My first effort at portrait porcessing

dubcat

dubcat

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Amir
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Hi,

This is the first time I have had a go at processing a portrait in photoshop. Normally I just do basic edits in Lightroom but a friend pointed out to me that the reason i did not feel my photo's matched up to other peoples might be because I do not really post process other than sharpen and exposure etc.

Are my edits along the right path? What would you do different? Are the edits too strong or too subtle? I am particularly keen to hear feedback about the eyes.

The first image is what i would normally do. I felt the exposure was right so I did not mess with that. I just sharpened using the lightroom portrait preset and resized for web.



In the second picture I dodged the eyes, burned the iris and the outer edge of the iris, dodged the shiny bits on the lips, set the black point via the hair which is black, and finally i removed the bogies as best i could from her nose.



Thanks,
Dub
 
Sorry I will leave giving techie advice to those whom know there stuff.
All I can say is the edits you have done are for the better, the image as more punch/pop yet still does not look like you have edited it.
So in my opinion you are on the right track.I guess you could do more as it is a nice capture but it's how far you want to take it.

Gaz
 
Hi Amir

You have really bought her out in the second image, I think the one thing I might have done differently would maybe be
export another copy from LR with the clarity lowered
drag this layer over the original and then erase the areas over her eyes, hair, lips etc that you want to stand out. This should soften her skin again
 
I had to go quite far back in your Flickr stream to find a portrait :)

The ones I found, you have a couple of issues on the candids with where light and subject are positioned, you've put them in the shade and I guess metered for the complete scene. The one's where you've used a backdrop and/or OCF are fine - sharp and well exposed.

With the ones you've posted I think I'd be tempted to warm up the WB a little and marginally increase overall exposure, there's a hint of colour cast which I guess is daylight from a window. Eyes, you could whiten and just increase overall exposure. I tend to do this on an inverted curves layer, but it's always a call on how far to go without it appearing too forced. Your way equally works

Bogey removal is always fun :)
 
I think you have made great improvements in the right direction in 2nd image.

Have you considered converting the image to black and white or even better sepia?
This would neutralise the strong colour of the little girl's dress which is currently dominating the image, I think sepia would make a dramatic improvement.
 
Thanks for the feedback folks. My colour blindness is really starting to get on my nerves. Phototuition did you mean something like this?

IMG_3980-Edit-Edit.jpg
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Now THAT is gorgeous! In the colour version the pink reflection on her chin was really drawing my eye away from hers. The sepia one however has no distractions, her eyes are really captivating in that one. Nicely done.
 
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