PS the POTW 10/5/09--Go!

[picturesque]

<p>OK, here it is--an image with lots of potential for creative Photoshopping. It was taken by Raymond Thompson. Below are his comments.</p>

<p><em>"I liked this image, others did not, others did. There is no accounting for personal taste. This image has not been modified and there are a few undesireable elements that I would eliminate (red cord, light blocks in back left). I would also probably warm the image up slightly using NIK Skylight filter. But the point of this was to present an unmodified image so nothing has been done but to crop to 700 pixels wide and JPG compression."</em><br>

<em></em><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.</p>

<p>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>

[stephaniaw]

<p>My personal take on it: Convert to B&W, ultra slight chocolate-y tone, curves & levels to boost contrast and make it "pop" a bit more. My preference for the B&W stems from there not really being any significant color in the photo to begin with. It feels kind of dull in color. I feel that it is more dramatic as a B&W.</p><div></div>

[theresa_skutt]

<p>I had trouble focusing my eyes on the bride. The bored bridesmaids & flower girl, elbow coming out of the brides's arm ( I edited it, but quickly), and all the other things made me want to put a spotlight on her, since she is (I'm guessing) the focus.</p><div></div>

[julie_g.]

<p>Here's an attempt, keping the color. I blurred out the girls some, and took out some distracting lights in the background. Changed the colors a bit to warm it up.</p>

<p><img src="http://www.juliegossephotography.com/photos/673361699_Xohsy-L.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[stuart_meyer]

<p>Here's my take on that image.<br>

<img src="http://www.stuartmeyerphotography.com/photodotnet/Bride.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[rayt]

<p>Nice adjustments all. A wide range of opinions. Interesting from Mr. Meyer with the missing head, hmmm. The B&W from Ms. Skutt is guite good along with the treatment from Ms. Whitfield.</p>

<p>Now a little background on the image. There was another photographer that I was working with who was arranging the image and taking the image from the front, about 90 degrees to left. We team up on weddings and she was running the show at this point in the proceedings. I was off to the side and liked the lighting. I just quickly snapped the image and moved on. I made no attempt to get anyone, including the bored bridesmaids to do anything. This was not a setup image from my vantage point.</p>

<p>So here is what I would do with the image. I used the same low resolution image that y'all had to deal with. I cloned out the arm, removed the cord, removed the bright spots, darkened the edges, warmed up the image, and then vignetted the image.</p>

<p>So thank you all for the ideas. I look forward to some more interesting options from all you creative folks.</p><div></div>

[francie_baltazar]

<p>so my idea was to go with something completely different... this would not be something that would go into an ablum necessarly - I was thinking portriat like or canvas. I wish the bride was not full on profile and I wish the girls did not look so bored... because I am not keen on the photos I like to go more extreme with the look.... so with that I would make it into something arty. I would have worked on her face a bit more but this is the quick look so you get the idea...</p><div></div>

[mike_stemberg]

Looking at the image from top left the first thing I 'noticed' was the doorway out of kilter..and that led me onwards to the other things...like building things around the edges etc. I suppose I could have cropped off that offending corner but that would have meant losing that lovely 'bored look girl' who is sitting at the end. I also left in the half-hidden brides-maid, who I'm sure would have only been offended for being simply 'taken out'. It was fun 'playin'.

[KenPapai]

<p>I would bring some detail out of the shadows then a straight conversion to B&W, with more emphasis on the RED channel:</p><div></div>

[mike_stemberg]

My image got separated from my 06:08 comment. Here it is now.<div></div>

[tina___cliff_t]

<p>We both took a Stab at this. I personally don't like the people in the background at all. The bored faces seem to distracting so I cropped and blurred the image. </p><div></div>

[tina___cliff_t]

<p>Cliff wanted to bring the attention to the flowers. </p><div></div>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>This image was certainly a challenge. I'd rather hoped that Tina's bridal portrait might have been selected for this exercise, perhaps she'll brave a separate post with her image (hint, hint). The bride's hip and left arm placement is troublesome for this pose, I'm not sure how it looked to the lead photographer from the other angle but I'm always trying to place the weight on the back hip with the upper torso leaning slightly towards the camera. Pretty bride.</p>

<p>In my PS attempt I've tried to minimize the distracting elements, did a softening action along with adding fill and a slight color desaturation. Sloppy border was just for fun.</p><div></div>

[schroeder]

<p>I'm not very good with photo manipulation, but the three lovely bridemaides had to go.So my idea is something like this. Sorry for crappy PS skills :-)<br><div></div>

[pete_s.]

<p>I think the lighting in the image is great but the use of a wide angle and subsequent foreshortening of the bride and the bridesmaids are unfortunate. I corrected the perspective and removed the extra people, flowers and other stuff that where mostly clutter anyway. I kept the bridesmaids though.</p><div></div>

[hal_b]

<p>Who wants to remember the moment during their day when the bridesmaids were bored out of their minds and the Bride looked suicidal? Do the bride a favor and scrap shots like this, rather than posting them on the internet to be mangled.</p>

<p>If you want to host a PS contest, start with a GOOD stock image and let people attempt to make it look GREAT. Don't start with something poorly executed and try to make it only mediocre.</p>

[bjcarlton]

<p>Good heavens, why do people want to get rid of the bored bridesmaids and otherwise glamorize the bride? The whole thing that makes this image interesting is that it steps away from the wedding fantasy photographers are paid to create, and documents what's going on just to the sides of the fantasy and what goes into creating the fantasy. Now, if your goal were to sell an image to the bride, things would be different. I imagine you'd be standing where the off-camera photographer was standing, you would have carefully left out the actual context of where the bride was -- and you would have very little post processing to do.</p>

[hal_b]

<p>I believe that all the things which are necessary to be done to "correct" this image were probably not necessary in the image from the main camera. You've basically taken a photo that was never meant to be taken. It's a "behind the scenes", and not much sense in post production. You might as well leave it how it is and move on. Is the Bride going to order a print of this pose, looking like Bridezilla?</p>

[manuel barrera houston,]

<p>Maybe they want to test some people ability with photoshop skills and some people lack such skills so they attack the selection of a photo that was posted, how putting smiles on the faces;-) I was not going to spend time on this as I have more then enough to do at the moment, but I think when I get home tonight I will work on the image-</p>

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>l did some sharpening, burning and a little contrast etc..</p><div></div>

[rodney_carpenter]

<p>Photoshop Challenge !</p><div></div>

[hal_b]

<p>A person should recall in times when he is retouching one of his own photos that the end result is only as good as the subject, preparation, and lighting. This is regardless of the modifications effected in post production.</p>

<p>Mr. Barrera: I am very satisfied with the results posted by others already. I especially liked the post by Pete S. I know for a fact that I cannot produce a result to improve on what others have already shown. Mr. Carpenter's post is very interesting, and I think the use of selective color and blur might very well be the best solution for this photo. For these reasons I am not interested in attempting the challenge myself.</p>

<p>Lastly, I would like to point out that others have had the opportunity to say why they appreciate this photo, as a good candid, a juxtaposition, or an interesting use of lighting or whatever. That's fine. I simply disagree. I believe my negative opinion should be just as welcome in this or any forum as the positive ones.</p>

[manuel barrera houston,]

<p>Mr. Bradbury, I would not have posted that image either, but when I first saw it, I saw that it was the one that needed the most work. I was such in a hurry to finish my post I did not proof read and edit the post. I will at least attempt to add a smile to her face.</p>

[picturesque]

<p>Hal--a negative opinion is fine, as long as you do not attack anyone in the process. A negative opinion is welcome as long as it is stated in a civil manner.</p>

[hal_b]

<p>Rodney: I love your treatment here. Truly. I especially love your caption.</p>