What's new
Photoshop Gurus Forum

Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Photos & Questions


ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
to me the backround is too vibrant and distracting thats me though , still like the image though and its better
end of the day its what u like

You find the background to vibrant from processing or as in? "chose a cleaner background to start with!"

Also I updated the first post with what gear I have hoping to get feedback on what lens you guys/gals would have chosen.
 

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
Okay I finally got round to Trying out Toms method for my first post and here is the result.

Anna&Niklas-v1+v2.gif
Just let me know if you want the jpg version instead!
 

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
yes mate much better, im not a fan of really vibrant images but thats just my taste or my monitor this looks nice though and most people who dont do a lot of photography love vibrant lol , im starting to tend to de saturate a little bit for my taste but the client will have thier own preferences ,its a very nice image im sure your freind will be happy , next thing is to ask if it needs to be printed , if so then calibration and print proofing is important , i now use in photoshop , view/proof setup and click simulate paper that will give you a more realistic idea of how it will print , in saying this i dont print much and dont own a printer so i havent tested this , im sure one of our other members will give you more info on this if you need it

THE IMPORTANT QUESTION HERE IS HOW DO YOU AND YOUR FREIND LIKE THE CHANGE


Missed this reply totally.

I work as a printer operator so I'll be able to get this image just the way I want it if it comes to that. :D
 

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
I think too much sky...needs more foreground textures, colors , shadows.....BUT thats my style.

I dedicate this upload to Mike and look forward to your critique as always and Mikes especially. ;)
This time round I've uploaded two diffrent crops and would like to hear witch you prefer if any.
Birka2.v1.jpg
Birka2.v2.jpg
ISO 50: 24mm: f/10: 30sec

Mikes Bonus! (I honesty appriciate your
critique Mike. Thanks!)
Birka3.jpg
ISO 50: 24mm: f/8: 1/320sec

As always stay tuned!
 
Last edited:

MikeMc

McGuru
Messages
1,871
Likes
1,202
I dedicate this upload to Mike and look forward to your critique as always and Mikes especially. ;)
This time round I've uploaded two diffrent crops and would like to hear witch you prefer if any.
View attachment 47050
View attachment 47051
ISO 50: 24mm: f/10: 30sec

Mikes Bonus! (I honesty appriciate your
critique Mike. Thanks!)
View attachment 47058
ISO 50: 24mm: f/8: 1/320sec

As always stay tuned!

I like them all!! Now oversharpen and load up the contrast...good for a 40" x 60" print! :cool2:

BUT I do oversharpen and love contrast!...On the last I might tighten up the tree...without cutting up the ladder.:mrgreen:
 
Last edited:

egosbar

Guru
Messages
778
Likes
351
no i mean your post processing is still to vibrant in the girl dog image , but remember this is my taste , i dont want backrounds competing with subjects

if thats your style and taste and you like it that way then its perfect

hope you hang around for a long time so i can pick your brain when i want to print , i work for a swedish company - Sandvik
 

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
I appreciate your input egosbar. To achieve what you suggest would mean using the method earlier implied by Tom or how would you go about it? I guess I could paint using different whitebalance in Lightroom but I've never liked the masks there. Suggestions appreciated. I work at Strålfors myself. :)

Sent from my GT-I9300 using tapatalk.
 

Tom Mann

Guru
Messages
7,223
Likes
4,343
I think too much sky...needs more foreground textures, colors , shadows.....BUT thats my style.
Hi Guys - We just got back from a weekend in the country and am trying to catch up with some of these threads.

Ziped, with respect to your seascape, I agree with Mike. IMHO, while the foreground composition could be somewhat improved by cropping, moving the camera left or right a bit, etc., I think that that most significant improvement would be achieved by rephotographing the scene when the clouds, lighting and sea was more dramatic (ie, produced more eyecatching textures, colors, shadows, etc.).

Often, really good landscape photographers will spend weeks, or even months waiting for just the right conditions to take the best possible photograph from one location. Also, every time you feel you have good conditions and decide to take a photo, instead of taking only one shot, you should probably take a sequence of 5 or so, spaced one stop apart so that you can test out how the scene might look with using HDR techniques.

Although the results will be much better by waiting for the right moment, below is a version tweaked in PS to illustrate the sort of look I personally would like. First, to get rid of some of the boring blank spaces in the sky, I used the content aware scale function to get rid of some of them and make the image not so elongated. Second, I used some tools to increase local contrast to increase the visual interest of the sea and sky and make it look a bit more HDR-like. Although, this version is clearly "over the top" with too much detail in some areas, poorly masked, etc., and clearly is not true to the scene at the time you recorded it, I can easily envision it looking more like this with different weather and lighting.

Cheers,

Tom
 

Attachments

  • Birka-tjm01a-acr0-ps02b_content_aware_scale_local_contrast-698px_wide-sRGB-01.jpg
    Birka-tjm01a-acr0-ps02b_content_aware_scale_local_contrast-698px_wide-sRGB-01.jpg
    220.3 KB · Views: 16

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
Excellent feedback Tom! I agree with what your saying and I do plan to go back to try again, only 15 min drive, and hopefully I can fit it in during a weather change.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using tapatalk.
 

Tom Mann

Guru
Messages
7,223
Likes
4,343
Hi again, Ziped -

With respect to the photo of your friend and her sick dog, I fully agree with Ego's comment that the background pulls the viewer's eye away from the subject. His suggestion to subdue it in PS by making it darker and less saturated is a good, standard way to start. In fact, I would blur it even more, and reduce the saturation and contrast of the background even more.

OTOH, I wouldn't reduce the contrast (or pull up the blacks) on the woman very much because I think this adds drama and visual interest to her and her dog and breaks the somber mood. If I were limited to Photoshop tweaks of the existing image, I probably would go with something like the attached image.


However, IMHO, the best approach hardly involves photoshop but would dramatically reduce the attention-grabbing aspect of the background, and even further increase the attention to, and drama of the woman and her dog. Specifically, I would suggest that you use an off camera flash located well to the right of the camera (ie, where the dog is looking), and point it directly at the subjects.

Done correctly, this would produce an image in which the illumination and background would look a lot like these:

http://www.photoshopgurus.com/forum...403889302-pet-photo-understand-light-pic2.jpg

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000z0a5vNbKbCk/s/750/750/Black-Lab-Forrest.jpg

http://www.iwantcovers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Black-Lab.jpg


I discussed this in a RECENT THREAD and illustrated it with A PHOTO I TOOK BACK IN 1971. It is also described in THIS ON-LINE BOOK.

HTH,

Tom
 

Attachments

  • Linda&Enzo-tjm01-acr-ps02a_698px_wide-sRGB-01.jpg
    Linda&Enzo-tjm01-acr-ps02a_698px_wide-sRGB-01.jpg
    230.3 KB · Views: 20

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
Nice touch Tom. But how do you guys generally go about this in processing? Usually I do global changes in LR and then bring it to PS if need be. In this case I would say PS>Layer mask>Gaussian blur> Hue saturation. You?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using tapatalk.
 

Tom Mann

Guru
Messages
7,223
Likes
4,343
You pretty much nailed it, Zipped! The only difference is that because I knew that I would need to use layer masks, I didn't even bother with the LR step. Instead, I went straight to ACR in Photoshop. Also, instead of hue/sat in LR or PS, I used the corresponding tool in ACR.

Tom
 

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
Would you say that there is an advantage to ACR compared to LR or am I missing something? In LR I can edit as smart object in PS and that in turn opens ACR. Never saw the big use though since I almost always processed the pic beforehand.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using tapatalk.
 

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
Okay here's what I belive to be the final edit of My friend and her dog.

Linda&Enzo.v4.jpg

I've darkened and desaturated the background somewhat, (didn't want to create a scene that I never where so to speak.)
I increased the contrast of the two just a bit for a little more "pop"

[Gear Questions]

Anyone got any good tips on a radiosystem for the flash that won't break my budget completly but still packs a punch and will let me evolve in my photography, (more flashes and so on)?

Currently I can go as low as F/2,8 time to trade up to say f-1,4-f/1,8 to achive that clean background?
 
Last edited:

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
Well nothing amazing tonight, just started to try out som of Toms advice from the mentioned thread.
I don't have any softboxes or the like yet so I used what I have, girlfriend and an SB-900. And a "Sanct Bernhard"

Hund.jpg
ISO 50: 122mm: F/11: 1/60sec [Tamron 70/200 + GF + SB-900]


I'll be away for about a week, I will try to have a look in the forum but expect no new pic until Monday.

Stay tuned!
 

Tom Mann

Guru
Messages
7,223
Likes
4,343
Zip: "Would you say that there is an advantage to ACR compared to LR or am I missing something? In LR I can edit as smart object in PS and that in turn opens ACR. Never saw the big use though since I almost always processed the pic beforehand..."

There is no advantage to ACR over LR with respect to final image quality, ease of adjustments, or anything like that.

On the other hand, if your computer is not the newest or the fastest, or doesn't have a lot of memory, ACR is less of a resource hog than LR. In addition, if you are only working on a single image (...or a small number of images) that you haven't already imported into LR, you can save this step by doing the RAW conversion in ACR instead of LR.

However, if you are working on a large number of images (say, for an event) that can be grouped into several different types (eg, indoor, outdoor, front lit, back lit, daylight vs some weird mixed light source, etc.) LR is vastly more convenient / faster in terms of generating, organizing, and using the various conversion parameter presets that will be needed for the set.
-----------------

Zip: "...Okay here's what I belive to be the final edit of My friend and her dog...."

You did a very nice, very appropriate job. I understand why you didn't go to the extreme of desaturation and darkening that I did in my little example. First, as you point out, lots of people don't like any quasi-photograph that is that far from reality. Second, I was playing with some obvious color symbolism: warm colors of the subjects <==> enveloping love between the owner and the pet, dull gray <==> the seemingly hopeless future, the small area of amorphous / abstract warm tones on the right <==> a small possibility for hope. This could, of course, be correctly criticized as being anywhere from exceedingly obvious / sophomoric / Hallmark greeting card mawkish, all the way to not at all obvious symbolism unless told about it, LOL.
-----------------

Zip: "...Anyone got any good tips on a radiosystem for the flash that won't break my budget completly but still packs a punch and will let me evolve in my photography, (more flashes and so on)?..."

Over the years, I have built up a set of Pocket Wizards, so I haven't been in the market for any new ones, and so, not looking seriously at new models. I do know, however, that several companies have begun to compete with Pocket Wizard. These include "Radio Popper" and "Yongnuo". My recollection is that these are considerably cheaper, but have received mixed reviews, so you'll have to check for yourself. Just Google {"radio triggers" site:bhphotovideo.com}.

That being said, if most of your initial flash work will be indoors, in small to medium size rooms at relatively close range, you should seriously consider investing in another one or two additional (recent) Nikon hot-shoe flashes (eg, SB-910). These have remote optical TTL triggering built in. Purchasing another one or two additional 900 or 910s, will ensure full automation with your d800. I have several of these and I can vouch that the remote TTL feature works very well in small to medium size rooms. They can even be made to work outdoors in sunlight over ranges under 10 meters (or so), so long as you are careful to always orient the sensors of the slaves to directly face the master, and shield the slaves' sensors from direct sunlight.
-----------------

Zip: "...Currently I can go as low as F/2,8 time to trade up to say f-1,4-f/1,8 to achive that clean background?..."

In my opinion, absolutely not. The reason is that the depth of field becomes so small at those f-numbers that it is very easy to have part of the face in focus and part out of focus, or, for that matter, completely miss the focus. If you have all the time in the world and can have the model(s) stand still while you take several shots, or re-create events, f/1.4 type lenses, can give nice results. However, if you don't have this luxury, and you need to maximize the probability of each shot being a "keeper", it's much, much safer to shoot at f/4, or even f/5.6 then simply add a bit of extra blur to the background after the fact using PS.
-----------------

Zip: "...so I used what I have, girlfriend and an SB-900. And a "Sanct Bernhard"..."

Excellent work. That is EXACTLY what I hoped the person in that other thread would do. I think it's pretty obvious how this sort of lighting might have been applied to the photo of your friend and her sick dog. I think that would have made an absolutely beautiful, studio quality portrait of the two of them.

BTW, like your girlfriend, I use my wife, and more recently, my daughter as my human light stands / reflector holders. They are amazingly adaptable to different situations, and no one ever trips over them, but unfortunately, they just don't store well, and the transportation costs are high. :rofl: :cheesygrin: :rofl:
-----------------

Have a nice trip, and do check in periodically!

Best regards,

Tom
 

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
As always excellent feedback Tom. I'll be looking in to a radiosystem but I'm not in a hurry still a lot of ground to cover with what I have.

You know what to Google for off I want a "clamp" for holding say a reflector to a tripod lightpost or whatever?

Oh I'll be checking in alright and thanks for the well wishes.


Sent from my GT-I9300 using tapatalk.
 

ZipedX

Power User
Messages
214
Likes
142
Yeah probably something like that. I often end up the only one not tired enough to quit so a tripod mount would be a great investment. :)

Thanks.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using tapatalk.
 

Top