C&C To Make This Shot The Best It Can Be

[rlriii13]

After a recent series of shots of our daughter, my wife and I fell in love with this one. We were thinking about getting a nice large print to hang in our bedroom, and we want it to be the best version of the image that it possibly can be. Firstly, how would you improve it in post for a print on a wall? Secondly, how would you improve at the time of shooting (for my future reference)?


Thanks in advance!


1/250 at f/4 and ISO 100. 35mm. XSi.

[iND]

The composition is great


my comment on the BW


it almost looks sepia


I would like to see a little more contrast.


A black and white should have something that is white and something that is black


Work with your histograms and push the two ends of the bw spectrum

[Richard Lane]

Awesome photo!


I think the antique style of processing works very well, especially with that classic hat. I also like the light coming through the fence, as well as the slight vignetting!


I think it looks great just the way it is, but I also agree with adding a little more contrast as suggested by iND, perhaps just 1-2 clicks, you then may need to up the exposure a "tiny" bit.


Rich

[rlriii13]

Thanks guys. So, adjusting exposure I

[freelanceshots]

You should upload the image to a site like flickr and allow for image downloading and then let some of the skilled folks here do some adjusting. You could pick one that you really liked and then print that one. Just have to upload a large res image so that it will print out nice. Just a thought if you are not big into Photoshop.

[Keith B]

I was up late editing and sort of in the groove so I saw this and took a stab. Let me know if you want to use them I'll email you the hi res versions.


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[rlriii13]

Thanks Bryan and Keith, I think I actually like your total B&W betterthan the sepia added versions.But can you tell me what you did to get either of these? I'm trying to learn some newskills here. I can't bum off my forum friends forever. []

[Richard Lane]

Here is something in between.


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Here is the full size version on Flickr:







Rich

[Keith B]

Thanks Bryan and Keith, I think I actually like your total B&W betterthan the sepia added versions.But can you tell me what you did to get either of these? I'm trying to learn some newskills here. I can't bum off my forum friends forever. [img]/emoticons/emotion-2.gif[/img]

Well it wasn't as simple as going in to a contrast setting. I copied the layer then using the B&W conversion I picked a filter that had more contrast and tweaked it a little. Then I copied the OG layer again and converted it to B&W again but using the Max Black filter. I used the first converted layer as the main layer, then the Max Black layer I used as an overlay and masked it out and then in a Burn type fashion, with a very low flow brush gently painted (on the layer mask) in shadows and details in the hat.


I also did another layer that I adjusted curves, focusing on lightening the midtones. I then masked it out and then painted in spots to smooth out the skin and dark areas under the eyes.

[Keith B]

PS


For the sepia one, I just sampled a color from you original and then I filled a new layer with the color, then in layer palette I set the blending to Color.