An Epiphany... or should that be e-PP-phany

[onefivenine]

It's finally dawned on me that I need to lose my anti-PP philosophy which has basically governed my photography for the past two years or so since I started out with dSLRs.

I have an upcoming friends' wedding to shoot, and I'd like to deliver them a set of quality photos afterwards.

Here's a few versions of a shot of the bride-to-be, taken a few weeks ago outdoors at dusk.

ISO200, f/3.5, 55mm, 1/125.
580EX off camera with a 36" silver umbrella.

1) Straight out of camera

2) Colour PP

PP consisted of:-

• Curves
• Patch tool
• Selective Gaussian Blur - around eyes
• Dodge tool - eyes
• Vignette - 50%

3) Mono conversion

PP:-
as per #2 but also applied a mono conversion using an action which allows me to select the colour/tone manually.

I'm hoping for some C&C, pointers, tips, anything really, especially with the PP.

None of these shots have had any sharpening applied.
I'm not sure that sharpening is a good idea for portraits but happy to take on any advice.

Thanks in advance guys

[Bristol Pete]

The toned image is very nice and well handled all things considered.

[onefivenine]

Originally Posted by Bristol Pete

The toned image is very nice and well handled all things considered.

Thanks Pete. This is the first time I've attempted to 'pose' someone for a photo!

[senu]

I like the photo too.. Its very well executed
The Colour PP is best though

The mono (IMHO) cant seem to make its mind up whether its mono or Sepia: could be my monitor ( or ageing eyes...)
But its great nonetheless
Sharpening has ( in my limited experience) a very narrow line of usablity with portraits which kind of makes it best to come from the lens rather than PP unless subtle
Each image on its own merits, I would say rather than non at all
Well done

[onefivenine]

Thanks Senu

Nothing wrong with your eyes... or monitor... it's meant to be a sort of sepia.
The action desaturates the image and then lets you pick the colour of the tone. Could have gone for green but hallowe'en was ages ago . A yellow/orange colour gives the sepia-like effect which I think looks much better than desaturating alone.

I'm glad that you like the colour version - I wasn't quite sure about it.
To me it has less impact than the mono, but I figured I'd better quit while I was ahead in case I overcooked it or something.

I'll dig out some more shots from that day and try some other things... I think I need to expand my PP repertoire fast!!!

Cheers!

[senu]

Do you shoot RAW at all?

fF you do, you may find that you will still PP without PP(ing) if you get my drift) and then only PP in Photoshop( Elements) for creativeness rather than needing to enhance shots
Especially in the context of a wedding Shoot it may be a good thing to do if you arent already doing it

Im very happy with PP myself but I confess I haven really Photshop for a goos few months, and indeed not much in 2008 Havind discovered ohow much you can do ( satisfactorily) in FDPP or lightroom
Guy ; radiohead seem to not do much PP too 9 althoughmaybe with his level of skill and kit there isnt much to do anyway)
but
Looking foward to what else you have in store

[onefivenine]

Always RAW yes - apart from when I'm shooting runners/road races.

For the wedding photos I'm hoping to assemble a small selection of photoshop actions that I can apply to batches of images once I've organised them into similar groups.

No doubt it won't be that simple, but it feels like the start of a plan.

Just need to get to grips with printing too
10x8" crops seem to lose almost a fifth of the frame! Must write that on the back of my hand for the day so I don't crop too tightly in camera.

[SomeVorn]

I think your problem (solved ) is quite common, especially since the digital uptake. Lots of photos, plenty of potential but a bit of apprehension when it comes to putting some time in to adding polish. My problem was the finality of having a finished image, especially with the flexibility of RAW processing - but, as you've found, when someone else needs (or wants) the photograph, it means I had to make a decision.

You quickly find a style as well - likely to be only subtle changes (I always increase blacks in lightroom a certain % now, turn off sharpening, throw a bit of vignette in there) but it changes the photo just enough to be your own.

Do you have lightroom onefivenine? It could turn those photoshop actions into a few seconds of adjustments, speeding up your workflow and possibly introduce effects you hadn't thought of. All in one very decent package.

[Radiohead]

Get Lightroom, set up colour and mono presets and apply en masse - job done.

The mono image looks a little sepia to me to be honest

[springtide]

Very nice 159

Personally I prefer the tweaked colour image by a tad, but it's my personal preference more than anything else.

Not that I know much about portraits, but from what I've read sharpening etc it can be useful if done selectively for 'popping' the eyes, highlighting hair texture etc - selective tweaks rather than applied to the whole image.

But I guess this is would probably be OTT for a set of wedding photos, unless they want the photo printed very large.

As I've said, my advice is from what I've read in Photoshop books rather than experience!

[onefivenine]

Strangely (or not) the couple were here when I PP'd the photo and they really loved the sepia conversion which just shows what a fickle bunch we humans are!

Thanks SV, ST, and Guy for the replies

Lightroom eh?! For some reason I had always associated it with being a Mac only tool... clearly not...! It definitely sounds like I should give it a try.

Cheers!

[SAuchterlonie]

OneFiveNive.....the photo looks a little blue to me. Would you mind if I played with it and reposted?

Simon.

[onefivenine]

Originally Posted by SAuchterlonie

OneFiveNive.....the photo looks a little blue to me. Would you mind if I played with it and reposted?

Simon.

Sure, go for it Simon. The large jpg can be had here.

Edit: just updated the flickr settings so should be accessible.

Cheers pal!

[onefivenine]

Lightroom 2 installed...
Photos started importing...
Kettle on...

[SomeVorn]

Just thought I'd do the same, of course I don't know the subject so you may do things differently but :

I just softened the skin slightly, adjusted the white balance (used the brick mortar as a neutral grey), increased blacks, added blue to the eyes, feathered vignette and finally a exposure-increasing warming ND grad going from left to right.

All in lightroom, took me about 5 minutes of tinkering but settings can now be copied and pasted to any other photo. As long as the quaility, strength and white balance of the light didn't change when shooting, they can be applied to all of them in seconds.