my version...worked on her eyes by cloning out a lot of the light reflection, did some slight clean-up cloning on her face...toned down the dark under her eyes, toned down the hair in her face. for the background, i used the lasso tool...darkened it then blurred with 4% gaussian blur. then i duplicated the photo(layer), added a gaussian blur of 5%, adjusted the opacity of the blur layer to around 20%, flattened the layers and sharpened just a bit to bring back a little detail in her eyes.
my version...worked on her eyes by cloning out a lot of the light reflection, did some slight clean-up cloning on her face...toned down the dark under her eyes, toned down the hair in her face. for the background, i used the lasso tool...darkened it then blurred with 4% gaussian blur. then i duplicated the photo(layer), added a gaussian blur of 5%, adjusted the opacity of the blur layer to around 20%, flattened the layers and sharpened just a bit to bring back a little detail in her eyes.
Sher, you went pretty much down the same path I did, except adding the softening of gaussian blur. If I might make a suggestion, try using the history brush to recapture the detail of the hair tendrils hanging off over the BG on the right. Look closely at my version tos ee what I mean; in mine also they were getting lost in the BG blur.
my version...worked on her eyes by cloning out a lot of the light reflection, did some slight clean-up cloning on her face...toned down the dark under her eyes, toned down the hair in her face. for the background, i used the lasso tool...darkened it then blurred with 4% gaussian blur. then i duplicated the photo(layer), added a gaussian blur of 5%, adjusted the opacity of the blur layer to around 20%, flattened the layers and sharpened just a bit to bring back a little detail in her eyes.
Sher, you went pretty much down the same path I did, except adding the softening of gaussian blur. If I might make a suggestion, try using the history brush to recapture the detail of the hair tendrils hanging off over the BG on the right. Look closely at my version tos ee what I mean; in mine also they were getting lost in the BG blur.
Nice one!
Robt.
Noticed that too. It takes a very fine brush to catch those loose hair on the BG. I like the reflections in the eyes though.
my version...worked on her eyes by cloning out a lot of the light reflection, did some slight clean-up cloning on her face...toned down the dark under her eyes, toned down the hair in her face. for the background, i used the lasso tool...darkened it then blurred with 4% gaussian blur. then i duplicated the photo(layer), added a gaussian blur of 5%, adjusted the opacity of the blur layer to around 20%, flattened the layers and sharpened just a bit to bring back a little detail in her eyes.
Sher, you went pretty much down the same path I did, except adding the softening of gaussian blur. If I might make a suggestion, try using the history brush to recapture the detail of the hair tendrils hanging off over the BG on the right. Look closely at my version tos ee what I mean; in mine also they were getting lost in the BG blur.
Nice one!
Robt.
thanks for the tip, Robert! i didn't even notice that detail. in my defense, though, it was 4 am and i was half asleep...lol. ok, you're right, i doubt i would have caught it even if i was fully awake. :)
This was a great exercise. Loved the picture so it was easy to spend time with. I Played with levels, curves, saturation, contrast and some dodging. Decided to go for a bright color filled feel. My view of what a child full of spirit would represent.
Just a question,none of you cropped the background out. Is it because the composition would be all wrong or out of proportion? Or someother reason? You've all done a fine job and I am enjoying learning from you :)
Just a question,none of you cropped the background out. Is it because the composition would be all wrong or out of proportion? Or someother reason? You've all done a fine job and I am enjoying learning from you :)
I can';t speak for the others but I like the background a lot. It is whimsical and endearing and seems a valid part of the image. I darkened and softened it a tad, that's all.
Just a question,none of you cropped the background out. Is it because the composition would be all wrong or out of proportion? Or someother reason? You've all done a fine job and I am enjoying learning from you :)
For me it prevents the image from being one dimensional. It's nice to have the option to move around the image and find other elements. Simply centering every subject can get boring, not to say it doesn't happen and it wasn't done by me.
There is also the "Rule Of Thirds" but remember this;
"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." - Ansel Adams
In the end every shot is different, that's one of the great qualities of photography.
A different take as I like the backround okay also and to my "I have three daughters" eyes the photo already is quite lovely... but hey this is fun. Steps are magic wand at 20 clone into selection blur both sides a little eye work with 10px clone tool and a bit of leveling out the face lighting with an adjustment layer(levels) and gradient mask. Anyway as I said lovely daughter and lovely shot as it was. :-)
I would take care of the catch lights in her eyes burn a little of the shoulder and delete the right side of the photo to transparent and copy the carseat pattern to the right side. This maybe diffucult but the outcome would look great. I like the bears the give the photo some character. remember that there was a time when all you had was you neg and the enlarger.
I would take care of the catch lights in her eyes burn a little of the shoulder and delete the right side of the photo to transparent and copy the carseat pattern to the right side. This maybe diffucult but the outcome would look great. I like the bears the give the photo some character. remember that there was a time when all you had was you neg and the enlarger.
