Cheeky Monkey

[DAZMAN32]

Hi All,
Took this pic with my first dslr. I am a total noob at photography so please critique as much as you can. i need all the help i can get.
kit used: sony a350, 18 - 70 lens @ 50mm, f/5.6, 1/125 s, iso 100
slight increase in temp with photoshop

look forward to your comments

 

[saglik]

Nice image, the background is bit messy though.
Always watch the background.

 

[Hacker]

As saglik says the background is a bit messy but sometimes it cannot be avoided, I would also say the image looks a bit flat and lifeless so I had a quick go using the following steps:

1. Firstly I adjusted the basic exposure using some curves layers to add a bit more contrast. Link to tutorial

2. The eyes were a but dull and lifeless so I used my eye pop technique although I realise I have overdone it on the small file size but I left it like this so you could see what a difference it can make. Link to tutorial

3. Finally I added a very slight vignette to concentrate the eye and gave it a slight sharpen (I may have overdone the sharpening).

Hope this helps!

 

[saglik]

Nice edit Hacker.
The image looks much better.
I checked the tutorials as well and they are very informative.
Thanks