Camera Curiosity :)

[ericakg]

I love this girl, and I love this photo because it captures her curiosity so well.

But I do think her skin looks washed out and pasty in this shot... I'm trying to correct the exposure and white balance, but I just can't get it to look right! I'm using a RAW editor for PP, but it's still new to me. What do I do??? Any other comments are welcome, too.



Canon EOS Rebel XS
f/4.0
1/160
ISO 100
18 mm
No flash

[ericakg]

Well I kept playing with the settings, and I think I got it about right now. I increased the vibrance and saturation, did a larger crop, and adjusted the exposure a little more. What do you think? What else could I do?

[conor5150]

I love the image, if anything the child behind keeps drawing my eye and distracts from the main subject, if that child was rendered to bokeh then it would be super.

[ericakg]

Originally Posted by conor5150

I love the image, if anything the child behind keeps drawing my eye and distracts from the main subject, if that child was rendered to bokeh then it would be super.

Thanks for the comment! I did think he might have been distracting the focus away from her, but I don't know how to get him out of the image realistically. My PS skills are... well... not very advanced, to say the least.

[carlyfan]

I found the child in the back distracting too. That is a problem I have in my pictures a lot. It's a very nice shot though. It does capture her curiosity quite well.

I have a question though, what is bokeh? Could that actually help with people in the background? (I hope you don't mind my asking this on this thread)

[conor5150]

Originally Posted by carlyfan

I found the child in the back distracting too. That is a problem I have in my pictures a lot. It's a very nice shot though. It does capture her curiosity quite well.

I have a question though, what is bokeh? Could that actually help with people in the background? (I hope you don't mind my asking this on this thread)

This is what I mean



Alien Skin Software Announces Bokeh Lens Simulation Plug-in for Photoshop | PhotoshopSupport.com

I'm not advocating anything in that link but I did a quick image search to find an example with people and this works to explain.Of course that's a plug in but it can easily be achieved in camera.

[Life in Motion]

if you have a editing program; the eyes should be selected first and midtones brought up before you do your other editing. this will fix the eyes looking like black holes. I messed with your image....but the thing i found non fixable was the color. i think if you started over and fixed the eyes then did a cleaner edit color wise it would look better. i played with your first image and brought the eyes up then did vintage cross processing to give it a more trendy look...

do you still have the original image you could upload?

hope this helps

[BigFuzzy]

The first, and most basic, thing I think you should do (though I understand it's difficult with 2 children) is to NOT shoot in the middle of the day under harsh sunlight.

That is the reason she is washed out and has no light in her eyes (which was the biggest put off for me).. and failing that, use a reflector to bounce that daylight back into her face to fill those harsh shadows.

Always think Light first before you consider pushing the shutter.
The rest pretty much covered what I would have said. The only thing I'd add to them is to be cautious using programs to simulate bokeh.. I've rarely seen anyone who's not a PS pro get it to look natural.. try to get it right in camera first by shooting at the longest MM you have with the lowest f/stop number you can get first.

[carlyfan]

Originally Posted by conor5150

This is what I mean



Alien Skin Software Announces Bokeh Lens Simulation Plug-in for Photoshop | PhotoshopSupport.com

I'm not advocating anything in that link but I did a quick image search to find an example with people and this works to explain.Of course that's a plug in but it can easily be achieved in camera.

Thank you Conor! That explains it well.

[highlydope]

Love the bokeh in this shot and the composition with the 2nd child doesnt bother me at all, but the general skin tone of the main subject, exposure and overall warmth could be improved. Here's where I'd go with this image...



Nice shot!