Suggested post proessing for this pic?

D

DaveHope

Messages
236
Name
Dave Hope
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi guys,

I made a trip to Venice earlier in the year and took this shot. I think it's got promise, but lacks something ( I can't put my finger on quite what).

I''ve made some tweaks below (colour saturation) and was wondering what changes you'd make to enhance this shot? (or, would you simply throw it out? :p)

Straight off camera
VeniceA.jpg


Slightly tweaked in PS
VeniceB.jpg


A jpg conversion of the raw file can be found here if anyone wants to take a peek.

Any suggestions on PP would be greatly appreciated :)
 
Had a quick play and went for selective colouring, to bring her out of the background a bit :) also tried to lighten the shadowed area a bit too.
davehopefiddle.jpg
 
I think you could play around with tweaks in processing to get it something like.

Two issues (for me), first I don't think there is enough empty space on the left for her to 'beg' into.

Secondly, there are very contrasty shadows in the BG, especially the bright light top right, which pull your eyes away from the main subject, although the main subject is in good light, it's always going to compete with the bright lights and come out second?

It's a pity, as it has the makings of a good image, I think you were defeated by the conditions.
 
Thanks Jimmy_Lemon! - Will have a play with selective colouring - it's something I generally try to avoid as it seems to have been done to death :)

Les, I agree. I don't intend to make excuses, but as you can probably see the lighting cast harsh shadows from the alleyway she was begging in. I attempted to create the illusion of begging space by cropping a bit away from the wall behind her in my attempt in PS. Anyway - Not making excuses, will bear those points in mind for future pics.

Any other tweaks / changes would be greatly appreciated :)
 
Hopew you don't mind, I tweaked the hightlights and shadows a little then a little USM. The wall at the end of the street I selected it with the magic wand tool then tweaked that separately, I thought it was a bit too bright. I'm sure others will do better than me.

killie983226586850.jpg
 
my effort - highlights and shadows tweaked, sats boosted and background blurred to try and put more emphasis on the subject

VeniceA.jpg
 
Thanks frank & chump1979! - I'm undecided if the background should be lightened, or darkened. I'm leaning towards obscuring the background (either by darkening, or bluring) as it doesn't add much to the pic.

Thanks for your efforts! - I've followed Jimmy_Lemons' advice and gone for selective colouring (I know, i know..)

VeniceC.jpg


I also applied a gaussian blur of 10px, set it to overlay at 50% to darken the background (thus brining out the subject) and make some of the beggar colours more vibrant.

Better? - Or just "too far" ?

VeniceD.jpg
 
personally i think that although the background is fairly distracting (at least without PP) - it does add to the picture as it gives a context for the subject?
 
Quick go from me:

VeniceA.jpg
 
By the time I got this done everyone had beat me to it. Still here goes.

j.jpg
 
Wow, wasn't expecting this much feedback :) - Thanks guys!

Really like how you managed to blue out the background without effecting the subject - how'd you achieve that Garry & Dark Star?
 
I couldn't resist a play. :D

Crop
Copy layer and used the Omni Lighting Effect
Layer mask to darken the face slightly
Added vignette

VeniceA.jpg
 
sorry, didnt realise this was in the processing section
 
Thanks for all the input guys! - I think i've managed to recover the shot - ta!
 
DaveHope said:
Wow, wasn't expecting this much feedback :) - Thanks guys!

Really like how you managed to blue out the background without effecting the subject - how'd you achieve that Garry & Dark Star?
Click to expand...

1.Duplicate the background.
2.Add Gaussian Blur.
3.Use a layer mask to remove the blur from the subject.
 
Garry79 said:
1.Duplicate the background.
2.Add Gaussian Blur.
3.Use a layer mask to remove the blur from the subject.
Click to expand...

I'm less of a PP wizard! :(

I selected the background by lassoing the subject and inverting the selection then I used Gaussian blur.

Must learn how to use layers properly! :bonk:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top