First Time Edits on PS - C&C

Note: This is a duplicate post. I also posted this same message over in the Digital Darkroom Forum yesterday and got some good feedback, but thought I should post it here as well to get some C&C from the experts in this forum (seems to be a completely different crowd over here with a different focus).

This is a link to the original message if you want to see some of the other comments:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=40342315

Here are my first attempts at editing photos in Photoshop. Previous to this, I have only used Lightroom to perform basic WB and exposure adjustments. I bought PS CS5 just before Christmas, and have spent quite a few hours buried in the program and reading the forums for tips and techniques over the last month.

Below are 2 pictures from a quick photoshoot with my daughter, where we snapped a few pictures outside in the freezing cold one Sunday afternoon for about 15 minutes. Not a lot of time was spent composing the shots as we were just trying to get some things into the camera that I could practice with in PS CS5. Now that I look back, I wish we had taken a bit more time to better frame the shots...

Photo 1:

A brightly backlit, overexposed shot with my D90 and my 70-200 lens. Definitely overexposed. For the "After" version, I masked out my daughter, and processed the background with Topaz Adjust and some lens (bokah) effect. Light processing on the mask of my daughter with Portrait Professional and a bit of Topaz Adjust. Finished in LR with the added Vignette.

Photo 2:

This one has given me fits! I am not happy with this one at all , and I can't put my finger on exactly why. The image of my daughter is not very sharp (Nikon 50mm prime lens). I did a similar thing with the "After" photo as with photo #1 regarding the masking and processing. I also tried sharpening the mask of my daughter, but did not care for the result. I had added a highpass overlay layer and an unsharp mask, but took them both off since I did not care for how they made her look. I was going for a shallow depth of field (hence the f2.8 setting). I don't like how her hair looks, and she is squinting a bit as she looks into the sun. I have another version of this photo where I cropped it much tighter, but posted the one here with the larger crop since I wanted to show some of that covered bridge in the background.

I'd love to hear your critiques and suggestions for improvements. Remember, be nice! These are my first attempts, and I am posting to learn how to do this better!

Thanks to everyone in advance for their help! Kevlar jacket on... fire away!

Photo 1 Before:





Photo 1 After:





Photo 2 Before:





Photo 2 After:





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James

I think you are right on target when you say that composition was rushed. In the first shot, there's no eye contact, looks almost candid. You cropped in on her, which is good, but that doesn't help her camera position and relative contrast with the scene (she's a bit underexposed, and the bkg is overexposed). In the second shot, she is way too far left of the scene, making her small and the busy bkg takes precedence. You cropped in again, but the heavy processing doesn't favor her, too much going on and too many vignettes/colors. Also, the relative contrast isn't there on this one as well. So I would first get into the habit of better composition and framing, then work on processing.
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http://www.pbase.com/jfinite

I know it's a personal taste thing, but people tend to way over do the vignette effect, you don't want to get in a habit of doing it on all of the shots. Once in a while it works for a particular shot.

The first is candd, the second looks more posed and instructed. But a lot of background details disturbing. Try a a more smooth background, blurr it, use your lens aperture, open it to max and watch how the background blurrs away. Such will help to focus on HER and please remove the vignette...

But thats ony y 2 cent
see more of my work on http://www.klaweide.de ( some NSFW )

Haha! I love the comments! Blunt and to the point without being rude!

Truly helpful.

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James

Thanks. I mentioned that in my original post and talked about ways I attempted to improve the image. Do you have any PP suggestions, or are these types of things just not fixable at all. I know it will never be great and you can't get 100% fix on an out of focus picture, but any other suggestions for sharpening the image that I haven't already tried.

Please remember, these are just some quick test shots that I took to start playing around in PS, not keepers. So I am soliciting help to improve my technique in the PP area. I also obviously need help behind the camera as well, especially with portrait types of pictures. I have previously only focused ( ) on sports and live music in my work.

The exposure on the first shot is horrible, and the focus on the second shot is out, and here you see my attempts (or lack thereof...) to fix them.

I do appreciate the comments on the framing and cropping, and of course the PP comments (over-vignetting, etc.). I can see the out of focus and over/under exposure!

Thanks for taking the time to have a look...

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James

Maybe this is better....

I think the fact for portraits is that if the shot is out of focus, it's a goner and can be deleted. After all, it should be the person you're trying to bring out in the picture and not a tree or what ever behind them

much better!!

Dang! Very nice! Obviously sharpened, I love the hair, although the lips might be a bit too much for my tastes, but WOW! That is really nice!

So... how did you get to there? Technique hints would be great.

Thanks!!!

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James

I use "Aperture 2" (MAC). It takes just 1minute for such correction, very friendly SW.