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Help, Please!


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SMLWinds

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So I have to do some begging and pleading on behalf of my sister...she had a very unfortunate situation where the photographer for her bridal portraits became very ill and failed to find a replacement. I have shot landscape photography pretty well for years and done some portraits so I got her phone call. She asked if I would shoot some urgent bridal portraits, which I did.

The pictures turned out decently. However, despite knowing how to use a camera, I am lost when it comes to editing. I am hoping there is a kind soul who is willing to help me with editing 2 or 3 photos. I have RAW images and there are no major changes--just altering sharpness, contrast, tones, etc. There is not cutting, blending, or anything involved necessary. I could just process the images and print "as is" and they would be decent, but I know someone who knows what they are doing could make them so much better.

Would anyone be willing to help me help her? She has a wedding photographer lined up now but really wants a decent bridal portrait for the reception. Her wedding is this coming Saturday. If anyone is kind enough to help me out editing some shots, please PM me. Thanks in advance for your kind consideration!
 
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IamSam

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Hello SMLWinds and welcome.

PSG is fundamentally a discussion forum. While we don't mind requests for free edits, we prefer to guide and instruct our new members on how to accomplish techniques or effects in Photoshop on their own.

There may be members here who would be willing to help you out, but this may take a while so please be patient.
 

SMLWinds

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Sam-I did read the guidelines. I also understand and appreciate your comments and the approach here.

Trust me, I LOVE doing things myself and cherish the opportunity to learn. I have about 40,000 pictures, many of which are outstanding quality, that I don't know how to properly edit. I am working on learning, but don't have time in this instance. My sister is just in a pickle and I'm trying to help her out. If I had weeks to work on it, I would buy photoshop and learn how to use it. Given that I have days, I have no choice but to beg for help.

I will be respectful of the rules and etiquette here and remain hopefully that some kind soul will be willing to lend a hand. Thanks in advance for everyone reading's consideration of my request!
 

IamSam

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Not a problem, I'm certain that someone will contact you! Good luck!
 

Tom Mann

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So we don't waste our time repeating work that others have gone, have you had any offers of help on photo.net or anywhere else u may have posted this request?

If not, please make the raw file available on Dropbox or some similar file sharing service & post the URL. We'll see what we can do.

Tom M
 
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SMLWinds

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Tom-Thanks for your response. So far, no takers on editing so I am still very much looking for help! If you don't mind taking a shot at helping, just send me a message so I have your email and I can send the RAW files to you through google docs. Essentially you will get an email with a link to the files where they can be downloaded. Thanks!
 

Tom Mann

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Hi Tyler -

...At least, I presume this is also you: http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00cogp?unified_p=1 . Is my suspicion correct?

First, a few procedural issues.

1. PSG is primarily a Photoshop educational forum, not a service-based forum (either gratis, or, fee-based). Because of this, we strongly prefer that requests for edits, as well as results thereof should be discussed in our public forums. This way, everyone can learn from the posts, comment on the nature of the task and the approaches taken, etc. Usually, a thread like this would begin with the OP posting a small version of one of the images to be worked on. This would give everyone considering responding to the request an idea of just what they might be getting into. This is especially important when the OP has zero history on the forum. I understand that since this is your sister, you might have privacy concerns, but, these rarely are an issue in bridal portraits.

So, the absence of even one example image, and the lack of full disclosure in your original post (ie, "FYI, guys, I've posted this request in photo.net, xxx, and yyy, and I will be sure to let you know if someone else takes on this gratis work.") raises a bit of a red flag, at least to me.


2. Many people are wary about giving out their email address to someone who is completely unknown to them, or even giving their email address indirectly to an intermediary like Google (and especially FB) whose financial success depends on targeted advertising. I am one of these people. This is precisely why, in my previous post, I suggested to you a file transfer method, Dropbox (free registration), that doesn't require my email address, and, if the file is encrypted, don't even know the contents of the file being sent. In contrast, Google clearly states that they are going to analyze the content of your emails, your files -- anything that goes through their system -- and use the results to target advertising for you.

The Dropbox procedure just gives the depositor a long URL that essentially is un-guessable. You could then either publicly post that URL (prefered), or send it to the intended recipient(s) in a forum Private Message .

If, for some reason, you don't like Dropbox, just zip up the raw file, and you can post the zip file right here as an ordinary attachment to a forum message. I've done this with numerous times with raw files from hi-megapixel cameras like the d800, and it works just fine. You don't need to have a certain minimum number of posts on the forum to do this -- the feature is available to new registrants.


3. The third issue is that I have to deliver 350 images to a client tomorrow, and have (paid) shoots both tomorrow night and Sunday, so depending on what work is required on your files, I may or may not be able to complete your work by this weekend, or might suggest (like Sam did) that you post your request in our fee-for-service section.

That being said, I'll be happy to take a look at the files you have (transferred as discussed above), and, since time is short, would suggest you let others look at them, as well.

Best regards,

Tom M
 

SMLWinds

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Tom....I do appreciate your help and responses. However, in the time it took you to do a google search to find me elsewhere on the web and construct that response you probably could have dialed up the contrast, saturated the photo, sharpened it, exported it to a JPEG, and returned it to me ready to print! I totally don't get what you think the conspiracy is in my post. I simply want the levels adjusted on a couple pictures...it would take anyone with the right software literally 30 seconds. You are talking about "red flags" and "full disclosure." If you found my post on photo.net then you probably also looked at my profile and portfolio of shots. I don't understand why you are responding like I'm trying to pull the wool over someone's eyes! I'm confused...

At any rate, I had someone contact me who kindly helped with some editing and I also just decided to purchase photoshop myself and then just called a professional photographer I know and had them talk me through some editing. My exposure and composition were spot on so all I had to do was adjust the levels a bit and things were great.

Thank you for responding--I have no doubt that you are a good natured person and meant well. I just don't understand the conspiracy theory and what exactly you think I would stand to gain by sending someone a RAW image of a girl in a wedding dress!
 

Tom Mann

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Hi Tyler -

I'm truly glad you found a solution to your problem, and I wish the best of luck to your sister and her fiancee.

That being said, to set the record straight, I never once Googled you, nor did I attempt to find your portfolio, even to this moment. It was by complete chance that I happened to read your post over on photo.net before I saw a very similar request posted here.

My realization that the two posts were probably made by the same person happened before I started to participate in this thread. This is what prompted my original comment that I don't like to do work (especially as a favor, ie, for free) knowing that there is good chance my work will never be used (ie, because someone else is doing the exact same thing).

Also, no one but you ever mentioned conspiracy theory. All I pointed out is that when a person completely unknown to me, and using an alias asks for a favor, claims to have an urgent deadline, but yet does not do what I consider to be extremely obvious things to get the ball rolling, I have to wonder if there may be something else going on. The "obvious things" that I'm referring to include:

a) immediately posting one of the files as an example - after all, as you said, it is nothing more than "a RAW image of a girl in a wedding dress";

b) apparently comes back to this thread only once per day, even though their deadline is just days away;

c) states that he is reasonably knowledgeable about photography, yet doesn't even want to undertake something as simple (by their own admission) as some minor tweaks to an image, even using highly simplified, amateur-oriented, freely available RAW converters such as View NX (for Nikon products) and Canon's DPP that ships with some of their point and shoot cameras;

d) completely ignores the gentle suggestion (from IamSam) to pay the princely sum of $10 or $15 per (basic) edit in our fee-for-service area even on such an important matter as their sister's wedding. Doing so would have almost certainly resulted in several very quick responses;

e) completely ignores my request to transfer the files using Dropbox (and thereby could have gotten immediate help from me), but instead comes back (yet another full day later) with an alternate method which they happen to prefer;

So, given the above factors, I hope you can see why a person who does not like being taken advantage of might easily have doubts about the sincerity, urgency, or other aspects of the request.

Anyway, fortunately, that's all behind us as you apparently now have what you needed.

Have fun at the wedding, and if you are have also been pressed into service as their wedding photographer, Google {wedding photography tips newbie site:photo.net} and read the many very useful cautions and tips that have been written about taking on such a responsibility.

Cheers,

Tom M
 

SMLWinds

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Tom--Good golly! I hope you are an attorney reading into things so much. I feel compelled to respond....first, let me explain a little about who I am. I am pretty good at photography (at least landscape). However, without telling you how much I make I have a decimal and 7 digits in my salary so photography will never even be a small part of my income. Also, remember that while I am appreciative of what people are doing for me, I also am working for free for my sister. This isn't a profit venture for me either. Secondly, I don't care about posting pictures on threads but just didn't know that was proper etiquette and figured the RAW file wouldn't upload--stop attacking ignorance! Third, yes, I am an advanced amateur. I have sold my landscape work (all straight out of the camera with only slight saturation and contrast adjustment from zoombrowser) and made thousands in income doing that but I know there is much more to processing shots than adjusting a couple things. I didn't do dropbox because I have never used it. I have used Google Drive, which is why I suggested using that. Last but not least, I didn't get any "gentle suggestion" for Sam to pay for the work. I would have gladly paid double that for good processing. Lastly, the reason I only check the thread once a day is that I'm a surgeon and don't have any daylight hours to play on the internet--patients don't take it nicely when you stop in the middle of their hip replacement or leave them asleep in the room while checking your photography forum threads.

With that said, I had several very kind folks edit my pictures, including one who truly did an amazing professional job. You seem very nice Tom and I'm certain you mean well but it would probably be best in the future if you just stuck to the facts and what you need to help rather than saying things like "suspicion," "red flag," "lack of full disclosure," etc. What in the world did your "red flag" signal? Did you think I was lying? Trying to screw someone over? Regardless, just spend more keystrokes focusing on productive conversation and stop criticizing, chastising, and being a detective--read through your posts and ask yourself if each sentence is helpful towards accomplishing the goal of the thread.

Thanks to all who helped! I will be back here as time allows to learn more about editing myself!
 

IamSam

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Gentlemen, I feel that this thread has fulfilled it's purpose and I'm choosing to close it at this point.
SMLWinds - If you wish for the thread to be reopened, please contact one of the Mod staff.

Thanks.
 
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