What’s Your Preference?

RebelScum · #1 (**permalink**) 05-23-2010, 03:50 AM

I am desperate to get a sweet image of my two RebelBabies together but my two year old only stops moving when he's sleeping, so it's incredibly difficult for me to get him to sit still long enough to actually capture something. And doesn't it figure, as soon as he's still, I'm zoomed in too far!

This is SOOC, only resized to make it smaller. I have CS2 so if anyone can help me I'd be so grateful! I'd really like some tips on background color correction and if anyone has any creative cropping ideas to disguise the fact that I lopped off his elbow and back of his head it would be so appreciated.
EXIF if needed:
1/100 Sec
f/6.3
400 ISO

RebelScum · #2 (**permalink**) 05-23-2010, 08:13 PM

First off, wow, I had no idea it would be so hard to get a shot of my little boy hugging or holding his sister since he normally nearly smothers her with love. But apparently if you put him in decent clothes or in front of a camera, he suddenly only wants to run around like a maniac. This is literally the only image out of 96 that was workable, and as you can see I still managed to mess it up by going in too close. But since it was so much work to even get this shot, I'd like to salvage it the best I can. I'm looking for feedback on the lightness of the background (which I know is pretty lousy) and skin tones (which I've looked at for so long that I can't tell what the heck they look like anymore). Any suggestions on what I can do to improve this would be much appreciated. My PP is CS2. So far I've increased the saturation and contrast, and adjusted the hues a little.
EXIF:
Exposure 1/100 sec
f/6.3
ISO 400

SusanH1970 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-23-2010, 08:21 PM

Was this shot on a white background? If so that can be fixed in post. Skin tones look good to me!

RebelScum · #4 (**permalink**) 05-23-2010, 08:44 PM

Yes, it was on a white background. How is the best way to lighten just the background?

SusanH1970 · #5 (**permalink**) 05-23-2010, 08:47 PM

LOL I'm horrible at PPing white backgrounds (which is why I don't shoot on them). Mike (irishmuth) posted on another CC thread awhile back and he'd done a pretty good job. If I can find it I'll post the link here.

ETA: Found it. The OP's original photo is no longer there, but it was very similar to yours. Mike's edit is still attached though. Hopefully he'll chime in here to maybe give you a step-by-step of what he did.

http://digital-photography-school.co...-portrait.html

RLucas · #6 (**permalink**) 05-23-2010, 09:14 PM

Hi, if you don't mind, I gave it a shot. Opened image in GIMP, created a duplicate layer, and opened the levels dialogue window. I picked the white point dropper tool, and clicked it on the background. I added a layer mask, and painted back over the boy and girl using black, which is actually transparent when using a mask. This protected the original skin tones of the original image, which, like Susan looked good to me. I then merged the two layers and made a duplicate of the adjusted one. I then opened the curves dialogue and made a very slight S curve adjustment to the layer. I changed the layer mode to value, and adjusted the opacity to about 75%. This added a little more contrast without affecting the colors too much.
I will take it down if you wish.

SusanH1970 · #7 (**permalink**) 05-23-2010, 09:17 PM

Nice work, Luke! The bg and slight color pop look great. Thanks for 'splaining, too! Looks like now I have no excuse to not shoot on a white bg, LOL!

RLucas · #8 (**permalink**) 05-23-2010, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

Nice work, Luke! The bg and slight color pop look great. Thanks for 'splaining, too! Looks like now I have no excuse to not shoot on a white bg, LOL!

I didn't mean to just jump in while you were thread hunting Susan! lol! I appreciate the comment! Mike has some mean skills, and I am just learnin!

I never thought you would be apprehensive of shooting on a white BG? I could only wish to have your skills!

RebelScum · #9 (**permalink**) 05-24-2010, 02:41 AM

Wow, thanks, RLucas! I originally tried to dodge the background and failed miserably at that! Thanks for the great explanation, also!
On the skin tones, I couldn't tell if I'd gone too yellow on them or if my eyes were deceiving me.

Thank you both so much!