Cool Dude

[ajax_andy]

Took this picture of my brother in law and was wondering if I could get some feedback on it?

Is it a little too dark?
Is the crop ok? I've cut off the top and bottom of his head, but wanted it to be about the sunglasses and reflection as well as a portrait shot
I bumped up the clarity in photoshop, does this work as its the 1st time i've really used it.



Exif Data:

Camera Canon EOS 450D
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 55 mm
ISO Speed 200
White Balance Auto
Lens EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

[SusanH1970]

It's not too dark; the exposure looks good, maybe a tad hot on his nose. It's way oversaturated, though, his skin is very orange/red. As for the crop, I don't mind the head chop at all, but the chin chop doesn't work for me. I love the reflection in the glasses, very cool! I also like how you don't appear in the reflection - was that the angle you shot at, or did you take yourself out in post?

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

I don't mind the head chop at all, but the chin chop doesn't work for me.

Same here.

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

It's not too dark; the exposure looks good, maybe a tad hot on his nose. It's way oversaturated, though, his skin is very orange/red. As for the crop, I don't mind the head chop at all, but the chin chop doesn't work for me. I love the reflection in the glasses, very cool! I also like how you don't appear in the reflection - was that the angle you shot at, or did you take yourself out in post?

Yeah I quite liked the over saturated look as thought it looked a bit "different". Maybe not to everyone's tastes tho?

Good point about the chin as its kind of just chopped off and I hadn't realised it looked a bit odd. I had been concentrating on getting the crop right for where I wanted the sunglasses to be in shot.

As for the hotspot... any suggestions on how to avoid this in future?

Haha yes I shopped myself out. I've been experimenting with reflections in things recently and found that even if I practically dislocate my spine its still almost impossible to get out of shot and still get a good angle on the reflection.... I'm please you weren't sure though as means I did an ok job on that part

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by ajax_andy

Yeah I quite liked the over saturated look as thought it looked a bit "different". Maybe not to everyone's tastes tho?

Good point about the chin as its kind of just chopped off and I hadn't realised it looked a bit odd. I had been concentrating on getting the crop right for where I wanted the sunglasses to be in shot.

As for the hotspot... any suggestions on how to avoid this in future?

Haha yes I shopped myself out. I've been experimenting with reflections in things recently and found that even if I practically dislocate my spine its still almost impossible to get out of shot and still get a good angle on the reflection.... I'm please you weren't sure though as means I did an ok job on that part

I like vibrant color, just not oompa-loompa people, lol.

Did you shoot in RAW? If so, you can use the recovery slider in ACR to fix the hot spots.

Nice job on removing yourself from the reflection. I see a little bit of a line where you did the work which made me wonder, but it's not bad at all!

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

I like vibrant color, just not oompa-loompa people, lol.

Did you shoot in RAW? If so, you can use the recovery slider in ACR to fix the hot spots.

Nice job on removing yourself from the reflection. I see a little bit of a line where you did the work which made me wonder, but it's not bad at all!

Haha ok maybe my monitor isn't calibrated right as it didn't look that way on mine? If I just strip a little of the saturation out of do you think that'll do the job?

Ahh ok so that's what the recovery slider is for? I always wondered about that. I'll bare that in mind for the future, so thanks for that

Yeah I noticed a few spots that I felt I could maybe have gone a bit OCD on and try to get it perfect, but I decided to leave it as it as, as sometimes I end up going too far and making it look worse lol!

[SusanH1970]

I'd back off on the clarity. Was it this red SOOC? If it was, you can do a color balance layer in photoshop to even it out.

Yep, the recovery slider is your friend!

[High_Speed]

I don't think it looks THAT over saturated! It looks fine, but if you could get rid of the "orange splotches" just a bit, I think you'd be just fine. I wouldn't describe it as oompa loompa yet, though.

The chin crop is the only thing that bothers me, honestly.

Nice work on removing yourself. It looks great.

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

I'd back off on the clarity. Was it this red SOOC? If it was, you can do a color balance layer in photoshop to even it out.

Yep, the recovery slider is your friend!

No i dont think it was, i think I did this in photoshop but i've forgotten how exactly... I did all my changes using adjustment layers so should be able to fix it... unless I changed the white balance which would mean starting again from scratch, and also removing myself from the reflection again... not something I want to do tbh.

I have a B&W version too so might just stick with that if I cant fix the colour.

What's up with the clarity btw?

[SusanH1970]

This would be insanely cool as a BW.