All American Tot

[gracie_r]

I don't think I've posted in the critique section before, but I wanted to get some non-biased feedback. I took, what I think are, a few neat shots this weekend. I don't know how much of the "neat" factor comes from the fact they are my kids though... So please let me know what you think. I am wondering mostly about composition and "interesting-ness" since I know I have a bit to go on getting the right camera settings yet. But feel free to comment on whatever you like. Thanks for any replies!

[Frog]

I rather like the off angle for this but want some more light on her face.
Didn't know they were your kids on my first critique...on the fence.
You have a wealth of photo material with these two especially if they pose as well as they seem to.

[gracie_r]

Thanks Frog. I agree about the lighting on the face. I tried to mess with it a little in Photoshop, but it just threw off too much of the rest of the picture (in my opinion anyway).

And no, they don't usually pose this well. Sometimes I just luck out.

[draymorton]

Her face is too dark. There are some very simple things (reverse vignette, etc.) you can do in PS to remedy that.

Aside from that, I'm diggin' it.

[draymorton]

Here's a quick, 5-minute hack job. There's a lot more that can be done (BG, guy especially, underexposed), but it's late :-), and I just wanted to show how much better an illuminated face can make an image look.

[jetrim]

I like the artistic composition a lot, and DrayMorton's edit really makes the subject pop!

[gracie_r]

Thanks Dray! I've played in Photoshop a bit with it, real basic edits. My monitor isn't calibrated though, so I am afraid to do too much. I might make it look way worse in the long run.

I'll try to go back in and mess around with it this weekend. Thanks for the comments!

Thanks jetrim!

[draymorton]

Another edit, a couple more things done. In this case, it's all about drawing one's eye toward your subject in as subtle/natural a way as possible.

[gracie_r]

I love it! Wow! I don't know what else to say. That makes such a difference. I just love it. Could you give me a quick summary of the what you did to get the colors like that? And how do you do get the man in the background to show motion like that? I don't need step by step instructions, just a starting point would be very helpful.

You know I love the editing you do, and I always think "I just don't take pictures of subjects where that type of post processing would 'fit' ", but wow, that really works!

[draymorton]

Sure thing, gracie.

To get the colors:

- Color Balance (just messed around until it looked good). CB is one of the most powerful tools in PS.

- Sepia, Photo Filter menu
- Levels, to bring up the blacks (you can also bring up the blacks in Selective Color)

Man in BG:

- Duplicate layer
- Apply Motion Blur to a degree and in a direction which looks semi-believable
- Make Layer Mask (by clicking the circle-in-square icon at the bottom of the layers display)
- Invert the Layer Mask (ctrl i)
- paint with white brush at 100% over the guy until you have the underlying blur effect where and how you want it.

Give it a try and let me know how you make out!

EDIT: Yeah, editing will enhance most any photo, regardless of subject or style, if it's done even remotely well.

[gracie_r]

Thank you, thank you! I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.