C&C Please

[ddt0725]

Saturday I spent the afternoon at the park with my daughter & granddaughter and took many, manyphotos! Out of all of them, I am trying to post-process at least one that grasps the sentimental feeling in the photo of a mother/daughter bonding moment.

I have numerous ones that I am working on (on the bridge, walking toward me, smelling flowers, being pushed in the swing)but please let me know if I am on the right track with this. What do you think of the sepia effect?

Thanks so much in advance for any advice you can give.

Denise

FYI - I just noticed that about 2" of the right side of the photo got cut off.



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[DavidEccleston]

I'd boost the contrast something like 2 notches. The girl, her doll, the woman's pants, and the grass are all basically the same tone at the moment. Perhaps choosing an alternate color for the B&W filter could help fix that too.


If it's possible, due to cropping, add some extra space at the bottom. The feet are nearly touching your border.


I'm not suggesting it for this image, but sometimes I find when doing a B&W conversion, I like it better if I check the 'linear' check box on the RAW tab. Linear works awesomely to pull details out of the air when a chunk of your image is near white. Don't be afraid to experiment. After hitting the checkbox, adjust the RAW brightness slider at the top of the tab until the white is white... the bring up the darks with a fairly steep curves adjustment in the RGB tab.


Sometimes I prefer linear off, and use the standard contrast, highlight, shadow controls... it varies by image.

[ddt0725]

Thanks, David ...I will try your suggestions.

Denise

[Sheiky]

I have numerous ones that I am working on (on the bridge, walking toward me, smelling flowers, being pushed in the swing)but please let me know if I am on the right track with this.

If your goal is catching the mother/daughter bonding moment, you're on the right track. I think there's definitely some energy between mother and daughter in this shot.


There is something "odd" on this photo though. The bridge seems angled and it still looks like your daughter and grand-daughter are straight on... How is that possible?

What do you think of the sepia effect?

My initial thought is exactly the same as David stated. So +1 on his advice! Also I personally like sepia a little more "gold-ish" this one is still a little "grey-ish?". I'm slightly colourblind so please don't pin me on the exact color, but I like sepia just a tint warmer [A]

FYI - I just noticed that about 2" of the right side of the photo got cut off.

You probably posted it like 1000 pixels wide?


Anyway enjoy post-processing!


Jan

[Mark Elberson]

The bridge seems angled

I agree, that's an easy fix in DPP. Can you:

1. Fix the bridge (make it parallel to the bottom of the frame, they ground your daughter is walking on may be sloped but the bridge should be level.
2. Jack up the contrast (and I'm talking like +3 or +4 in DPP) this image is just wat to flat. I love black & white for conveying emotion. Sometimes colors take away from that goal. You need some drama though.
3. This is just personal opinion but I don't care for the jagged ege treatment. I do however like the "frames" that you usually place on your uploads.
4. Downsize to at least 800px so that nothing gets cut off
5. If you're up for it, give us a color version too

Like Jan said, I think you're on to something. You just need to make some tweaks :-)


Looking forward to take-two!

[ddt0725]

The bridge seems angled

I agree, that's an easy fix in DPP. Can you:

1. Fix the bridge (make it parallel to the bottom of the frame, they ground your daughter is walking on may be sloped but the bridge should be level.
2. Jack up the contrast (and I'm talking like +3 or +4 in DPP) this image is just wat to flat. I love black & white for conveying emotion. Sometimes colors take away from that goal. You need some drama though.
3. This is just personal opinion but I don't care for the jagged ege treatment. I do however like the "frames" that you usually place on your uploads.
4. Downsize to at least 800px so that nothing gets cut off
5. If you're up for it, give us a color version too

Like Jan said, I think you're on to something. You just need to make some tweaks :-)


Looking forward to take-two!
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Hi Mark,


I'm at work now but will definitely upload a color version and revised sepia version tonight. I know you said it's an "easy fix" on the crooked bridge but I'm not sure if it's easy enough for me but I will sure take a look at it and try!
I emailed this photo to my daughter last night and she did not like the border either but my youngest daughter did. It was the first time I ever used it.

Well, I'll will most definitely try to get this done tonight ...but just received Sean's beauty dish via FedEx so I know what else I'll be doing tonight!!! []

Denise

[Mark Elberson]

I know you said it's an "easy fix" on the crooked bridge but I'm not sure if it's easy enough for me but I will sure take a look at it and try!

Do you have Canon's DPP? If so, what version? If you have one of the latest two version then you can re-adjust your horizon using the cropping tool. You can either "grab" the adjustment arrows and either pull it down or push it up or you can enter a +/- number into the box on the right. Just move it until it looks "right". You can even show a grid to make alignment even easier. You can also do this in photoshop (or probably a lot of other programs as well) but DPP is easy, it's free and it will do it to your RAW file! Good luck :-)

[ddt0725]

My initial thought is exactly the same as David stated. So +1 on his advice! Also I personally like sepia a little more "gold-ish" this one is still a little "grey-ish?". I'm slightly colourblind so please don't pin me on the exact color, but I like sepia just a tint warmer [img]/emoticons/emotion-13.gif[/img]

Hi Jan,


Thanks so much for your comments!! I fully agree with you on prefering a warmer sepia. I'm at work now and cannot remember which program I used (I have many) to get this, but I am used to seeing something more goldish also. I have so many programs and rarely use them do to lack of time to learn them!

When I get home I will also look at the other photos from near the bridge and see what I can do about the crooked bridge.

Thanks again for your input!

Denise

[barba]

Maybe try a duotone effect? The sepia doesn't really do it for me for some reason. The image is too flat.

[ddt0725]

I think I would prefer that also but I do not have Photoshop just elements and don't know alot about that program. I love when a photo is B&amp;W but one object in the photo has color but I can't remember which of my other programs has that capability.

I am going to try a few other ideas tonight and see what I can come up with.


Thanks much for your suggestion! Very much appreciated!

Denise