Can we compare?

[santer36]

My fiance and i were in need of a photo of us for out guest to sign the mat

board at our wedding. we didn't have time to go to a pro because we just

thought of doing this. anyway i also am beginning to take photos of friends,

our son, and family. eventually i would like to really get into the business.

so this will help me with two things. one knowledge of post processing and two

a pic. we could possibly use.

unfortunatly we had a friend use my canon xti camera to take our picture. i

set it on program for her and taught her a few things to look for and how to

focus in about 15 min. well she took a lot of pics and this is one of two that

can be a great photo for what we are looking for. the bad part is the other 50

pics have everything in the photo in awesome focus EXCEPT us! lol

so i am attaching the photo. what i would like (and hope at least one person

will take me up on this although i know it takes some time) is for someone to

process this photo as if it were a pic. you took and would like to sell to me.

even better would be the pic and a few notes of exactly what you did. i

processed this pic myself and i am "iffy" about it. i would love to be able to

compare my photo to someone with a lot more knowledge than me. plus maybe learn

a little about how and why you did what you did.

i'm sorry if i come across as either a boss or someone wanting more than they

deserve. if you would like, i can show my processed photo for you to laugh at.

thanks for taking the time to read, and the time to help me out. oh if it

matters. the pic. will be printed to an 8x10. thanks!

joe<div></div>

[michelle a.]

Congrats on the upcoming wedding! What a beautiful location for a photograph.

 

Basically what I did was imported it into Lighroom.... did a white balance adjustment. Tonal adjustment... added a bit of saturation, adjusted skin tones, cropped and added a very small vignette.

 

Took about 2 minutes......<div></div>

[lenny_purdie]

okay, quick try. Note: i am not a pro! Quick curves adj, sharpen and crop done in PS with image in LAB mode. If you like i'll get you the full res or give exact details how. http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/mehansen50/Untitled-1-copy.jpg

Now to be shamed by the real pros...

[patricklavoie]

heres my version.

 

if you want the hirez contact me. (photoretoucher)<div></div>

[iancoxleigh]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I hope all goes well.

 

As for your photo, here is my take:

 

1. I really like what Michelle did above and probably wouldn't have bothered trying to do better except that that is 4x6 and won't give you the 8x10 you were looking for.

 

So, I did my own. I operated under the following premises.

 

A. You wanted to be the clear subject and have the viewers' eyes drawn to your image.

 

B. You wouldn't mind a somewhat flattering portrait.

 

So here is what I did.

 

1. Imported it into Lightroom and white-balanced it using the shirt as neutral and then warming the image a little from that. At that point the pair of you looked a little pink so I backed off the magenta a tad and followed up with a slight red channel de-saturation.

 

2. I then raised the black point for a bit more contrast and then increased the mid-tone local area contrast with the 'clarity' (you can do similar with Unsharp Mask in PS -- google Local Contrast Enhancement and read the Luminous Landscape article).

 

3. I added a marginal vignette to isolate you as the subject better.

 

4. Crop

 

5. Going back over the image I was finding the white shirt a little bit bright and did a slight curve and a moderate highlight recovery.

 

Then I exported to Photoshop and resized to 8x10 without resampling.

 

While I was in PS I did a marginal dodge of your faces and a burn of that white shirt. I also found that the compression for viewing smaller (i.e. online here) was making a couple of areas of skin tone standout more than they did at full size. So, I patched them slightly.

 

Here is the full size final.

[santer36]

thank you all so much! i'm so glad you guys were willing to spend some time to help me out. i don't even know how to do have the "moves" you guys do, but here was my version. i like everyones better! the colors are great! two things i did that i had forgot to mention to all of you was my fiance's hair really isn't red although it sure looks like it is in the pic. and second, it was really hot that day 105 heat index and i was sweating like crazy, i guess i scratched my neck and left a nice big red mark. so i got rid of that as well on my version.

critque from you guys that worked on the photo would be great. then i again i guess me comparing mine to yours is kinda like your own critque.<div></div>

[corrim]

Im I the only one wondering? I guess Ill just ask. Joey, do you have a heart on the side of your cheek? Love the picture by the way, congratulations on the upcoming event!<div></div>

[santer36]

is this a serious question? i'm lost now. if its a "saying" i've never heard it, but...thank you??

wow you have me puzzled.

[mike_stemberg]

About Jess's 'red hair' Joey, I actually looked at your profile to see if there was an image of Jess to check hair colour etc..but now that you have said what you did..here's my 'play' for whatever it is worth :-)<div></div>

[frolickingbits]

I did a levels adjustment, duplicated the layer, set the mode to soft light, and desaturated that layer. I tweaked the levels and curves on the desaturated layer a bit, then saved.<div></div>

[santer36]

mike, excellent job with her hair. looks very natural!

now, how did you do it? :)

[tomas hellström]

Ok my attemt.

 

I did som basic adjustments, recovered some highlights, selective color enhancements and small retuching. I'm no pro but it was fun. Take care!

 

/Tomas

[corrim]

Joey, its not a saying. When I increased your photo in ps I noticed a small "scar" on the side of your cheek in the shape of a heart. I was just wondering if anyone else noticed it...and Im thinking no one has ever mentioned it to you. Sorry way off topic, just thought it was kind of cool.

[mike_stemberg]

Joey, the method I used this time to adjust Jess's hair, was something that came to me seconds before actually tried it ~ and thus the very first time.!?

I selected her hair, copied it onto a new layer on top, desaturated it and then lowered the layer's opacity to allow some of the 'naturalness' to come through.

Looking at the image I posted, I oughta have tightened the Levels from either side a wee bit..... Congratulations on your Engagement/Wedding. Here's wishing the both of you all the very best!