PS (Photoshop) the POW (Wedding Photo of the Week) 11/16/09

<p>This week's image for Photoshopping was submitted by Anna Aasen.<br>

You may post one reworked image, so make it your best effort. Any explanations about why and how you did what you did are encouraged and appreciated. Any critique is also welcome. Please remember to make your image 700 pixels wide and post a caption.<br>

For those of you wondering what this thread is about, this is part two of an exercise called Photo of the Week, in which an image is chosen from submissions to be critiqued, or, in this case, 'photoshopped' by others. You may find the thread with image submissions by looking for the most recent one with a similar title.</p>

<p>Have fun!</p><div></div>

<p>YAY! Looking forward to people's responses. I will post a revision as soon as I can - just about to head out right now. Here are some things I plan to do looking at the image: Remove the flower behind groom's head, change color balance to brighten - pretty dull. Funny how I see an image differently after looking at it a few times.<br>

When I did my first edit - I didn't even notice the flower behind the groom and thought the color looked fine. Now not so much! Ha!</p>

 

<p>There is something in this shot that reminds me of the old studio shots in front of backdrops....in '20s or '30s maybe. So I've tried to add to this look. Played with curves and saturation, added some texture and blur, and removed that flower that bothered Anna. I'm a bit more bothered by the veil, kind of not sure what it is.. Some of the sunflowers are calling for too much attention, might be good to blur them out a bit.<br>

I'm not going to suggest what I would do in that setting, since this shot is probably just one of the shots taken there and anyway, this is PS the POW.</p><div></div>

<p>Lightroom antique, recovery, and reduced exposure.</p><div></div>

<p>Here is my little tweak. I like this version of the POTW</p><div></div>

<p>Looks to me like the original above has had quite a bit of digital post, I'd like to see an image that comes closer to how it looked straight out of the camera as a starting point for PS work.</p>

<p>You know, I actually really like the lighting on the original image, and I think the color gives the photo a warm lovely glow. I would definitely keep the color image. I have a very difficult time with the original framing of the image. It's just bad in my opinion... The bottom of the image is dominated by a huge, incomplete white skirt. If you had stepped back a tiny bit and gotten the whole skirt, it would have been better, otherwise, lose the skirt. The top is good, the facial expressions were good, but I would have also turned the bride a little more away from the groom for a more slimming effect. Not that she looks bad, but she could have looked better. My version is below, I obviously cropped the image, boosted contrast, and added a selective blur (Kubota lord of the rings everyday) and returned sharpness only to their facial expressions to emphasize them in the photo.</p>

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<p>I gave them both the advertising photoshop treatment (lots of liquify). I think it's immoral but hey, who am I to judge myself. If you didn't see the original you'd never know.<br /> <br /> I kept the image in the spirit of Anna's original edit but with more dimensionality, more contrast, a little more tilt (rotation), a little more veil and the usual cloning as well.</p><div></div>

<p>Well, here's my post processing attempt. To be honest, I experimented a bit and couldn't tell you what all was involved. A lot of adjustment layers and a lot of layer masking. No extra sharpening or softening though. I thought the original was sharp enough and I'm not a huge fan of the gaussian/orton blur.</p>

<p>Lets try again...</p><div></div>

Basic and advanced portraiture books suggest never to shoot someone straight on because it makes them look much bigger. In this case the groom actually looks good, but in my opinion the bride may not like the straight on direct angle of her pose. Also, I'd edit out the inside lace at the bottom of the gown and try to adjust the skin tones a bit, the exposure looks a tiny bit underexposed. Maybe just a 1/2 stop.

 

I like the adjustment E Hughes made by cropping tighter. It's a much more flattering image.

 

It's nice to be creative and take chances, this image actually works for me - cropped.

<p>First let me say how much I enjoy doing post production / creative art.</p>

<p>Second let me offer a suggestion to the Admin and poster, when posting a picture for consideration for *chopping* I'd like to use a photo un-touched, as raw as one can get it straight from the camera, it makes it easier to be creative then removing previous adjustments, such as the vignetting that was applied to this shot. :)</p>

<p>I first thought of cleaning and saturating this shot, maybe adding a little glow, then I thought, it would be expect for this type of shot...I stepped back for a few and let the creativity flow like cheap wine.</p>

<p>I thought about dragonizing it, which I did and I did like it, but it didn't shine for me. I also thought vintage, I liked that more, so here I offer my pre-1860's vintage final widget.</p>

<p>I wasn't to thrilled with the sunflowers, so I added the carriage and other magic, to many steps to list.</p>

<p>~Jack</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>No revision to the original, but I would suggest putting your bride behind the Groom, and have her turn sideways while he faces the camera (she gets smaller, he gets bigger).</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Okay -</p>

<p>This is my very first photoshop edit to someone else's photos. Fun idea for a project, though. Hoping to change a few photos and also ramp up my ps skills. I'm using pse 6.</p>

<p>First, I decided to lighten up the whole photo and take out some of the vignetting. As previous posters did, I edited out the flowers from the back of the groom's head, as well as the leaf coming out of his nose. I also did the same for the bottom of her dress. I didn't like her slip showing, so tried to clone in some grass over it. I darkened his suit because it looked more gray to me than black. I also tried to increase the purple accents in her dress so that they would stand out more. I also did some spot healing on both faces. I kept her prominent mole, however, because I think that is part of "who" she is. Finally, I cropped just a wee bit.</p>

<p>Hoping I did okay for a first timer. Nice shot, overall, though!</p><div></div>

<p>My try, I also cleaned up their facial spots adjust the colors and here you have it. I like Jack B's look best. v/r Buffdr</p><div></div>

<p>My Comments on the ones up to here (That I liked best):<br /> E Hughes: First one to catch my eye. I really like the "mystic"/soft focus feel, but it still retains the clarity. Really well done. Full props on the crop as well. I agree there is way too much white dress in the bottom.<br /> Jack Burgess: Totally cool edit - I love replacing backgrounds too. Well done. I just found the "pepper" (black specks) around the frame to be distracting, and the trees seem to blur out a bit too fast.<br /> Melinda Gaus: Glad you didn't over-do the contrast, it looks nice. 2 thumbs up for flower/leaf removal by head, dress fixes and skin cleaning. It really helps. Increasing the purple was a very nice touch! Excellent first attempt!<br>

Vanja Cakic: Good job on that effect, too bad the area between their heads looks so blurry. If that was sharper, it would be excellent.</p>

<p>Call me old fashioned, but i like the Original, or the first post. Others are a bit overly done IMO. I see to much noise, grain, basically over processing issues. I do like the Jack B post of the "vintage" look. That is something i would love to know more about. Interesting thread<br />Anton</p>

<p>I think the original is pretty good as well. However, if I was to change it, I would probably do something like this...<br>

<img src="http://www.boolog.com/images/retouch.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="313" /></p>

<p>This is from me :)</p><div></div>

<p>My attempt</p><div></div>

<p>Did just a bit of work on it, did not crop but I must agree that it should have been croped to remove the distraction at the bottom of the photo....</p><div></div>

<p>I think the original image was heavily photo-shopped which means it's a difficult image to work from. Taking the color out assists the color issues and a closer crop assists the problematic posing. JB's image with the horse carriage transforms the image to something completely different which eliminates the color, much of the posing problems, and provides an alternative crop of just the couple. I've tried to reduce the color and minimize the centered position of the couple, I would have liked some more space to add to the right side of the image.</p><div></div>

<p>Looks like fun! Here's my version: Cropped the image to make it more intimate Selectively blurred the flowers on the side, Tried to smooth their faces a little bit, and messed with the lighting and colours.<br>

<img src="http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r309/a_lee_sa/00V2eQ-192077584.jpg?t=1258919356" alt="" width="533" height="384" /></p>

<p>Just a simple convert to B&W and some cloning out of the stuff sticking out of the Groom's face. Added a sloppy border to make the picture pop out. I actually like that the dress is shown in full. It shows off the design of the dress and not just a couple posing.</p><div></div>

<p>Thanks to all who enjoyed my rendition. As stated in my original post I was trying to emulate a photo from the 1860's, this also included the brown aged border. I hope the Admin don't mind but I will post the same photo with out the border as an example. I still offer the original first post as my entry.</p>

<p>~Jack</p>

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