Breaking the Rules

[bullychk04]

Typically, when I work in PP, I make sure that the photo is well saturated, and all the colors are nice and vibrant. But with this one, I wanted to try something different. I wanted to make this one a little hazy, desaturated, and almost whimsical (for lack of a better word).

Do you think I achieved this or does it look too washed out?



I promise I'll be posting some others soon for critique that aren't the same boy lol. Thanks as always guys!

EXIF INFO:
D3100
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/60
50mm

[MrJones]

I feel it lacks a bit of contrast. just feels flat.
I don't have a problem with the highlights at the background as we are here to break some rules and that was your intent.
however, I feel the wall on the right side is very distracting. I feel like it's hiding something and I want to know what's behind it.
I've played with it a bit, giving it the kind of antique look (just playing with the colors) and adding a little more contrast and it really came alive. I wish I could upload it for you to see but my computer is going crazy lately and won't let me upload pictures.
it's a good photo, don't get me wrong but with a little more PP it can be great!

[bullychk04]

Thanks for your input MrJones! I just played around with it a bit in CS5. I bumped the brightness down a bit, and upped the contrast:



Good points let me know what you think of the correction Thank you!!!

[MrJones]

it's much better
I took it and played with the colors like I wrote before.. this is what came out.
it's a matter of taste in PP but basically i've added a color balance layer (changed the magenta for shadows and yellow for highlights) and lowered the brightness a bit.
if you want I'll try and upload it from another computer via imageshack..

[bullychk04]

That would be great! I'd love to see what you did with it

[MrJones]

again, it's a matter of taste.. but here you go



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[SusanH1970]

Kelly, I **think** I know the look you were going for...sort of a hazy, vintage look? I had a play too, hope you don't mind. I of course will take it right down if you don't like it. I also cropped, I apologize for cropping out part of your watermark, but I wanted to show what I thought IMHO was a bit of an improvement, composition-wise. The edge of the brick wall and the fallen bricks seemed distracting to me, and he was dead center. I don't always believe in the rule of thirds but I felt it worked well here, as he was heading into the bushes on his left.

ETA: Now that I'm looking at it again, I'd burn the background a touch.

[bullychk04]

Hi Susan, no I don't mind at all Thanks for showing me what you did! I figured the brick wall would give some contrast and color to the picture aside from everything being so green. I guess since two people said the same thing, it must really be distracting. Thanks again!

[Niresangwa]

Just as an FYI as everyone seems to have you in hand...

..one fo the easiest ways to create the 'hazy' look in PS is the Exposure adjustment layer... simply move the Offset slider to about +0.013. it will desaturate slightly, and haze the shot. Adding a low-opacity(15%-ish) warming filter with bring out the earthy tones afterwards.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

Just as an FYI as everyone seems to have you in hand...

..one fo the easiest ways to create the 'hazy' look in PS is the Exposure adjustment layer... simply move the Offset slider to about +0.013. it will desaturate slightly, and haze the shot. Adding a low-opacity(15%-ish) warming filter with bring out the earthy tones afterwards.

That's a good way, I need to try that. I ran an action that I have and tweaked it to my liking.

I didn't use any of these on this picture, but The CoffeeShop Blog has some really nice vintage/hazy actions.