Ok, so how do you guys do basic touch ups? Smoothing the face, boosting the eyes, whatever..

Original, then two minutes or so of work, then about 5 minutes of work.



Show me what you would do for this photo.

This post was edited by kratos on Feb 17 2011 08:50pm

Have absolutely no experience at this but i'm definitely keeping an eye on this thread.

Really? I thought you did portraits?

Rarely. And I'm a total nub at post processing.

for my taste, you changed and lightened her skin tone too much, that's how i would have done it(sorry if i took the permission to edit your pic):

original: edit:

bw:

This post was edited by Verdena on Feb 17 2011 09:10pm

Oh. Me too, but I need to get better. I final sold one of my photos to someone I don't know, now if only I could get a few hundred others to do the same, I'd be a happy kid. I can pay for college then! Haha..




Maybe it's just me, but your edits kind of made her look older, like by some 40 years.

This post was edited by kratos on Feb 17 2011 09:12pm

Well it's a matter of taste i guess, i tried to keep her skin tones close to the original while removing the flash light from her face.
Doesn't look older to me(not that she looked so young in original aswell).

Good point, mostly attributed to the poor lighting and position. I simply tried to add that luminescence that so many people seem to like.. It's also probably what I will use for my senior portraits, the whole thing takes 5 minutes to do it manually and I could do it in less than 10 seconds with an action.

That luminescence look is too white to me(the colors don't match with her neck aswell).. also it looks fake and like a totally different person compared to the original, but that's just my opinion.
That's why i don't like it. I mean post production is ok but you can't change totally the subject.

That's because he increased sharpness. They will print wonderfully though. Yours are slightly over-exposed, and look a little washed out by the flash. Try adding ~5%+ saturation and reducing exposure by 1/3rd of a stop (or contrast, preferably), and tell me what you think.

I'll post later what I do for portraits. I HATE the look of studio portraits (99% I do is outside), and as soon as I get to work I'll ask for permission to share them.

Basic things I do:

Eye enhancement
Raise the brightness of the eyes by .2-.4 of a stop, with about 10 to contrast and you'll find them to be much more appealing. This is especially helpful when shooting outside since the eyes aren't as accentuated by natural light. Also, increase sharpness in eyelashes / around the eyes, as well as a tad bit on the pupil, and you'll find that the eyes print better.

White balance:
Adding ~10% magenta (with neutral blue-yellow) enhances skin colors in a very pretty way, especially if you're outside. Beware when there is too much white in the photo, as you may need to desaturate the whites.

Glasses:
Remove them. I HATE it when I can't AF on the eyes because of glasses. If you're shooting anywhere above a profile shot, you'll likely miss the focus because of them. Reflections aren't a problem if you know how to handle light.

Overall, Balakain will provide the most helpful information, as she is the PP master.