B&W Portrait

[Bruce A]

I origainally entered this into the Vertical Lines lines assignment, but after another idea have removed it from there and I thought I'd show it here for your critiques. This is shot in natural light about mid afternoon, my wife the model, was positioned in the shade against the sunlit background which had some nasty paint and dirt blotches that I pp'eed out. I also applied a slight gaussian blur layer in order to satisify her concerns over a few aging discrepencies. I am mostly concerned about what you think about the lighting especially on her face. Thanks


pln-vert2 by banphotography, on Flickr


Camera Nikon D7000
Lens Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 D
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/13.0
Focal Length 185 mm
ISO Speed 250
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program Manual

[Tito87]

I also applied a slight gaussioan blur layer in order to satisify her concerns over a few aging discrepencies.

I think you can get better results using the high pass filter instead of the Gaussian blur.

[Bruce A]

Thanks. I have never tried that. I'll look into it. I also edited "Gaussian:

However, what would a high pass filter have done differently?

[Mark Engelhart]

Originally Posted by Tito87

I think you can get better results using the high pass filter instead of the Gaussian blur.

Bruce in reference to high pass above here is a recipe I use in photoshop to soften an image you rmight try.
- Make sure you have the image sharpened well
-Control J to make Dup. layer
-filter/other/Highpass at 10.0 pixels
- in layers box on right select soft light
-control I to invert
- adjust opacity of the layer
-to make eyes, jewelry, etc. pop you can erase layer from those areas

[Tito87]

Originally Posted by Bruce A

Thanks. I have never tried that. I'll look into it. I also edited "Gaussian:

However, what would a high pass filter have done differently?

Try it, and you let me know.

Duplicate the image background layer or if you have an image that has adjustments in it, create a flattened version of the image on a new layer at the top of the layer stack. To do this target the topmost layer and choose Layer > New > Layer.
Target this new layer and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E (Command + Option + Shift + E on the Mac) to create a flattened version of the image on this new layer.
You will apply the High Pass Filter to this layer.
To do this, you can convert the layer to a Smart Object by choosing Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.
If you’re working on a version of Photoshop earlier than CS4, you can still use this process without converting the layer to a Smart Object.
Choose Filter > Other > High Pass and set the High Pass filter Radius to a value that shows gray and white lines on the image. Stop short of the image showing too much color. The larger the radius value, the more the softening effect although too large a Radius will be counter-productive. Click Ok to apply the filter to the image.
In the Layers palette, set the Blend Mode of the top layer to Soft Light.
To soften the image, select the High Pass filter layer and choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Invert. You’ll need to create a Clipping Group between the Adjustment Layer and the High Pass Filter layer by selecting the Adjustment Layer and choose Layer > Create Clipping Mask.
Create a black filled mask on the High Pass Filter layer by Alt + Clicking on the Add a Layer Mask button at the foot of the Layer palette (Option + Click on the Mac).
Set the Foreground color to white and paint on the mask with a soft round brush in the areas that you want to soften the image such as the skin tones here.
If you created a Smart Object the High Pass Filter can be adjusted by double clicking on the filter in the Layers palette and adjust the Radius value.
You can use a different blending mode on the masked layer such as Overlay if that gives results you like better and you can also change the opacity of the layer to reduce the intensity of the effect.

I tried to give you the link, but it doesn't seem to be working. So, I just copied the page.

[Bruce A]

Thank you Mark and Tito for going to the trouble I appreciate it and will surely be giving it a go.

[Tito87]

Originally Posted by Bruce A

Thank you Mark and Tito for going to the trouble I appreciate it and will surely be giving it a go.

Don't mention it. Happy to help.

[ajax_andy]

I think her skin tone is very grey tbh.

I would try using the dodge tool to make her skin lighter and more natural looking.

I like it apart for that though.

[TomHarmon]

1. The image has very low contrast. It just seems tired to me.
2. I understand you were trying to remove some of the wrinkles she doesnt like, but I think your skin smoothing is a little too much. You can smooth skin and still keep the features in there.
3. It's also hard to smooth skin with all that hair in her face. I wouldn't want to do it.
Its a good capture, just needs some work.

[Bruce A]

Thanks guys, I sort of felt the same way about her skin tone and contrast - somehow it's similar to the background.