hahaha - I have a couple of kids, I hear what you're saying!
without additional lighting it could be tough, the first thing that comes to mind is shoot in RAW, then take the shot. In post set the exposure to correctly expose the shirt (bright areas) and then open it again with the dark areas correctly exposed, merge the 2 images and mask out the appropriate areas.
But really, get yourself some lighting and use that to bring the dark areas up and expose for your light areas - much easier and less time consuming in the long run.
Don't clone your scar man, it's part of you - besides chicks dig them I'm told.
busterw wrote:
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?
Thanks for all your help Joe!
Buster
Oh yeah -- the pic needs a lot of work all over in terms of color. I was just trying to show that it is fixable, and that a color image is, at least in my opinion, preferable to the BW image, once fixed.
As for my PP skills, they're amazingly limited, actually. I know how to clone, adjust gamma and histogram for all the different colors, and lasso with soft edges. That's pretty much it. I mean, there are a few other tricks up my sleeve, but that's 95% of my knowledge.
This pic is a fine template to practice on. You can't apply a single application to the whole image and have it fixed, or, if you can, that is beyond me to be able to do. I do know there are some real PP whizzes here, like _WHAT_, but there are some people around that can help you a lot.
Well, that and a good hat (had to get one last one in!). : )
Nice shot, I think prefer the unsoftened version though. A few things I would do to improve the shot would be to:
1) Not crop so tightly at the top of the image (give your head some more room)
2) Reduce the tanline on both you and your partners foreheads (and across your nose) by burning and dodging in Photoshop until they blend nicely
3) Blur the background slightly
The 580 will be fine for this, although I'd adjust the time you go to the beach, to get a softer overall light.
Check out the thread named "took my strobes to the beach" that's been posted recently, exactly the same setup process, one light (albeit unintentionally only one) setup off to the side to fill.
it's all part of learning and experimenting, you have the models, now find the time.
The soft focus isn't bad except for the womans face. I appears over processed to the point there is no texture. If this is husband and wife they appear to be just friends in this portrait. I would choose a different pose that tells the viewer they are married. Just my 2 cents....
First impression, it looks like the heads were switched with someone elses, or they were really over processed. I don't know why, I think that the skin tones below the head look smoother than the head. The blur was nice, I personally like the soft filter. Just for some reason, the 2 adult heads look really odd.
I think maybe I thought this because the lighting on her face looked a bit different than everything else. My 2 cents, but I really like the pose and the background, you can tell very well where it was taken which is what I like.
You're getting in the zone now with that last one Buster. Don't sweat the browning grass, beach grass always looks like that or worse. You could change it with the replace color brush if it really bothers you. If you are still unhappy with the BG, try hitting it with a little lens blur. Do you know how to use a gradient with it for DOF?
