bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I did some photos for this family, and they said this one looks too "photoshoppy"

I wasn't thrilled with it in general, but not seein what they are calling photoshop. Maybe the shallow dof? I did struggle with the sky.

I'm open to comments, suggestions.

Thanks
Bob

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Oops, I guess attaching it would help

R.G. Loc: Scotland

The girl looks like a cut-out and the background is too blurred. And the lighting on the girl doesn't look quite right for the open air scene that the shot shows.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I would say the background should be completely blurred or made completely in focus, it is distracting. This photo is not bad, just not great.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Thanks for the quick replies. I normally have no problems with composites, but this one is kicking my rear end. I'd rather work with curly hair than straight, no matter how much I add stray hairs, etc, it still looks cut out.

As for the "not bad, but not great" that's exactly how I felt... The blur is actually in camera, it's just that the original had a really bad expression on her face. I couldn't cut her out of it without ruining the lines of the house, and when I tried to replace just the face, nothing lined up well, so I had to paste her in closer (larger) to cover up the original.

If I hadn't been stupid and flattened the image, I would show you the original.

The other thing added was the sky. The day was completely gray, and no detail in the sky at all. I take photos of the sky when I like the clouds, and save them for just this type of thing.

I'd happily accept any more suggestions as well. I'm just stumped.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Look at PortraitPro Professioinal

http://www.portraitprofessional.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwiqTNBRDVARIsAGsd9MoYuU1wUYtVbDe6fbxND95CcN9HRPiphZfZUXJ33L4CjJCd48IfIM0aAkN-EALw_wcB

R.G. Loc: Scotland

The shot of the girl seems fine, so maybe you could try another background, perhaps a more conventional portrait type. The cutout look seems to be worst where her hair is backdropped by something bright, so you could avoid having a bright background round her head. And maybe if you deliberately introduce an overall slight colour cast it would help the girl to blend in. As it is the lighting on her is causing her to stand out from the background and it doesn't look like the subject and background share a common lighting source. You could use something like split toning to introduce common tints to the subject and the background.

10MPlayer Loc: California

edit - removed by 10MPLayer >> see below

10MPlayer Loc: California

The sky is too light a shade of blue to my eyes. I'd darken it a shade or maybe take a look at a plain blue sky with a slight gradient to make it look natural - darker at the top and lighter below. Also, more photoshoppy stuff but her skin is a little rough. Could you add some blur or other skin smoothing technique?

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Not a bad idea on the sky part. Normally I would do frequency separation, but they specifically stated that they "hate the plastic photoshop look" which is what I think Portrait pro does. They wanted it to look exactly like her.

I can't change the house, because that was what they wanted in the background of their family photos. (funny, because it doesn't belong to them, they went to the door and asked permission)

This photo of her was taken in the back yard in front of a dark fence, and I was using OCF. The original photo that I covered up with this cut out, was shot in broad daylight with a reflector. Maybe darkening the sky and house, and maybe messing a little with the exposure, highlights and shadows to bring the exposure closer.

SoHillGuy Loc: Washington

Ask them what they mean by photoshopped? Once you find out specifically what it is then perhaps you can fix it to their liking.