Portrait (Looking for Edit)

[fais54]

I was wondering if anyone can help me make this photo pop more.


6.18.11 by Stefan Faison, on Flickr

Olympus E-520 - 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6
ISO- 100
Focal Length - 21 mm
Flash Used and 1/60

[JFSanders]

Stefan, give us your exif data please. It helps a lot to know what camera settings you used. The subject has no seperation from the background and the photo is over exposed. Get closer, go with a shallow DOF and don't forget to focus on her eyes. They must be sharp. It would help if you could shoot out of the high noon sun. Or at least use open shade. I will see if there is post help for this when I get home tonight.
Jim

[kmarie93]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

Stefan, give us your exif data please. It helps a lot to know what camera settings you used. The subject has no seperation from the background and the photo is over exposed. Get closer, go with a shallow DOF and don't forget to focus on her eyes. They must be sharp. It would help if you could shoot out of the high noon sun. Or at least use open shade. I will see if there is post help for this when I get home tonight.
Jim

Jim, I think this is the info you're looking for? Exif | 6.18.11 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Stefan, it's a beautiful picture(!) but very yellow and the light coming from the right side is mildly distracting (try shooting more at level with her) I don't have photoshop on my current computer, but if I get time I'll try to play around with this picture. If you have any editing software, blur the background, tone down the yellow, and maybe brighten her colors and possibly add more contrast?

Everything I've seen from you has been very pretty Your sister is beautiful

-Edit-

Okay, I played around with this a bit, I don't know if it's better or not, it's a little bit messy, but I didn't spend a lot of time on it. I toned down the yellow, blurred the background, sharpened her face and adjusted the brightness. I tinkered with the curves too..but I don't know what I'm doing regarding that but all in all, I think it's ok Hope this helps!

[fais54]

Thanks kmarie93 - that's very nice to hear

But, I do need help with focusing. A lot of pictures that I'm getting are coming out OOF. I mostly focus in Auto mode.

[High_Speed]

No offense to the above responder, but I think that edit looks worse that what you had to begin with. It makes her skin and hair green...like martian green.

Here's an adjustment of levels, curves, brightness, contrast, sharpening of her face, and a bunch of color balancing.

Honestly, and I hate to admit this, but I've never really post processed someone of this "skin tone" before, so I hope I didn't screw it up. And please don't take that in an offensive manner, as I mean nothing by it. I just don't have much experience there....

Anyway, see what you think. It seems a bit soft. Why only 1/60th shutter speed? That's borderline too slow to keep the picture sharp. And what was the aperture value? I think you could have been served well by separating her from the background more with less dof.

Also, the general lighting is very harsh, and so there is a lot of overexposure going on already. I started doing some dodging and burning, but as you can see there's just no detail left in the upper-right hand corner.

So in an attempt to combat this loss of detail, Photoshop "Content Aware" fill works pretty good....along with even more "burning."

Edit: After getting home and looking back on these on my own monitor (not my cheapo work monitor) the skin tones in these attempted rescues does look a little off, perhaps over saturated a bit. Just fyi.

[kmarie93]

Originally Posted by fais54

Thanks kmarie93 - that's very nice to hear

But, I do need help with focusing. A lot of pictures that I'm getting are coming out OOF. I mostly focus in Auto mode.

You're welcome Hmm, do you have different focus modes? Check your settings/menus. You might also want to see if you have focus point selection, you can select a general area that you want in focus. Maybe try googling or posting in the equipment section here.

[Hill Country Hack]

Fais,

There are times and places to use AF. I am using it less and less due to my AF constantly making minute adjustments while I am holding the release half down checking the shooting data, composition or waiting a couple of seconds to steady myself and any combination of the above. I am expirementing with half depress to check data, release and then shoot to lessen the minute adjustments. I'm sure it is due to my bobbing and weaving instead of being still and not the camera/lens. I am also using a tripod/monopod more and more.

Keep on shooting and learning! Practice is the best medicine.

[fais54]

Originally Posted by High_Speed

Honestly, and I hate to admit this, but I've never really post processed someone of this "skin tone" before, so I hope I didn't screw it up. And please don't take that in an offensive manner, as I mean nothing by it. I just don't have much experience there....

Heh, it's fine, no offense taken I get what you were trying to do with the burning, and trying to get more detail. The sharpening looks great, but her skin looks a bit dark (in a sense that her skin tone isn't that dark in real life). One I thing I do want to comment on is the "Content Aware" fill edit looks great! That's exactly the type of look I was going for in-camera, but I guess couldn't because of my surroundings and positioning. Great job with that! In reference to the shutter speed, on this particular shoot I did everything in Auto mode because this was my first shoot with the camera. Would I get a sharper image with a faster shutter speed? Also, how could I control the Aperture value, as well as the shutter speed, while not manually focusing? Sorry to unload all of these beginner questions on you, but I thought I'd bring it up since we're on the subject.

Also, yes, the lighting was very harsh that day. I know for future shoos overcast days and around when the sun is going down are the best times to shoot outdoors

kmarie93, I really like the blurred background look. It looks a lot better like that! If I get a chance I really need to learn how to get that look in-camera. I have no idea how I would keep her in focus and everything else blurred Her skin does look a bit green though

Thanks to both of you, it definitely gave me some good ideas!

[Niresangwa]

I'm sorry, but these 'rescue-edits' look terrible compared to the original.

OP, the original isn't a bad shot, aside from the yellow-green cast which in reality fits into a retro-style that some people actually apply in post by choice... it's more a matter of taste, and dependent upon what you're looking to achieve.

The place you really need to start, based upon the conversation above starting with JFSanders suggestion, is of cultivating a shallower DoF. It's a critical point of technique for portrait work. It may seem tricky at first, but once you have a feel for it, it makes a huge difference.

There are plenty of articles on it freely available, but understanding the relationship between your focal length and aperture is the key.

As far as focusing goes, my suggestion is to start working in single-point, or center-point focus, and learning how to recompose once focus is locked. Make sure you're out of AF-C mode and in AF-S so it doesn't try to readjust once you change the framing. That way you're 1) not relying on the camera to select to focal point and 2) able to adjust how you wish to compose the image...

...because the composition here is centered and dull as dishwater. If you insist on a full body backed-off shot such as this, it would have been much more appealing in a landscape orientation, with the subject placed to one of the outer thirds.

Finally, it looks like you were standing, shooting down on her. Try to get down on her level. If you have the DoF shallow enough, distracting backgrounds aren't an issue, or move her into a better position.

Last but not least, if you don't have a good grasp on your settings, shooting in auto mode is a great place to start, as long as you're using it as a learning tool.. examine the EXIF, figure out why the camera did what it did...and which variables you need to change to do things differently. Depending on how quickly you pick things up, you can move to semi-auto modes...

..in your position where DoF is a key, shooting in Av mode where you control the aperture, and the camera sets the SS to even out the exposure, would be a great place to start.

[prabbit237]

Originally Posted by Hill Country Hack

There are times and places to use AF. I am using it less and less due to my AF constantly making minute adjustments while I am holding the release half down checking the shooting data, composition or waiting a couple of seconds to steady myself and any combination of the above. I am expirementing with half depress to check data, release and then shoot to lessen the minute adjustments. I'm sure it is due to my bobbing and weaving instead of being still and not the camera/lens. I am also using a tripod/monopod more and more.

Many cameras have 2 AF modes; one where it focuses and then locks. The other is where it focuses but then will adjust that after a sec or so if it senses the subject is moving (I forget what they're called, off-hand, and don't have my camera handy to check.) But if you ARE moving the camera some after getting the focus, it's probably actually better that it does re-adjust it (you wouldn't want to focus, pause a moment and move a bit and then hit the shutter and have it off-focus due to the movement.)