Too much ??

[100lolo]

Hello everyone ,

I just want to have some comments about this photo , i'm not really sure about it because I did a lot of editing and that's the first time for me (I'm beginner in this and also in photography.) . I think the photo seems a little fuzzy , its look better in small size .

So say what you think !

Thanks .

Sorry if there's mistakes in the text , i'm French ...

Laurence

[doctorjames]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

In answer to your question "Too Much" I have to say yes, it is too much, it looks very obviously edited.

This isnt a bad thing though, its a learning curve. I havent regretted a single photograph I have taken. Some are awful, some of my post -production (editing) is awful.

The ratio of awful to good gets better as you get more experienced.

If you are a beginner as you say, my advice would be to spend some time getting the shot right in the first place on the camera, and try to do as little editing as possible.

I hope this helps

James

[mpaulison]

If I'm not mistaken, you were going for a shallow depth of field but used post processing. Yes, I would try to use a large aperture in the camera if possible, but if not, try to keep the entire sharp plane sharp. Everything even with the eyes in this case, which would include some hair and then fade it outward to better mimic the camera.

We all did this at first. The fact that you want to do it means you're creatively on the right track.
Mike

Take a look at these simple tutorials.
Photoshop: Fake Depth of Field (HD) - YouTube
How to Use Depth of Field to Create Portraits with Blown-Out Backgrounds | Psdtuts+

[100lolo]

Hello James and Mike ,

Thank you for the comments it's help me a lot !

Laurence

[BigFuzzy]

Hi Laurence and welcome to DPS.

Yes, your image is way over processed as well as I believe you saved it in low quality because the bigger version is very pixelated.

Do you have the exif info so we can give more detailed advice?

The skin smoothing and blurring you did is way too much in my opinion. To me less is more. As noted above if you're trying to achieve that shallow Depth of Field look, do it through actually using your lens to achieve it as much as possible because I've very rarely found any faked DoF that I liked.

The photo looks like it has lots of potential, so just relax with the post processing because I think it actually takes away from the image.

Any chance you can upload the straight out of camera shot or the higher resolution version of this one?

[roostabunny]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

Any chance you can upload the straight out of camera shot or the higher resolution version of this one?

+1 Would like to see the original.

Look like it has potential, but the excessive processing almost gives it a camera phone look. The hope is that taking away the processing will reveal a sharp pic overall.