Critique Before and after for self-portrait.

Michael Batten

Michael Batten

Messages
715
Name
Michael
Edit My Images
No
Has to use this ugly model (myself) as no one else was around.

Before straight doc

DSC05651.JPG

After

DSC05651-Edit.JPG

Critique welcomed in particular how the lighting is and whether the processing is too much.

I had an 80" octa picture left on the 45 and a rectangular soft box picture right slightly behind me and white reflector picture right also on the 45.

Thanks all.
 
Was the shirt white? It looks a little under exposed, giving your skin tones a little more warmth
 
Kodiak Qc said:
If you're referring to your avatar you're possibly right
but you could change all that with this new shot! (y)
Click to expand...

All changed, and just for you Kodiak :)
 
Byker28i said:
Was the shirt white? It looks a little under exposed, giving your skin tones a little more warmth
Click to expand...

The shirt is white but not brilliant white.
 
Michael Batten said:
Why would you flip it?
Click to expand...


As a layout designer, I make sure that people on a page
are always facing inside the page and never outside! :cool:

I promise you won't lose your smile in the process! :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Did you notice I am the only one facing IN the thread…
so far?
 
Last edited:
Kodiak Qc said:
As a layout designer, I make sure that people on a page
are always facing inside the page and never outside! :cool:

so far?
Click to expand...

I thought you meant for the photo in general. You are quite right I'll flip it now.
 
This is pushing it up .5 a stop and pushing whites to +30. DSC05651-Edit-5.JPG
 
Slightly too far with the whites, I still think it's a little warm, (unless you have had a few drinks over christmas or the heating is up highh). my edit is probably a little too green :)
 
Hi Michael. Not sure if it's just me and my computer but looks a bit soft on my screen? Nice smile
 
Grayman said:
Hi Michael. Not sure if it's just me and my computer but looks a bit soft on my screen? Nice smile
Click to expand...

Thanks. Might be the upload as it looks ok in LR and PS.
 
cargo said:
Looks good to me :) Course you could nit pick all day long but to my eyes nowt wrong here.

Gaz
Click to expand...

That's what I'm here for!

.. ignoring any exposure issues ..
  • The eyes, teeth & cloning on the shirt work well. The shirt is especially well done.
  • The skin softening is significantly OTT for me. You've sharpened or boosted the local contrast of most things - e.g. hair, eyes - but at the same time removed a lot of the texture and shadow modelling in the skin. The contrast is a bit jarring. How are you doing your skin processing?
  • You've introduced a halo behind the head. Too much clarity?
 
juggler said:
  • The eyes, teeth & cloning on the shirt work well. The shirt is especially well done.
  • The skin softening is significantly OTT for me. You've sharpened or boosted the local contrast of most things - e.g. hair, eyes - but at the same time removed a lot of the texture and shadow modelling in the skin. The contrast is a bit jarring. How are you doing your skin processing?
  • You've introduced a halo behind the head. Too much clarity?
Click to expand...

  • Thanks
  • It's frequency seperation so it's likely that I'm using too big a gausian blur which I do take on board, better to make several smaller blurs rather than one larger.
  • I hadn't used clarity so I don't really know where that comes from.
 
Michael Batten said:
  • It's frequency seperation so it's likely that I'm using too big a gausian blur which I do take on board, better to make several smaller blurs rather than one larger.
Click to expand...

It's just as likely to be too small a radius when creating the HF layer as too large a radius on the LF layer.

fwiw I find just blurring the LF layer a bit crude. Much nicer to gradually blend a colour in with a large soft brush.
I also tend to mask off the frequency separation and only apply it where needed - but I'll usually try to fix any skin issues by other means first. Typically dodging & burning and / or colour correction with an HSL layer, curves layer or selective colour layer. In this case I doubt I'd have used FS at all.
 
Do you have any links to bending in colours? The method of FS that I've used is the same as PHLearn, it sometimes works really well but othertimes it looked too plastic.
 
Michael Batten said:
Do you have any links to bending in colours? The method of FS that I've used is the same as PHLearn, it sometimes works really well but othertimes it looked too plastic.
Click to expand...

Phlearn had one about removing skin redness using HSL layers and Dani Diamond has one on using curves to remove eye bags but I don't have the links to hand.

You can add a temporary solar curve - or an extreme contrast curve - to highlight issues.
Then using a brush just sample from an area of good colour & paint at very low flow on the area you want to fix.
Repeat, resampling often.

The point is to identify where any problems are rather than applying a global fix. What defines a problem depends on who and what the image is for.

Another approach is to use a different method to blur the LF layer.

I sometimes use Nik's Dynamic Skin Softener in conjunction with FS on the LF layer with small details turned down to 0 - but I'd be unlikely to use it on headshots. It works well on arms & legs. Used on its own it's way too strong.

For me blurring on the LF layer is the last port of call. I'll do what I can with the other approaches first - and I'll quite often do large scale dodging & burning afterwards to enhance any shadows I've reduced.

.. but that's just my compromise approach. I am not a professional retoucher and rarely have the time, desire or need to do magazine-quality retouching.
 
Solid advice there Simon, I will give that a go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top