psbeehler Loc: INDIANA

I've was ask to do banners for the senior Basketball girls. In my mad rush to get out of the gym so practice could start, i didn't properly expose with fill flash. Have tried numerous attempts to clone out the white shadow mustache and lighten the shadows, but it has done nothing but give me a huge headache! These will be 4'X5' banners and i couldn't get my edits in PS to look right! Please help!

Bea

Nikon_Bill Loc: South Florida

I used Photoshop CC and airbrushed the shadows from under her eyes and off her cheeks. I chose the paintbrush and took the color pallet from her face where the light is correct. I work at 14% transparency like putting powder on the cheeks until I reach a match. I happen to be an artist and photographer. Hope this example of an edit helps. :thumbup:

Edited

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

You wouldn't be able to do that with the clone. Air brush set down below 50 and lots of sampling. You might want to re-due her arms and get rid of that winter white look.

psbeehler Loc: INDIANA

Thank You!! So much better. I have never worked with the airbrush except in art class lol! My headache is better already :) :P

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

Nikon, you might want to make it down loadable, by clicking the the store original box before you Add attachment. It's right there to right of the Choose file.

Nikon_Bill Loc: South Florida

Here is a 'store the original' copy of what I did as described in the previous upload.

Edited No. 2

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I'm going to be honest here and say that a few shadows are the least of your problems.

Your background is busy and distracting, the low angle isn't flattering to her, and the white balance is atrocious.


You've blown out the detail in her white shorts also.


Not sure what you filled but the overhead lighting is unflattering and she's got raccoon eyes because of it.

There's a ton of chromatic aberation around her also.

One other thing...you should really actually "light" them instead of taking what the gym gives you and trying to bandaid it with a bit of on-camera fill.

psbeehler Loc: INDIANA

Wow rpavich you really do not have a way with words. That was not any info that helped anything with the exception of making me feel awful. Just what I needed to see after working hours on the edit and losing it because my PS crashed on me. Takes a lot to bring me to tears but thanks you win

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I'm sorry you are so thin-skinned; making you cry wasn't what I wanted to do...sorry.

I didn't call you names, I didn't use profanity, I didn't say that you are crap and should sell your camera, so why insinuate that i was a meanie?

I just listed "some" of the things wrong with your image and pointed out that in my opinion, the nose highlights and face shadows were a small part of it.

How in the world does this not help?
Now you know what to watch for next time:

1.) Don't position your subjects in front of busy doors and backgrounds, keep backgrounds simple.

2.) Keep an eye on (and fix) the white balance if necessary

3.) Keep an eye on blown highlights, (and fix) if needed.

4.) Don't rely on crappy gym overhead lighting (or whatever crappy lighting you are confronted with in any other place you are shooting in) as your main light source, but to add light if needed to make it as flattering as possible.

5.) Keep an eye on small details like CA and get rid of it if necessary.

If it were me, and someone took the time to evaluate my image and tried to tell me how I erred in portrait taking (and thus tell me what NOT to do next time) I'd be grateful that they made the effort to look at my stuff and let me know how I can improve.

You SHOULDN'T be working on "hours" on edits for just a handful of images. If you are...something is very wrong. You should strive to avoid hours of edits and figure out how to do better IN camera ON location so you don't sit in front of PS for hours.

If all you are looking for is ego stroking and smiley faces and nobody helping you improve...you won't get far without a lot of struggle...if at all.

Bobbee

The advice that was just given is very much helpful. Not much you can do about a past mistake. Take heed. You next set of photos will be much better if you listen and follow.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

I agree with most of rpavich's critique but perhaps not his choice of words. I disagree with the his comment on the angle: I like it. What I do not like are her shorts. They make her look ridiculous and the way the hang from the waste is very unflattering. It may be the style but that does not make it look good.

Flash with a diffuser should have been used. Would have cured a multitude of sins.

I would have darkened the foreground slightly and applied a little dark vignette to draw the eye to the subject. At least, she has a nice smile.

Finally, there is no excuse for not having acceptable white balance. I have found the Expodisc wonderful for getting it true to the original scene. In lieu of that, I would have assumed the shorts were white and set the balance from them.

PS The exposure and color balance did not come in as it should have.

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

More can be done on the image. I can easily remove the chromatic aberration although it would take approximately one hour and my eyes have about had it for today. The blown highlights present a more significant problem however. Rob.

kubota king Loc: NW , Pa.

I used Photoshop CC Camera Raw - the paint brush - clone tool - Polygonal Lasso Tool - Spot Healing Brush to get my results

warrenvon Loc: Ellicott City, MD

OK . . . working from your JPG file isn't going to provide the best results . . but here goes.
I took your original into LR5 and using the following steps.

1. I used the eyedropper to select a grey from her pants to set the white point.
2. I then cropped to reduce the visual clutter.
3. I straightened the image vertically.
4. I used the spot removal tool to get d of the electrical wall box to her right.
5. I reduced the overall noise using the detail tools, masking and luminance.
6.I used the graduated filter tool to reduce the top and bottom exposure levels to bracket the young lady.
7. I then used the adjustment brush to reduce the exposure on her white gym suit and to increase the exposure around her eyes.
8. I used the lens correction tool for chromatic aberration adjustment to get rid of CA.

These were all done in less than two minutes with not very much care or effort.

Always remember that your work in Light Room is non-destructive. You are working with a negative but not touching it.

So don't be afraid to play with it and learn by doing! All is reversible with a single click or backed out step by step.

Also learn to use the LR ability to work on one image and copy the editing results onto similar images. thus you can work all of your magic on one and use that work to adjust other images . . with care as to which correction apply generally. . . which is controlled by the menu selections as to which edits to copy.

Don't be discouraged by a harsh critique sometimes they can be the best when you can take them in context and really look at your work in detail.

SELF CRITICISM IS WHAT YOU MUST ACQUIRE to really succeed with your images.

Bobbee

Some background and gym work.