Please give me some input on this first attempt of mine. I know the background is too busy but I took this before we left the beach from our vacation and we were too lazy to get out before the sun was too bright and this was the only spot we could work with. I cropped the top tight in PS to try to elminate some of the condo in the back to help the busyness as much as possible, and then cropped the bottom tight to match the top.
It was taken with a 28-135 IS, a hood and no flash.
I like the image but I cannot get past the soft focus/filtered effect--I have found myself swearing off the filtered effect, it says that the original needs enhancement--sorta like a cheap perfume, if you follow. My customers can see thru my tricky devices (after all--most of them have my same software.}
ok, here it is without the softfocus. The 28-135 just didn't blur the back enough and it helped with a little bit of overdo on the unsharp mask around the bodies as well.
I like the og more the soft focus to me gives his forehead a funny look but the og shows he has a funny forehead. But the og is sharp and very nice to me great b&w conversion
He, which is actually ME, doesn't have a funny forehead. :-) Obviously I'm biased. Yes, maybe it's a bit large due to my hugely receeding hairline. However, what makes it look "funny" as you call it is a week in th sun and awkward tanning. That's what happens when you drink too much and try to apply sunscreen afterwards. Ooops!
Buster, I am not a pro, but have been dragged into enough photos taken by paid photographers. With that said, I think your shot would exceed, or rival any of them.Keep up the good work!
dmitchell wrote:
I like the og more the soft focus to me gives his forehead a funny look but the og shows he has a funny forehead. But the og is sharp and very nice to me great b&w conversion
Oh yea, thanks on the b&w conversion comment. I screwed with it for quite awhile as it's something I'm trying to learn to do better.
spanishbayonet wrote:
Buster, I am not a pro, but have been dragged into enough photos taken by paid photographers. With that said, I think your shot would exceed, or rival any of them.Keep up the good work!
Christopher
Thanks Christopher. Just wish the background could have been different.
busterw wrote:
C'mon of 45 views, certainly someone can give some advice or at least say it sucks crotch.
Oh man, how can I pass up an opportunity to say something "sucks crotch"?! Well, that desrbies me, actually. Quite a cool thing, to tell you the truth.
But, my sexual idiosyncrasies aside, I hate the soft focus, your other version is much better. Next, be cool and fix that guy's forehead. Shouldn't take too long -- lasso it with a soft border and reduce the gamma.
Next, it's cropped too tightly top and bottom, but mainly on the top. And lastly, why BW instead of color? I think color would look nicer. But I've not seen the color, so... : )
OK, can I say it? I mean, I've always wanted to say it. I've said plenty of things "suck ass" but never "suck crotch". I'll wait for your go-ahead on this one, possibly with the color version. : )
Joe i won't even post the color version the color was so horrible. The grass in the back was half-ass dead so it wasn't green but wasn't dead color either. As I said in the original post, I had to go tight on the top b/c the building in the back made the overly busy background much worse. THEREFORE, I had to crop the bottom to be close to the top.
THAT GUY is me. Don't be slammin my forehead man. C'mon, my genes were with big forehead and bad hairline. I told the ole lady my next step was shaving it. Don't push me. The forehead splotchiness as I said was due to drunken sunscreen application. They should warn about that on the bottle. DAMNIT....I wonder if they did.
Doesn't the forehead look slightly better in the first pic, even though it appears the softfocus look isn't highly approved of? Man, I'm getting a forehead complex. If they can do breast reductions, can they do forehead reductions?
Nah, if you saw me, you know I'm not anyone to be casting stones. I don't have photoshop, so I don't know where the gamma adjustment is on your software, but it should be easily accessible as it's a common adjustment.
You're right, the forehead looks better with the soft focus, but hell, my whole face looks better that way, so I'm not sure what you're point is.
As for the color, c'mon man, post that bad boy. Can't be that bad. I mean, you saw that forehead, right? : )
joe mama wrote:
Next to the "forehead adjustment". : )
Dude, you're ruthless.
Here's the original. STRESSED: Intentionally composed tight at the top, HINDSIGHT: bad mistake though since obviously now there's nothing to work with there.
So go ahead rip it up. I'm tough. "What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger."
Well that's straight outta the cam besides downsizing for the post. the left and right crop isn't near as bad as the top being so tight thought obviosuly. The left could be cut off just enough to remove the distracting flag from the shot which might make it pretty close to balanced. Ya think?
Here's the original. STRESSED: Intentionally composed tight at the top, HINDSIGHT: bad mistake though since obviously now there's nothing to work with there.
So go ahead rip it up. I'm tough. "What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger."
In terms of the color, it's doable, but will require a lot of work. Here's an edit with just your face "fixed". I still think color is the way to go for this image.
I'm guessing you were trying to get rid of my sunburn?
Yes, I admit, my burn wasn't the only color issue. So you're a hell of a lot more experienced than me, was color issue due partially, but not fully, to the fact that it was a 28-135 and not quality glass like my 70-200L or my soon to arrive 24-70L?
Buster,
You have a gorgeous wife and baby, forget the forehead man, it's obviously a non-issue to them.
Now, on to the actual photo . . .
cropped way too tight on top, it looks unbalanced, but you know why you did that, and next time you'll select a better bg right *nods*
The focus is good, the light is ok, your shoulder and shirt are a bit overexposed though. the sense of family in the pose is certainly there though.
what you could do, and I'm sorry to come back to you, but, use your 'healing brush' to even out your skin tone a bit (especially the glasses lines).
Thanks tnerb for the compliments on my lady and my little one.
As for the cropping, yep, that's a no brainer, gotta do better next time. partially the crop was due to what I mentioned earlier plus asking the person hitting the button if we were in the photo and us all trying to snap it before the 14 month old hauled ass.....AGAIN. Many issues there. No excuses though. next time will be better. this was a first and a learning experience which is why aftrer having it sit on my computer for a month, I decided to post and get feedback, good or bad.
yeah you'll ntice the first image I posted the glasses lines were gone as well as the scar on my knee and the double chin. Whoa, what work I require!!!!
OK, I know the shirt is overexposed which brings a good question. How does one NOT overexpose a bright white shirt in outdoor light with natural lighting. I know that comes with experience, but where should I begin to work on that?
thanks to you as well. I need feedback to get better.
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