I've been saving this shot for a year but didn't really like it due to the cluttered background and the washed out sky. Decided I'd post it in 'capture a stranger' but wanted to see if I could do anything with it in pse5. First it was cropped, then a little cloning at top of hat, then the hard part was trying to get the plastic on top of the hat to not be so shiny. Then I started playing with filters and came across the lighting effects and ended up pretty pleased with the result.
Would appreciate any comments and whether there's a way to do it better.
The original and then the edited.

Hi Frog!

I think the crop is Ok but the spotlight layer is a bit heavy and doesn't lend enough reality to the scene. I understand your concern about the skies and background but sometimes we can't have it all, especially at an outdoor event like this. Settle for isolating your subject in frame as best as you can while in the scene. Something like this would have me pulling out a long lens and retreating to a distance where I could reduce the DOF and smaller f-stop through the lens. Great subject no matter how you slice it though.

BTW a word of advice: It is great to critique yourself while you are shooting and think about the things others might comment on but we cannot allow the peril of critique to govern our every shot. There's a time to be exact, a time to let fly, and a time to consider the opinions of others; but "in the moment" excitement also has it's place and is equally acceptable in my book. Look for that moment when photographing performers, sometimes second guessing yourself can get in the way of getting the shot.

How about replacing the sky and applying a "lens blur"? Do you mind if I edit your original?

Thankyou for your words of wisdom C.L. Points noted.

Thankyou for asking FX. Be my guest. Let me know what you did.

just a question, but why did you include so much sky to begin with? it seems relaly off balanced in the original shot even if it had a non blown out sky, with the instrument cut off and what not.

I've been saving this shot for a year but didn't really like it due to the cluttered background and the washed out sky [snip].


I think the crop is too much. The original tells me about the environment; the second one doesn't. The edited one seems too tight and the face of the person seems too dark (darker than in the original). If you think the background is too cluttered, you could simply blur it and clone out whatever you don't like. If blurring it is not enough, de-saturate the colors a bit, too. Use the gradient filter to deal with the sky. Crop out whatever it is in the lower right hand corner of the photo. May be add a hint of vignetting in the end. Personally, between the two here, I prefer the original.

the background really seems to disturb the subject.. good idea you've cropped the photo. .but i think. . the silhouette effect also disturbs the subject. .

i would love to try something with it, if you would allow.

I second the blur recommendation. I would go with a Gaussian blur. Duplicate the layer (right click - duplicate layer on PC, not sure about Mac), then on the duplicate use the magnet lasso to go around the subject. Then under the [select] column, go down to inverse. Then [filter]--->Blur--->Gaussian blur. Adjust the slider to the desired effect. Voila!

Cool shot btw. What's the guy smoking? Just kiddin.

It was a grab shot and I didn't have time to compose.