how far off?

[XxkmoorexX]

Im am trying very hard to get my pp right. I know I tend to over do it most times and I feel like I've overdone this one as well, but what I'm really having trouble with is grasping WHERE I've gone wrong. Is it the contrast? Saturation? Midtone contrast.... I wish I had a better eye for pp and what it *should* look like. I certainly want the image to pop but I don't feel like I'm getting that effect without crossing an unnatural pp line Does anyone have suggestions on how to make this shot look more "natural"? I can start from scratch with the RAW file.


Camera: D90
Lens: 55-200mm VR
Length: 55mm
Aperture: f/4
Speed: 1/100 sec
ISO: 320
Flash: pop up fired (comp. +1) bounced with white card off of ceiling.

[dmann]

First let me say that is a great image. I have seen other of your work on here too and I think its great.

For this image I just think the contrast is too high. I generally don't touch the contrast unless I really need it.

Did you play with the contrast at all?

[XxkmoorexX]

Originally Posted by dmann

First let me say that is a great image. I have seen other of your work on here too and I think its great.

For this image I just think the contrast is too high. I generally don't touch the contrast unless I really need it.

Did you play with the contrast at all?

Of course I did lol! I obviously have a hard time NOT adjusting the contrast. I need to do some more reading on how to create depth without jumping to the contrast slider.

[dmann]

Originally Posted by XxkmoorexX

Of course I did lol! I obviously have a hard time NOT adjusting the contrast. I need to do some more reading on how to create depth without jumping to the contrast slider.

I have PSE10 and all I use is levels and the color saturation (often the "adjust color for skin tone") In Raw I don't touch much other than the blacks and sometimes the fill light. Clarity should also give you a nice edge if done right.

Hope this helps.

[XxkmoorexX]

Originally Posted by dmann

I have PSE10 and all I use is levels and the color saturation (often the "adjust color for skin tone") In Raw I don't touch much other than the blacks and sometimes the fill light. Clarity should also give you a nice edge if done right.

Hope this helps.

That's exactly what I do in PSE, however I've been working in LR4 and doing the final in PSE. I have a hard time with self control especially when my whites are feeling grey. I do appreciate the crit so thank you!

[ridley19]

Great shot. I'd say it's pretty close but maybe bump up vibrance.Contrast and lighting seem ok to me.

[graciousness]

Hi there,

This is the best photo you've posted so far so that's great!

If I can give my 2 cents worth:

• Her face is too 'hot', meaning exposure is too high and blown out. I don't know if this is the result of playing around with PP too much and combination of flash, but you do need to down this down quite a bit. The contrast you did didn't help with that as the more you add contrast, the lighter bright areas get. So you'll need to down this down a little bit.

• Her eyes are a little overdone. Did you lighten them? I think just take it down a notch as the colour seems unnatural. It also feels a little bit over-sharpened.

• Colour wise, it looks fine to me. Doesn't feel too saturated or off. Just don't do anymore, though - not vibrance, not saturation, not contrast - it's fine as it and doesn't feel over-cooked.

With editing, it's not saturation or vibrance or contrast that gives images a good pop. It's using Curves and Levels that does it. Look online on tutorials on this although it's really not that hard to figure out and once you actually start using these features, you won't go back.

Hope this helps!

Grace

[XxkmoorexX]

Thank you, Grace. That is all very helpful information! The highlights aren't blown out in the original photo so yes it was my doing. I have just begun learning about curves and haven't gotten a very good understanding of how they work so that gives me something to study even more. I REALLY appreciate the crit and advice and take it to heart. Hopefully I can break through this bad pp spell and start learning how to manipulate my files in a way that makes them shine instead of blind!

[Weird Girl]

I have the same problem (over editing) and my portraits are not even as good as yours yet lol. Anyway, I agree that her cheeks are too blown and maybe her eyes could be taken down a tad but not too much (i personally love super sharp eyes). I love the colors and she is very cute! I find that when I play with curves that skin starts looking grey so maybe I'm doing that too much as well but I would love to see what you changed with this photo- can you post it? Thanks!!!

[BigFuzzy]

Just wanted to quickly note that I rarely use the contrast tool in LR.
What I DO use is Clarity a lot. For me it gives just that bit of contrast that's needed without the overly contrasty (duh!) feel of the actual contrast slider.
Try it if you don't already. I find that contrast plays too much with the extremes as opposed to simply highlighting the differences between the two which is what I feel the Clarity tool does.

I also concur that the brightness of the forehead is a bit distracting, but that's more lighting than PP. Have you tried just a touch of the Recovery slider in LR?

Or, lower exposure until the forehead/face feels right, then use the brush to selectively brighten other areas until you're happy.

Otherwise, it looks good.

A tip for LR that I've used (granted very little since I don't skin smooth) if you ever want to do some 'skin smoothing'... instead of actually smoothing skin thus making it look unreal/plastic, use the Brush tool in LR and paint over areas either with Clarity set very low. I've been happy with it and it's kept me from having to open PS (or anything else) and killing any of the tonal accuracy of the skin.

As someone once said (i'm very much paraphrasing) here very well (I think it was Steve/Niresangwa) is that when skin smoothing it's more important to retain tonal accuracy which is when skin smoothing techniques start looking fake. This is what I think my technique preserves while still removing some detail from the skin.

cheers,
Al

EDIT: Though I don't think this image needs it, I think it's good that Ridley brings up Vibrance. It should be the replacement for Saturation when working on anything with skin tones. I rarely, if ever, use Saturation any more (other than to remove it!) and simply use Vibrance for a bit of 'pop' of color.