Little cousin at Christmas

[walterick]

Tell me what you think of this. I was rather pleased with the outcome, but welcome other views.

This is my little cousin rolling on the floor during a photo shoot in which he was supposed to be sitting on a stool infront of the Christmas tree. Of course, this little unplanned diversion lead to the best shot on the roll. Mamiya 645 with the 80mm 2.8 lens (50mm equiv), Portra 400NC. Lighting was from a table lamp held by his aunt to the left. Scanned with my new Epson 4990. I removed a lot of yellow and red, blurred the background and his skin, and sharpened his eyes. It's my first time using the blur and sharpen features of PS Elements, as I just discovered them tonight so please let me know how they look.

Thanks!
Rick

[Peter_AUS]

I'd like to see the unworked version Rick.

[walterick]

Wow this doesn't look very good to me anymore. I guess late night photoshopping has its effect on the mind's perception. PS should come with a warning - "Do not use after 10pm or for more than 2 hours straight."

I have some more work to do on it I see. Just for kicks, here are the untouched original and a quickie black and white.

Thanks for looking Peter.

Rick

[Peter_AUS]

And now you know the reason why I asked to see the original, because I thought exactly the same thing.

[Peter_AUS]

And if you did this to it, after noteing that it doesn't have a colour profile. What do you think. Remember this was a low resolution image to begin with not the original file.

[Peter_AUS]

And a B/W one as well just using the desaturate on the above file.

[Trevor Ash]

Yikes. The poor little boy is starting to look creepy.

I like the first one posted the best so far. It looked natural to me (without having read the text) and I wasn't distracted by poor photoshopping. The end result is a more pleasing version than the original.

Rant: Don't use photoshop without a purpose. Just because you CAN sharpen and soften things doesn't mean you SHOULD. I'm not picking on you at all Walter, I know you're just playing with the tools right now. I'm speaking more to anyone who is reading this rant of mine.

I wish people would quit reading the same "How to do XYZ with Photoshop" articles on the internet or at least stop applying that knowledge to every photo they touch in PS. Or at the very LEAST tone the effects down a little so I don't glance at a photo and immediately notice the 7 standard things everyone thinks they have to fix in a photo just because there's an article out there that tells them how to.

By all means, practice the techniques. But try and figure out when to and when NOT to use them.

I'm a big baby and I want to go home.

[walterick]

Peter,

I am interested in knowing how you got the image to look "smoother" than mine. I have just begun using my Epson scanner and the PS Elements that came with it. I still am not familiar enough with either. So if any help you could give would be great.

Thanks,
Rick

[walterick]

Trevor, nice soapbox dude

You remind me of a quote by Winton Marsalis; "The key to mastery is practice practice practice, then let go and wail."

[Peter_AUS]

Noise Ninja Walter

[yogestee]

What Trevor is trying to say is do everything possible "in camera" to get the best possible image.

[yogestee]

,,,and I bloody well agree with him!!!

[Trevor Ash]

What Trevor is trying to say is do everything possible "in camera" to get the best possible image.

I wasn't saying that at all, but I agree that where possible you should

[Asylum Steve]

Peter, I like your version much better (the kid's got amazing eyes, btw)...

I think this brings up another good point to maybe compliment what Trev's been saying: don't obsess with making the color balance of a shot accurate or neutral.

Overusing ps's tools and filters may end up making your pic "accurate", but it will most likely degrade the image in general...

Peter's version definitely has a color cast, but I think it's a very stylish and pleasing one.

BTW, at some point that's often what sets a pro's work above and beyond the average shooter. Adding a style element by using a strong (or subtle) color scheme...

[Peter_AUS]

Thanks Steve, I appreciate the support. I tried to give an example of what might be possible had I been able to use the full spectrum of image but working on a web photo as you know can make artifacts appear where with the full image these are dealt with easier and what is over sharpening aftifacts don't appear in photos, unlike this one where it couldn't be helped. Yes I really like the eyes as well, they sparkle don't they, I didn't do anything to them except the unsharpen masking and then Noise Ninja. So first I did the bit below, then USM, then noise ninja, and saved for the web.

I tried a new technique on this photo by using Image/adjust/match colour which has a check box (neutralise) in it. I also had to change the profile of the image to sRGB as it was in aRGB to begin with. Something I read from a book by Katrin Eismann on Restoration and Retouching and someone who apparently knows a lot about what she is talking about and thought I would try it on this particular photo for interest sake.

Generally Trevour I try not to oversharpen anything but there are times when it will happen on low res images where the idea is trying to be displayed but can't help it.

[Trevor Ash]

Thanks everyone for not taking my comments personally. They definetely weren't targeted at any particular photo in this thread. The photos here just got me thinking about it again.

[villenadecorte]

While I agree with Trevor's comments, I think I like Walter's original, plus some of Peter's Ninja help... though that Ninja really cleans up the blur, it seeps into the sweater more than Walters original, and the carpet starts looking real sharp and funky- it distracts my eyes from the rest of that little cutie.
Everything in moderation I suppose.
-rebekah