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Family Gathering Snapshot "Portrait"
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<blockquote data-quote="Keen Ai" data-source="post: 259455" data-attributes="member: 20820"><p>I'll try to avoid things that have already been said here... </p><p>I would add that their faces are a little too harsh and it's not very flattering. I shoot in raw and use Lightroom for the bulk of my post processing, and I would have taken the adjustment brush and knocked the clarity on their faces down a little bit. It gives it that gaussian-blur overlay look -- maintaining the fine details while giving it an overall softer appearance. Of course it also knocks down the contrast and depth too, so be careful not to overdo it. Unless someone is just extremely smooth-skinned and beautiful, I think a little dip in clarity makes most people a lot more pleased with the way they look. I know it does for me. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /></p><p></p><p>I'd also bump up the luminosity of the reds a bit too, which will help with the skin tone and reduce some of that over-saturated look. Maybe even desaturate the reds a touch. They kinda look like they just got sunburnt.</p><p></p><p>Regarding the gaussian blur of the background, IF you're going to do that in order to rescue a shot like this, I'd be really careful to select ONLY the background. Even then, getting the edges around their bodies (especially her hair) is going to be hard considering the low contrast between them and the background. When you do get a selection you're happy with, blurring it too much might create a nasty blur/clear border around them that looks really fake. Bringing the blur around to the front of their shirts while leaving their faces clear gives it that cheap instragram-filter look that IMO looks very amateur. </p><p>An alternative to just blurring the background selection is creating a duplicate layer, blurring the whole thing, and selectively erasing the blurred layer with a soft-edged brush. I think this will give you a little more control over the boundary between blurred and crisp. </p><p></p><p>Hope you find something useful in my comments. This is my first post here - feel free to rip into one of my images when I post it soon! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Keen Ai, post: 259455, member: 20820"] I'll try to avoid things that have already been said here... I would add that their faces are a little too harsh and it's not very flattering. I shoot in raw and use Lightroom for the bulk of my post processing, and I would have taken the adjustment brush and knocked the clarity on their faces down a little bit. It gives it that gaussian-blur overlay look -- maintaining the fine details while giving it an overall softer appearance. Of course it also knocks down the contrast and depth too, so be careful not to overdo it. Unless someone is just extremely smooth-skinned and beautiful, I think a little dip in clarity makes most people a lot more pleased with the way they look. I know it does for me. :p I'd also bump up the luminosity of the reds a bit too, which will help with the skin tone and reduce some of that over-saturated look. Maybe even desaturate the reds a touch. They kinda look like they just got sunburnt. Regarding the gaussian blur of the background, IF you're going to do that in order to rescue a shot like this, I'd be really careful to select ONLY the background. Even then, getting the edges around their bodies (especially her hair) is going to be hard considering the low contrast between them and the background. When you do get a selection you're happy with, blurring it too much might create a nasty blur/clear border around them that looks really fake. Bringing the blur around to the front of their shirts while leaving their faces clear gives it that cheap instragram-filter look that IMO looks very amateur. An alternative to just blurring the background selection is creating a duplicate layer, blurring the whole thing, and selectively erasing the blurred layer with a soft-edged brush. I think this will give you a little more control over the boundary between blurred and crisp. Hope you find something useful in my comments. This is my first post here - feel free to rip into one of my images when I post it soon! :D [/QUOTE]
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