How can I improve this photo

OldSoul

Senior Member
DSC_6432.jpg
New to the forum took my new d7200 out today (memorial day weekend) and snapped a photo of my wife at her mothers grave, any suggestions. Iplan on cropping the right side , just a bit.
 
Last edited:

wev

Senior Member
Contributor
Here is a very quick run at it. Opened up the shadows, added some contrast, brought up the red tones just a touch. There are folks here a good deal more adept at such things than me, but there you go.

I like the image; nicely captured.

redo.jpg
 

STM

Senior Member
There is no real "correct" way to this, as everyone looks at an image a little differently. I chose to make the mood in this image a little more somber. I would blur the background a good bit, it is somewhat busy and draws your attention away from the main subject. I just did a couple of areas of progressively stronger Gaussian blur because it takes to long to do layer masks when you are just making suggestions. I too opened up the shadows some and dropped the overall contrast a little. I darkened the background and vignetted the image a little. The horizon looks a little off kilter to me by a degree or so as well so I straightened it.

This projects a very different atmosphere than your original.

Mothers grave.jpg
 
Last edited:

STM

Senior Member
I like it!, it does take on an entirely different mood :encouragement:

It certainly is more somber, but that is what I was looking to achieve. I thought about just desaturating it and going with black and white but I think it lost some of the effect when I did that.
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
This shot screams to be in B&W as mentioned already. So mostly that's all I did plus I cloned out a few distracting white elements and burned a few highlights. The main thing that bothers me is the sunglasses that could have been taken out.

Here's my version.

DSC_6432 copy.jpg
 

LouCioccio

Senior Member
Okay this is what I did but this is what you could have done provided you had:
1. SB700 Flash (or any other that was Nikon compatible flash) used as a fill in since its high noon to open the shadows. (I realize this was a snap shot not a portrait setting)
2. A reflector 36 inch or larger to reflect more light to open the harsh shadows.
3. Suggested to go earlier or later in the afternoon as I hate mid day:cool:.

Hope this helps.
Lou Cioccio

I like using layers and masks so here is a screen capture:You can see the middle layer mode was changed to screen which really lighten the image then I used a mask and painted black (to conceal the screen layer) and show the original with the brush set at 59% percent or so. I painted in the brighter areas to become darker. I was able to get it close using raw therapee which surprised me.
Screen Shot 2016-05-30 at 9.56.17 AM.jpg

DSC_6432 copy.jpg

The last one was using Rawtherapee and moving the sliders highlights, shadows and contrast and was able to bring in data on your wife's for arm.
DSC_6432rawtherapee.jpg
 

Bill4282

Senior Member
Figure out the message you want to convey to the viewer, your primary focal point (stone, wife, number of buried, etc) and work from there. Good pic - I got the message - she missed the person.

SgtUSMC, Viet Vet (in country), AmLegion, VFW, LifeNRA, DAV
 

LouCioccio

Senior Member
You peaked my interest so on the last day of May the wife and I went to the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Erie,PA. Although not at mid day but a few hours later but a bright sky. I did use center weight but was able to pull in the highlights with light room. If you look at the tops you can see how harsh the whites are. I used the D500 with a Tamron 70-200/2,8 lens and a polarizer. One thing I do not like about the Tamron that I had on my Olympus 70-200 was a finger slide in the lens shade to turn the polarizer. I did not use a lens shade. On the first shot I was next to a tree that shaded me so I would not get lens flare.
Lou Cioccio
DSC_0728.jpg

DSC_0723.jpg
 

lkbuchanan

New member
Hi and my I make an attempt as well? I do not want to download and try without permission first as people feel differently about that kind of stuff
 

OldSoul

Senior Member
You peaked my interest so on the last day of May the wife and I went to the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Erie,PA. Although not at mid day but a few hours later but a bright sky. I did use center weight but was able to pull in the highlights with light room. If you look at the tops you can see how harsh the whites are. I used the D500 with a Tamron 70-200/2,8 lens and a polarizer. One thing I do not like about the Tamron that I had on my Olympus 70-200 was a finger slide in the lens shade to turn the polarizer. I did not use a lens shade. On the first shot I was next to a tree that shaded me so I would not get lens flare.
Lou Cioccio
View attachment 213836

View attachment 213837
Great Photos!
 
Top