Weekly Post-Processing Challenge - August 30, 2015

<p>Would like to see ideas for processing this portrait I took of my nephew for my sister.</p><div></div>

<p>The larger version...</p><div></div>

<p>SInce you had mentioned Bradleys complexion ....<br>

1. Used Magic wand & selected dark side of face<br>

a. Slight Gaussian blur to smooth things things<br>

b. Slight notion blur to follow shadows<br>

2. Color EFex Soft landscape filter<br>

added neutral density filter to even the light out<br>

3. Added New layer 50% gray & lightened back area to even out lighting<br>

4. Sharpened a tad & resized</p><div></div>

<p>One important thing when retouching skin is to maintain skin texture...<br>

I used the spot healing and selected create texture. Getting rid of acne was the easy part. I would like to make a few suggestions: the lighting was awkward, making for hard shadows, one making him look like he had a black eye, a straight shadow line on his neck and bright spot on his cheek... secondly, the focus point was not on the eyes. Which is very important. Here is what I did to correct:<br>

Used the brush and clone tools set to luminosity, color, saturation, to remove the highlights and shadows, both on face and arms<br>

Used PS skin texture brush in the same way to even out skin texture<br>

Corrected magenta hue<br>

Used masks with each step<br>

Used Piccure to get eyes in focus<br>

Hope this is helpful, Line</p><div></div>

<p>I am attaching the large version in case it can be helpful.......</p><div></div>

<p align="center"><strong>A few different takes.<br /> I corrected the white balance, cleaned up blemishes, adjusted contrast and brightness, adjusted color saturation just a little.<br /> <br /> Take 1 (<a href="http://www.pn.jacksjunk.com/2015/2015-30-08/dd/Clip%20-%20R3.jpg">large</a>):<br /> </strong> <img src="http://www.pn.jacksjunk.com/2015/2015-30-08/dd/Clip%20-%20R3_resize.jpg" alt="" /><strong><br /> <br /> Take 2 (<a href="http://www.pn.jacksjunk.com/2015/2015-30-08/dd/Clip%20-%20R5.jpg">large</a>):<br /> </strong> <img src="http://www.pn.jacksjunk.com/2015/2015-30-08/dd/Clip%20-%20R5_resize.jpg" alt="" /><strong><br /> <br /> A couple other versions:<br /> <a href="http://www.pn.jacksjunk.com/2015/2015-30-08/dd/Clip%20-%20R4.jpg">Take 3</a> - <a href="http://www.pn.jacksjunk.com/2015/2015-30-08/dd/Clip%20-%20R8.jpg">Take 4</a> - <a href="http://www.pn.jacksjunk.com/2015/2015-30-08/dd/Clip%20-%20R7.jpg">Take 5</a><br /> <br /> <br /> </strong></p>

<p>My first thought was to extend the canvas to the left and put in a miniature marching band that was approaching his feet in a Gulliver's Travels kinda way. Alas, I do not own the right to any images of marching bands; so, I abandoned that concept. I think it would have looked neat.<br>

The next thought was to get him leaning on something rather than simply floating out there. For this I used Ps. I extended the canvas to the right and used Content Aware Fill to put something in that space. I cut out the horn and then transformed it to vertical. I also needed to distort it a bit since it was not laying parallel to the frame. I may have warped it a bit too much. The poor young chap might blow a lung if he tried to play that baby.<br>

I used high pass sharpen to get the eyes crisp. Then I used directional blur to cover up the poor job of cutting out and resizing the horn (hey, why not) and then masked the eyes back into sharpness. The obligatory border was applied (for me), back to Lr and then export.</p>

<div></div>

<p>My version: Basic processing in ACR: cropped right frame, reduce clipping, cloned/heal major blemishes on face/left elbow. Graduated filter vertically over face/torso to balance both sides of the face for light and shadow. Remaining blemishes part of teen life. <br>

In cs6; used fill to remove background plastic drop cloth, refine edge, background color chosen so that the bed sheet shadow left to right is noticeable. Nik plug in output sharpen for display, noise filter and unsharpen filter .</p><div></div>

<p>Appreciate all of the responses thus far. This was an attempt at 'high key' portraiture without really knowing what I was doing. Points well taken Line. Not sure why I missed focus on this one, but it was corrected in subsequent shots.</p>

<p>sunil indirectly brings up a point I ponder about portraiture - how much is too much when it comes to clearing the skin. As he notes, acne is part of teen life, and I typically like to error on the side of realism when it comes to removing it, so my processing on Bradley's pics has been to smooth the skin to a point where it looks better but not completely unblemished. Perhaps the subject typically prefers to look 'perfect' though. I know with my youngest son's senior pics, the photographer went too far I think, and he doesn't really look like himself.</p>

<p>Bill,<br>

I'd like to contribute a comment on the photo that will be as "instrumental" as the post processing work. Why is the horn in the photo? Does he play it? As the photo is, the horn looks like a prop with no purpose. If the instrument and music are important to him, then having him engaged with it will be an improvement to the image. Maybe you did that in another photo, but if not, then it's something to consider.</p>

<p>Laura,</p>

<p>Appreciate the comment. Yes, he does play, and I did take other photos of him holding it in different positions as well as up to his lips as if he was playing. This was one of the poses my sister liked and that proved more problematic in terms of post-processing, which is why I thought it would be a good challenge. Perhaps a bit too specialized for those who typically participate out here, but the responses so far have been helpful. </p>

<p>Bill<br>

I personally almost never retouch skin. I find beauty in distinctive traits..... I want people to look just as they are. I will though sometimes correct lipstick bleeds and such for official profile pictures... That is one reason I mostly only do spontaneous/street portraits. I don't want to deal with people who don't like what they really look like..... </p>

<p>I started with some basics in PSE11 - a minor degree of cropping from the bottom and right, and then using the midtown slider in levels to try evening out the tonality of Bradley's face. I converted the image to b&w in Silver Efex, and did some minor brightness and contrast correction. Finally, I used a control point in Viveca to address the acne.</p><div></div>

<p>Uh, midtone . . . </p>

<p>Hope this gave Bill some ideas. Anyone up for next week?</p>

<p>Rick, I have one I'd like to share for next week.</p>

<p>Sounds Good Steve</p>