Flat Portrait ?

Seajay

Seajay

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Name
Cathy
Edit My Images
Yes
Just looking for a few pointers on how to get a simple black and white head shot to look more punchy.
Using the one below to practice with.


ch.jpg
 
The original is nicely exposed, so you have plenty of latitude. This was mostly done using the RAW dialogue to boost contrast & clarity, plus minor random tweaking until, well, until it looked like this:

IMG_6649copyb_zpsebab34e8.jpg
 
think the original looks alright, maybe the subject is lacking that punch you're after as skin tones can be pretty close to the brick colour. Find a wall with more contrasting tones.
 
Jon that makes the blacks and whites look so much better.
i will give this a go.

Ross thank you and you may have a point as the bricks are red and with her tanned make up that could just be right!

She was not in the mood really on the day as her brows were needing done and she had spots. But I told her I needed them all for practice lol!
She would have a fit if she thought I had shown it. :)


Cathy
 

BW_girl-1 by btyreman, on Flickr

here's my rough edit in LR5 taken from the jpeg, it took me 5 minutes.

cropped,
cloned the bricks from the right side into the left,
darkened the highlights quite a bit,
decreased blacks,
increased shadows,
changed tone curve to medium contrast,
lightened highs and lights in tone curve whilst darkening shadows,
blurred the background using gradient filter and the right side,
added 2 radial filters to each eye in 'inverse' mode.

hopefully this should 'pop' much more on your screen
 
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Hi Ben! a super edit here too.

I see how the colours stand out much better than my try at it.

5mns! gosh I wont say how long I was trying lol!
I also like the idea of removing the corner as your eye was drawn there,this way you just look at Charly.

Thank you looks so much better
Cathy
 
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Harry thank you this is another good edit. Not so basic it has worked very well :)
I am learning from all of them.
Cathy
 

Photo (2 of 2).jpg by Furtim!, on Flickr

Adjust the histogram so the whites are white and the blacks are black, very slight lighten to the lefthand side of the face to lift the shadows a little, grain, contrast and a gentle clarity / exposure boost to iris.
 
David thank you this is another great edit!
I am seeing now how you all get the best of the blacks and whites to make them pop!
Most of mine were very flat and grey and I was washing them out more by lightening them.Most of it as I was trying to fade out her freckles etc lol!
I will be following the steps you take to give it a try
Thank you
Cathy
 
Thank you Paul well done!
I like the vignette around it draws you to her more.
You have also managed to get really nice tones. This is great for me as it allows me to closely look at all the different looks achieved

I can see I need to hurry and get my chores done and get up onto my mac to play :)
 
Wow! Shaun this is very nice and I would never have thought to crop it like this but I love it!!
Thank you very much for giving it a go and posting the steps. I am only a few minutes away from trying it out :)
 
Shaun a couple of questions if it is ok to ask.


is Dream layer just a soft blur brush and how did you get the image pic beside the mask used.

How did you create the sharpen layer with mask.

Had no idea about these but used a high pass sharpen with original layer on top and rubbed out eyes lol!

Used another image from same set just to show i am not cheating :) and really taking all info given and trying it out.

So much better than my first try.I know there are stray hairs and bits of eyebrows needing removed but that can be for another day.

Thank you so much everyone this has been so helpful!



Charlychops.jpg
 
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Seajay said:
Shaun a couple of questions if it is ok to ask.


is Dream layer just a soft blur brush and how did you get the image pic beside the mask used.

How did you create the sharpen layer with mask.

Had no idea about these but used a high pass sharpen with original layer on top and rubbed out eyes lol!

Used another image from same set just to show i am not cheating :) and really taking all info given and trying it out.

So much better than my first try.I know there are stray hairs and bits of eyebrows needing removed but that can be for another day.

Thank you so much everyone this has been so helpful!



Charlychops.jpg
Click to expand...

Hi glad you liked it, (and thanks suggs :) not sure I understand all you questions but I'll do my best.

Dream layer is a stamp layer of all previous layers, and i then ran a Noise reduction over it at 10, 0 0 0. reduced opacity to taste then masked out important areas eg edges and eyes etc (as you can see from the mask this is very rough). blur would have worked too (I sometime blur then reduce to 50%ish opacity and do the same thing but get an even more dreamy look, (google Orton effect and you'll find loads on this).

My main thought with this was to help de-frizz the hair a little, and help guide the view to the face and eyes

Sharpen layer as you did just a HP sharpen, hide all mask, and reveal details where i wanted them namely eyes

Hope that helps :)
 
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Shaun yes I get it.
I could not for the life of me see how you had a picture of the image beside the mask.
Not having ever heard or used snapshots this is why lol! But I know now.

Yes I did enjoy the edit as it was easy to follow and allows you to see each stage.
Thank you
Cathy
 
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