Ugly Hedgehog - Photography Forum
Home Active Topics Newest Pictures Search Login Register
Post-Processing Digital Images
Eyes too much?
Jun 10, 2019 21:19:21   #
jburlinson Loc: Austin, TX
 
I'm messing around with the new NIK collection 2 plugged in from Lightroom. As is often the case, I wonder if I've gone too far with the eyes.


(Download)

Reply
Jun 10, 2019 21:41:11   #
Dave327 Loc: Duluth, GA. USA
 
Yes, in download her left eye looks like it has blue eyeshadow and there are some shadows on her chest that are not attractive. Pretty subject, but I do not like tats.

Reply
Jun 10, 2019 22:00:29   #
Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida
 
Her eyes look like she is about to tear up. Unless that is the intent, just a wee bit overdone.
The tats are not an issue.

Reply
 
 
Jun 11, 2019 01:26:38   #
R.G. Loc: Scotland
 
Have you used a texture to give it a wrinkled paper look? If so, it hasn't come out well on her left cheek. Try a re-application of the texture till the creases don't land on the wrong places. And yes, her left eye does look a little different. If you've lifted the shadows on the left side of her face (her left), try easing off with the adjustments and lightening the whole shot.

Reply
Jun 11, 2019 04:04:53   #
jburlinson Loc: Austin, TX
 
Greatly appreciate all the input. Really good suggestions. I've given it another try.


(Download)

Reply
Jun 11, 2019 06:34:42   #
joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ
 
I would love to see the photo before you put it through NIK. The left eye looks like it was replaced in your second photo.

Reply
Jun 11, 2019 07:00:52   #
Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington
 
Which filter or filters? Something in analog efex or is this one of the newest filters DxO has added? What aspects of the edits appeal to you the most? The toning? Or do you like the scratches and texture-looking areas, as well? There may be ways to go about achieving the look you like, but with less "damage" to her eyes and skin.

If you aren't able to use PS layers, try the Nik control points when you're in the plug-in. They are quite powerful. Here is one short article by DxO, but check out the older videos and tutorials also:
https://support.dxo.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015382368-What-are-Control-Points-

.

Reply
 
 
Jun 11, 2019 12:12:32   #
AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!
 
I'm no expert on people shooting, as I do everything I can to avoid it! I do like the look of the second post better than the first. Somehow the grunge look didn't fit the subject. It looks to me that her right eye is so much darker than the left (probably because of the lack of catch-light?) that it looks odd. Don't know if there's a way around that or not. But they don't seem to match.

Reply
Jun 11, 2019 12:47:22   #
artBob Loc: Near Chicago
 
I liked what you did, the "feel," so much, I challenged myself to get the eyes to work. This worked for me:
Desaturate the blues in the left eye.
Color pick a light skin tone from around her right eye
Darken it (experimentation in next step)
Paint it, using "Overlay" in the desaturated parts of the left eye
Darken the irises of both eyes to taste.

Powerful shot for me.

Reply
Jun 11, 2019 19:35:56   #
jburlinson Loc: Austin, TX
 
joehel2 wrote:
I would love to see the photo before you put it through NIK. The left eye looks like it was replaced in your second photo.


Here's the ur-shot SOOC. Before running it into NIK, I did a number of things in LightRoom, including shadow/highlight adjustment, white & black clipping, luminance smoothing and a shift in upright perspective.

In NIK, I used Analog Efex 2, starting with the "wet plate 3" recipe, and then a whole lot of jiggering around with bokeh, film type etc.

Thanks for asking.


(Download)

Reply
Jun 11, 2019 19:39:03   #
jburlinson Loc: Austin, TX
 
artBob wrote:
I liked what you did, the "feel," so much, I challenged myself to get the eyes to work. This worked for me:
Desaturate the blues in the left eye.
Color pick a light skin tone from around her right eye
Darken it (experimentation in next step)
Paint it, using "Overlay" in the desaturated parts of the left eye
Darken the irises of both eyes to taste.

Powerful shot for me.


Thanks so much, artBob. You're asking me to raise my game considerably, so I'm going to need to stretch. But that's precisely why I wanted to ask you all for advice.

Did you take these steps and, if so, would you mind sharing the outcome?

Reply
 
 
Jun 11, 2019 19:54:44   #
jburlinson Loc: Austin, TX
 
Linda From Maine wrote:
Which filter or filters? Something in analog efex or is this one of the newest filters DxO has added? What aspects of the edits appeal to you the most? The toning? Or do you like the scratches and texture-looking areas, as well? There may be ways to go about achieving the look you like, but with less "damage" to her eyes and skin.

If you aren't able to use PS layers, try the Nik control points when you're in the plug-in. They are quite powerful. Here is one short article by DxO, but check out the older videos and tutorials also:
https://support.dxo.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015382368-What-are-Control-Points-

.
Which filter or filters? Something in analog efex ... (show quote)


I particularly liked how the preset got the feel of the street background, and then I wanted to be sure the subject was integrated tonally into the environment. I thought the scratches & texture helped accomplish that, probably because it revealed the "damage", although I did try to reduce that to a certain extent in the second go around.

Great thought about control points. I typically do use them a lot, but not so much with analog efex. I don't know why I didn't even try with this shot.

At this point, I don't go into PS much at all. I'm trying to learn as much as I can with LightRoom and NIK.

Reply
Jun 11, 2019 21:12:27   #
artBob Loc: Near Chicago
 
jburlinson wrote:
Thanks so much, artBob. You're asking me to raise my game considerably, so I'm going to need to stretch. But that's precisely why I wanted to ask you all for advice.

Did you take these steps and, if so, would you mind sharing the outcome?

Yes, I did. I always test out my brilliance just to see if it's really so damn brilliant. Turns out, this time my ideas worked! 😊



Reply
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.
Post-Processing Digital Images
UglyHedgehog.com - Forum
Copyright 2011-2024 Ugly Hedgehog, Inc.