azurephoto
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 p.1 #1 · Download added - Making Mediocre Magical! (...or something) | |
I've recieved numerous emails pertaining to what I do to post-process my people-photos, and in the spirit of helping others, if only just one person, I decided to create a 'mini-walkthrough' of what method I prefer to use when fixing my shots. To help put the editing into perspective, I chose a poor (crap) image I took a while back that really needed the help to climb from horrible to the ranks of not-too-bad.  [edit: This isn't supposed to be a "How You Must Do" guide, just a "How One Person Does" guide...though I'm hardly the end-all to image editing, I have plenty of 'pro' experience which lead me to hope this may be of use to some...feel free to PM me your hate mail should you disagree with it!  ]
Those of you who know me at all should see this first step coming right off the bat, and if you value the pixel-integrity of your shots, (which is very important when stretching the bounds of lights and darks), this is a no-brainer. [*hint: it's under Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add or Remove Software*]
http://img6.exs.cx/img6/1748/1_neatisbad.jpg
Alright! Now that we've got out of the way, on to the actual editing! If you work with images at all, you either a)Have Adobe Photoshop or b)need to get Adobe Photoshop - this walkthrough assumes you're part of group a). It also assumes, as you don't want to miss any chances to fix errors you WILL make, that you're shooting in RAW format. Now - let's take a look at our subject image today...the image straight from the camera (*shudder*) in Adobe RAW:
http://img189.exs.cx/img189/6134/2_real_raw.jpg
Yuck, huh?! The image is bland and lifeless, with a lack of contrast and some poor exposure to boot, with a bit too much light and not nearly enough depth overall. We probably can't convert this into a magazine cover shot, of course, but certainly spare it from the shady part of the newspaper "Classifieds" section and a 1-900 number underneath.
Alright, let's start fixing!
http://img25.exs.cx/img25/2074/3_real_rawfix.jpg
You'll notice immediately (...because it's circled in green...) that I choose to convert to 16-bit depth - every time. The amount of pixel information you throw away when you work in 8-bit is plenty more then I care to explain here, so...just trust me, okay?  . Also, temperature, tint, and exposure have all been tweaked to a more natural look (white balance is on 'flash', but that isn't important compared to the sliders) with the biggest change coming to the "shadows' slider - grabbing a bit of depth lost in the prescence of too much strobe, some darker tones return to where they belong. Also of interest is how these changes balance out the histogram a bit more...hmm....maybe I'm on to something?  Once I'm satisfied with my RAW work (which is always tweaked later anyways...), I open up the file, and before I even see it, I'm already at Filter-Unsharp Mask... Simply put, even the sharpest lens will be somewhat soft right out of the camera, no matter what - 'preliminary sharpening' is done immediately so I can have a feel for what potential the finished photo may have. Usually the numbers here aren't all too important...on a RAW file, let's say 1.0 pixel width @ 100% (not razor sharp, but fixed more precisely later and still a drastic move forward).
http://img170.exs.cx/img170/8404/4_real_roughsharpen.jpg
Now that I can truly give the photo a once over, I start to pick apart what needs to be done - as shown here, this shot needs a LOT of work!
http://img170.exs.cx/img170/3301/5_real_evalbadareas.jpg
a) The model's shoulderblade is jutting out a fair bit (like a human, sure, but certainly not a model thing to do... ) and needs to be fixed.
b) The model's leg, though once again human-looking, has an awkward "look" to it...let's fix that too.
c) The whole shot still isn't full of a lot of character....
d) Gotta crop a bit of that space!
....so, let's do this, then.
The Back
Using the Pen (path) tool, I shape the back/shoulder as to how it should look by drawing a path around the areas I'll be eliminating.
http://img116.exs.cx/img116/2120/6_real_penback.jpg
Once this is complete, I create a selection from that path (pixel feather radius around .2 to keep the lines crisp but still realistically sharp). Using the airbrush as well as Healing tools, I paint/sample the background and 'colour in' the out of place shoulder parts. (I'm glossing over details, I know, feel free to ask questions or whateva!)
http://img116.exs.cx/img116/6605/7_real_penafterfix.jpg
There, improving already! Also noticing that the tight (sexy, sexy...) underwear create a slight bulge of side flab, the same techniques are used to eliminate that. Poof! -2 pounds!
http://img183.exs.cx/img183/496/8_real_waistfix.jpg
Finally, we fix the leg by hacking another few pounds off of it...you can see the results here TWO times, as I mistakenly put the before and after images (of the leg, at least) together...but look at our shoulder and side-flab comparisons! Oooh!
http://img190.exs.cx/img190/3127/9_real_backb4after.jpg
With those majors our of the way, it's now time to moe onto blemish removal. Most people I know are pretty skilled at, say, removing a mole, so I'll just tackle a few trickier ones. As a photog who often doesn't work with makeup artists, the biggest problem I have is under-eye bags/lines...every model has them, it seems! Luckily, there's a quick remedy for that...enter the Patch tool! Used by selecting the area you want 'patched', then dragging that area to a clear place to sample from, poof, the eye problems disappear like magic! (well, actually, it's a non-complex mathematical pixel calculation where by the...y'know what? Nevermind. It's ****in' magic!) Also notice the stray hairs are cleared with a similar technique, removing those culprits from the models' face.
http://img190.exs.cx/img190/1760/10_realpatcheyebag.jpg
http://img5.exs.cx/img5/1381/11_eyebagb4after.jpg
As well, as is oh-so-important in glam-type photos, the models' breasts in this photo are far from perfect in my shot. Using the airbrush tool, patch tool and a eensy weensy bit of the rubber stamp tool, a scar off the left (our right) breast is removed and a few blemishes and a dark spot under the right are smoothed out to a more perfect-yet-realistic look.
http://img65.exs.cx/img65/6099/12_breastfixb4after.jpg
So, now that the grunt editing is done, i decide on a crop I like and eliminate some white space (as well as that leg we fixed earlier...*sigh*....). On the whole, though cleaner, the shot is still kind of boring, so I take to the task of dodging in some hair highlights as well as burning in a bit more shade *not pictured*. After that's been completed, and noting the image still is a bit "meh" (comme si, comme ca), I hit the curves for some minor adustments and really push the men's mag glam of it all (not necessary for all photos, of course, but this image was crying for it!)
Settings:
http://img20.exs.cx/img20/8159/13_curves.jpg
Result - giving a contrasty, bit-blown out glamour feel:
http://img50.exs.cx/img50/8910/14_aftercurves.jpg
With me being satisfied with the colours (as much as I could with this shot, at least), I complete my final sharpening of the image. There's no real science to it, just a feel you get when it's "right" - and once it's done on my CRT, it's immediately viewed on my GF's lcd, too...this is extremely important when doing any posts to web with your images that you cover both bases and that they both look good. What may look great on CRT may look muddy and poopy on a crt monitor. Here's the tweaks made with the sharpening:
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/4678/15_finalsharpening.jpg
and our final start and end:
http://img132.exs.cx/img132/348/16_finalb4after.jpg
So! We've come a long way with our poop-turned-not bad at all image. Certainly this isn't the most definitive how-to in editing history, and all has been done a bit tounge-in-cheek, but I hope some enjoyed it all the same. Any questions, again, feel free to ask them, as I'm sure I missed TONS of information!
Boo Neat Image! 
http://img132.exs.cx/img132/4024/17_noneat.jpg
Edited by azurephoto on Feb 01, 2005 at 03:59 PM GMT
Edited by azurephoto on Feb 01, 2005 at 04:19 PM GMT
Edited by azurephoto on Feb 03, 2005 at 12:23 AM GMT
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