Sunset shots, need your advice on processing!

[oneronnalee]

Hey guys, so I did some portraits of two friends at sunset (the sunset was a little disappointing in terms of light sadly) and now I'd like some advice on how to tackle the editing. I did some quick processing on one of the photos yesterday, you can compare here:

Original

Edited

.PSD

In terms of post processing I did, I used Healing Brush (though I'm not concerned about that one), Curves, Levels & Saturation adjustment layers, and two Colour fill layers to tweak with the colour.

Looking at the photo I think there might be too much reds in their skin but I'm not sure - so could someone give me some feedback on colour & tones, and give me an example of processing that might be more aesthetically pleasing? I want these to be beautiful, summery, dreamy - so I'd like to keep these pretty subtle-toned and low contrast.

Also I'm aware the sky is majorly overblown, but didn't really know how to tackle that without loosing too much light from their faces... Damn my affinity for backlighting.

Help would be very much appreciated folks,

Ronna

[spookie]

If I may, no expert here. The first image looks a little "blueish", may need to correct the skin tones, ever so slightly. The sky issue, well, you may have to mask it to tone it down without killing the rest of the image. The second and third for sure to much red.
One approach you might try is, darken the whole image to subdue the sky, then come in with a lightener filter and just lighten the subjects, rather hard to describe, but it's rather like shining a subtle light source on them, not a flare, but a light full halo. My Cannon software has this, but I don't use it much. But it worked great the few times I used it just for grins.
Wish i could be more help on this one.

[JFSanders]

The second one or the first edit has a lot going for it in that the subjects are dressed for a 70's period and the photo has just that look. So I think that one is good to go. Now if you want a modern look you are going to have to start with the White Balance. Set your black point on the stripe across his t-shirt. Then mask and fill the sky with sky blue. Then run a high pass filter and adjust until you like it.

Jim

[windrider86]

Can you please post one of your photos here for us? Please and thank you

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

The second one or the first edit has a lot going for it in that the subjects are dressed for a 70's period and the photo has just that look. So I think that one is good to go. Now if you want a modern look you are going to have to start with the White Balance. Set your black point on the stripe across his t-shirt. Then mask and fill the sky with sky blue. Then run a high pass filter and adjust until you like it.

Jim

Although, I can't see the originals, Jim your edit is nice, but it looks a little underexposed and still a little cool for a sunset shot.

Ducks and runs!

[JFSanders]

You know Luke, Ya caught me! When I posted the edit I wasn't happy with the exposure level either. But I had spent a good bit of time on it already and wasn't prepared to go farther or redo it. I apologize for that. You are right it is a bit underexposed as it sits. Unfortunately I did not save my edit file for this one so I would have to start over and as I haven't gotten a reply from the OP, I probably won't until I do get a reply.

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

You know Luke, Ya caught me! When I posted the edit I wasn't happy with the exposure level either. But I had spent a good bit of time on it already and wasn't prepared to go farther or redo it. I apologize for that. You are right it is a bit underexposed as it sits. Unfortunately I did not save my edit file for this one so I would have to start over and as I haven't gotten a reply from the OP, I probably won't until I do get a reply.

When I saw it this morning, it looked cool. On my half way calibrated monitor at home, it looks much warmer. I finally got to see the original, and I have to say, you have a nice edit there.

[spookie]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

The second one or the first edit has a lot going for it in that the subjects are dressed for a 70's period and the photo has just that look. So I think that one is good to go. Now if you want a modern look you are going to have to start with the White Balance. Set your black point on the stripe across his t-shirt. Then mask and fill the sky with sky blue. Then run a high pass filter and adjust until you like it.

Jim

Which software are you using, that's twice I have seen you do that, with outstanding results lol. But I did see you had to mask lol. I haven't done it enough to say I know how, so it still surprises me when it's done. Thanks beforehand,

[JFSanders]

Originally Posted by spookie

Which software are you using, that's twice I have seen you do that, with outstanding results lol. But I did see you had to mask lol. I haven't done it enough to say I know how, so it still surprises me when it's done. Thanks beforehand,

Almost all of my edits (basic and some creative) are done in Capture NX2 by Nikon software. They have a thirty day free trial download and the software uses Upoint control technology developed by NiK software. You can also use the NiK software as a plugin *(sort of) with the program.

I really don't use a mask technique in the Photoshop sense of the word. The Upoint software does the masking for you, all you do is select the edit function and click on the spot in the image that you want to edit and adjust the parameters of the edit and see the results in real time. CNX2 uses a non-destructive editing process so your original images is not destroyed, altered or adjusted in any way by the software. Unless you overwrite the existing file name during the save process, but it asks you for confirmation before it will do that.

Try it out. Most folks use Light Room 3 and it is somewhat similar in the way it develops an image, but CNX2 is developed specifically for Nikon RAW files and will work with any other file except proprietary RAW files for other cameras.

Jim


P.S. I may have a surprise for the folks at DPS in the near future, stay tuned.