Michelle 2

[GB1]

Another of Michelle in Sept. This one was definitely taken w/ the sun behind the clouds. Due to popular demand, I tried touching her up with the magic wand (and other tools) to make her more glamorish. C&Cs welcome

G

[armando_m]

Nice setting !
wish you had used some fill flash, her face is a bit darker than her back

[LeeIs]

The pose is nice, the timing is great with the wave. the facial expression though. I can't seem to get over it. especially the corners of the lips. i wish the lips where apart, and also maybe eyes a bit more open or something, not sure.

Another thing is her shoulder blade muscle (and the other muscle in that area). And i'm not speaking as a photography hobbyist now, but as a man, I just don't like those bulging muscles. It would've been more appealing if it were more smooth.

But overall the exposure is great i think.

This is the kind of image you want to start with exposure wise with your PP. Nothing overblown and everything under control. Excellent tonal range.

[GB1]

Thanks Armando. I think a fill flash would be the only way to make her pop, w/o massive post processing that is.

Liban - I agree. There's something a little odd about her lips and mouth in this particular shot. Looks like her lips are sticking together a little ... if they were just a little bit wider, like she was saying "OOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" as the wave hit, that would be great! You don't like muscle? Maybe in a gym she would be great like this, eh?

Also, I had a hard time making her pop in post. I guess I could mask her off and do some tricks. But the few expts I did weren't very encouraging. Maybe it takes a trick that I don't know.

G

[Dave_2_@hotmail.com]

Here is a light edit on your photo. What do you think?

-Dave

[GB1]

Dave - Hmm.. It certainly stands out better, but in the process it now looks overly processed and has lost detail , especially in the face.

I think the trick with post processing is to improve the shot, removing the problems, w/o the user knowing that it was post processed. This one may be tough to do that.

G

[armando_m]

here is an edit

used the lazo tool to select ; hair, face, arm and front part of her torso and move the color lch curve center a bit to the left (1.35)

b&w 20% overlay to add a bit of contrast , except on the foam

unsharp mask 46% radius 1 threshold 0 ( this should have been done at the end ...oh well)

capture nx2 loaded the photo with adobe rgb color profile so I converted it sRGB

resized to 800 max on the long side and saved with 80% quality

[jetrim]

There's an easier way!
Lasso tool - feather 50 to 100 px
Copy, paste, set new layer to "screen" blend mode and back off opacity to suit.
Like adding a fill flash anywhere you might need one without haloing or complicated selections.

Could also use just a slight curves adjustment to give it a bit more contrasty punch (very minimal - second shot0

[GB1]

Thanks Armando and Jet. The edits are good but can only do so much before it starts looking abnormal. I'm a little (over)sensitive to any type of post processing 'look'.. as I mentioned in my other lecture, I sorta subscribe to the philosophy that the viewer should not know it's been processed. Anyway ..

Maybe the way to get punchy shots in lighting conditions like this is, use supplemental lighting (on-camera flash or portable strobe) set to slightly high brightness, then set the camera to underexpose by 1/2-1 f-stops. That will darken the background a little and hopefully compensate the subject (model in this situation) with the flash.

G

[Florian13]

wooh! Very nice model Good work