Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: ARD on January 10, 2010, 10:15:53 am

Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: ARD on January 10, 2010, 10:15:53 am
Just been going through last years photos and came across this one. Not staged, composed etc, not even cropped.

One of his eyes is slightly off focus, but not bad - wish my photography was as good as my luck lol

C&C welcome as always, many thanks

(http://i47.tinypic.com/2uigah3.jpg)
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: Shirley Bracken on January 10, 2010, 11:02:12 am
That is sweet in so many ways.  This is inspiring me to post some of my photographs of children.  They are a joy to follow around with a camera.  

Such a wonderful moment (and capture)!
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: wolfnowl on January 10, 2010, 01:47:25 pm
As an image, it reminds me of our grandson.  As a photograph I'd say it's more than just a lucky grab!  Well done!

Mike.
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: caseyargall on January 11, 2010, 12:17:44 am
Great capture,very nice shot!
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: ARD on January 11, 2010, 04:47:00 pm
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: tokengirl on January 11, 2010, 08:42:50 pm
This is a terrific portrait!  Sweet and innocent...

Two small things that might help in post processing:

1.  Adjust the white balance to reduce the yellow/green tint in the skin (if you use Lightroom, use the eyedropper tool and click on the white of the outer right eye to do this).
2.  Add a little sharpening to the eyes to make them pop.

Other than that, it doesn't need a thing.  The framing is perfect as is IMO.
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: ARD on January 12, 2010, 12:12:41 pm
Quote from: tokengirl
This is a terrific portrait!  Sweet and innocent...

Two small things that might help in post processing:

1.  Adjust the white balance to reduce the yellow/green tint in the skin (if you use Lightroom, use the eyedropper tool and click on the white of the outer right eye to do this).
2.  Add a little sharpening to the eyes to make them pop.

Other than that, it doesn't need a thing.  The framing is perfect as is IMO.

Thanks, I'll try that and post results later, much appreciated
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: ARD on January 12, 2010, 04:03:33 pm
Adjusted - C&C welcome, good or bad it's all useful

(http://i45.tinypic.com/2j44ion.jpg)
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: EduPerez on January 13, 2010, 07:38:14 am
I like it, it is good enough you do not need to care about technicalities.
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: tokengirl on January 13, 2010, 01:12:41 pm
ARD,

The skintone on the revised version is certainly better, but I find it a little flat/muddy?

If it's ok with you, I can have a go at it and post it here or e-mail it to you.  I don't want to edit your photo without permission though.
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: ARD on January 13, 2010, 02:34:18 pm
No problem, please edit and post it here  
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: tokengirl on January 13, 2010, 03:43:37 pm
my first step was a quick white balance using the outer corner of the right eye and sharpening in Lightroom:
 


Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: ARD on January 13, 2010, 04:48:16 pm
Thanks very much, I hadn't noticed the green, but your third version looks a lot better, provides good skin tones and removes the flat look.

The photo now looks a lot better, time for me to revist other photos from that day lol

Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: Shirley Bracken on January 13, 2010, 05:00:59 pm
That helps me too.  Thanks.
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: Chris_T on January 14, 2010, 10:20:18 am
Ard,  a wonderful shot to begin with. Tokengirl beat me to it with her fine edits. ( I was nervous to post mine after the recent thread on critiques here :-).

You were able to capture a background without (much) distraction, which often can ruin a great foreground. I would either darken or crop out the bright green at the left.

I like to shoot unposed portraits, especially children's. Sometimes I have to wait forever for the right expression. But just when the moment arrives, the parent would notice my presence and yelled, "Jimmy, smile at the camera." The moment would be gone, leaving me wanting to wring the parent's neck. At your subject's age, I suppose the child has not learned to pose yet. Keep shooting before he does, which will be sooner than you realize.

As Tokengirl noted, your second image is actually less sharp than the original. Compare the right eye lashes between the two. Tokengirl rescued that. The eyes' white is also darker in your second one. I would slightly lighten the eyes' white in her last edit. I would also clone out the two tiny white spots under the left nostril. These were not visible in the original, and might be the result of sharpening. One thing to remember is that during editing, make sure that improvement something is not at the expense of degrading something else. Often, that means applying a mask to isolate the correction to a certain area, or by cloning.

I have found that getting the "correct" skin tones is by far the most difficult part of editing. It took me years of editing landscapes, etc. before I gained sufficient skills and confidence in editing skin tones.
Title: Lucky Capture
Post by: ARD on January 14, 2010, 05:06:45 pm
Quote from: Chris_T
Ard,  a wonderful shot to begin with. Tokengirl beat me to it with her fine edits. ( I was nervous to post mine after the recent thread on critiques here :-).

You were able to capture a background without (much) distraction, which often can ruin a great foreground. I would either darken or crop out the bright green at the left.

I like to shoot unposed portraits, especially children's. Sometimes I have to wait forever for the right expression. But just when the moment arrives, the parent would notice my presence and yelled, "Jimmy, smile at the camera." The moment would be gone, leaving me wanting to wring the parent's neck. At your subject's age, I suppose the child has not learned to pose yet. Keep shooting before he does, which will be sooner than you realize.

As Tokengirl noted, your second image is actually less sharp than the original. Compare the right eye lashes between the two. Tokengirl rescued that. The eyes' white is also darker in your second one. I would slightly lighten the eyes' white in her last edit. I would also clone out the two tiny white spots under the left nostril. These were not visible in the original, and might be the result of sharpening. One thing to remember is that during editing, make sure that improvement something is not at the expense of degrading something else. Often, that means applying a mask to isolate the correction to a certain area, or by cloning.

I have found that getting the "correct" skin tones is by far the most difficult part of editing. It took me years of editing landscapes, etc. before I gained sufficient skills and confidence in editing skin tones.

Thanks for the reply, never worry about passing comment on my photos, I post them for that reason, all feedback is good, please if you get chance or want to, post up your edit with the crop, would be interesting to see