scene as a whole....if you'd like, i could post what i have done with an explaination of how to warm his skin.....

again, you did a very nice job of taking this portrait....

peeper

mlbillard · #3 (**permalink**) 05-08-2010, 02:06 PM

Thanks, I would love to see what you did. As I said I don't know anything about pp so an explanation would be great.

peeperita · #4 (**permalink**) 05-08-2010, 02:18 PM

i made only two changes with your image......the crop having the most impact to me......

the other step was to warm his skin a tad......i'm guessing since he's a fairly fair skinned man, he tends to have a slight blue cast to him anyway......so,i didn't want to warm too much and such a small adjustment has minimal effect on the rest of the scene.....

in photoshop i chose the levels adjustment layer....selected the blues and moved the midpoint slider slightly to the right to pull some of the blue from the midtones...the less blue, the more yellow is introduced.......i then selected the reds and again moved the midpoint slider.....but, this time to the left to add just a tinge more warmth....

as i said, the color cast is minimal and most folks would never know it was adjusted......still, as you shot this originally, it's a good solid image.....

peeper

mlbillard · #5 (**permalink**) 05-08-2010, 02:30 PM

Thanks that helped a lot, I defiantly like the crop better. Off to photoshop I go to see if I can do it myself.

peeperita · #6 (**permalink**) 05-08-2010, 02:31 PM

good luck to you!.....if you have any problems recreating anything, just whistle....

peeper

SusanH1970 · #7 (**permalink**) 05-08-2010, 10:02 PM

Nice edit, peeper! And you had a nice photo to work with. The boy's mom will be thrilled.

Jerry.Hammond · #8 (**permalink**) 05-08-2010, 11:15 PM

Peep already covered most of technical concerns of this shot. I think it is a nice photograph, even with the cooler skin tone. The emotionl warmth of the moment shines through...and for the most part that is the most important technical aspect of image making, imo. So, kudos to you for a job well done.