How can I achieve this?

[erica_duffy]

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>How did the photographer in the following link achieve the look of the babies? The look of the soft, perfect skin and eyes and colors popping. I attached a picture I'm trying edit to look the same way and I can't figure it out. Hopefully I'm explaining the look I'm going for. Thanks</p>

<p>Link:</p>

<p><a href="http://dawnm.com/chicago-baby-photographer/">http://dawnm.com/chicago-baby-photographer/</a></p><div></div>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Copy the background to a layer and zoom in on in the babies eyes and apply a local contrast sharpening of around 20 Amount/20 Radius adjust depending on the resolution of your image. Click OK to get out of USM and go back in and apply sharpening of around 200 Amount/1-2 Radius.</p>

<p>Now use the History Brush to paint back in these edits only on the facial features you want to "Pop".</p>

[b_christopher]

<p>Photograph your subjects close to LARGE window(s), while keeping focus on the eyes with (relatively)shallow depth of field, then tweek in LR and PS.</p>

[mel_unruh]

<p>Did you happen to check here?<br>

<a href="http://dawnm.com/faqs-from-photographers/">http://dawnm.com/faqs-from-photographers/</a><br>

Mel</p>

[garrison_k.]

<p>the colour one looks like it was run through imagenomic portraiture or portrait pro. google it and have a look. i recognize it as a client of mine bought it. it seems trendy amongst the retail generalist photog's to batch out quickly that plastic skin. the onOne pluggin does a fantstic job of discerning between skin and eye lashes. not sure how but that one is also worth looking at if you don't wish to learn your retouching the old school way.</p>

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[dawnm]

<p>Erica, turn off your flash and put your subjects in better light. For the first image in this gallery, both were shot with a macro lens, the Canon 100mm. The soft skin can be attributed to the flattering light and the shallow depth of field.<br>

I use photoshop for tweaking contrast, white balance and to remove a blemish if present.<br>

I don't use skin softening actions/plugins unless the baby has acne or other skin irritations which can be mostly avoided if you take care to photograph the baby at the right time in their life. A one month old is likely to have baby acne, for example. <br>

The sharp eyes come from a sharp lens, perfect focus and a steady hand. I sharpen the entire image before saving for web or going to print.<br>

 

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