Bridal Portrait B&W: Adjustments?

[Akissavi]

Hello :)

Here's a photo I took & have edited some. The original is in color. My hope is to make the B&W version clean, sharp & flawless.

A couple of things I'm struggling with...

1. The hair on her right arm (can't seem to make the healing or clone tools work without the results appearing smudgy)

2. Knuckles are too dark (if I dodge those areas, again, results look smudgy)

What do you think? How can this photo be made better? How can I fix these 2 issues?

Thank you!

[mom2aidan]

can i see the before photo?
her face looks darker than her arms and chest do and that looks unnatural but i think the arms and hands are fine...just lighten them up a bit

[princessmocha]

Aj, hope you don't mind I played around with the image.
Here's my take and what I did:


1.I zoom in the image to almost 600% while I was doing the cloning and stamping. (of course, the size of the image that i downloaded from TPF is in very low resolution, that's why I had to zoom in to 600%) take your time, do it slowly, once you selected the c&s tool, right click the mouse, choose the brush size, and choose 10% on "hardness"
2. I used the dodge tool, but I started out with around 40% Exposure. If not much effect is shown, I "undo" the dodging, and increase the exposure.

I hope this helps!!
The bride looks beautiful!

[Steve Margulis]

Here's my take on it; I did most of my adjustments before I converted to b&w:

1. Curves
2. Healing Brush on skin
3. Background copy with screen blending mode to lighten
4. Layer mask to paint away areas that were too bright
5. Smart Blur
6. CS3 Black & White layer

[Steve Margulis]

Oh. And then I sharpened. Alot.

[luis_relampago]

Here is my take. again with the more dramatic look hope you guys like it.
1 curves w/ masks
2 surface blur
3 dodge and burn
4 gaussian blur
5 unsharp mask

[barP]

it can't be much better than what luis did, but i will say that i rarely use the dodge and burn tools anymore. i feel like they're lousy for control. curves and masks almost exclusively.

wp.

[MicWayWal]

AJ,

I think the major problem you have with this image is the lighting. As you may know the viewers eye will go to EITHER the brightest part of the image or the area of greatest contrast. The "lightness" of the dress on the left side as we view this image is so powerful that it takes away our eye from the subject's face. The area of greatest contrast is her hair next to the dress. But that area is not strong enough to pull away from the brightest area on her dress to the left.

Your main light in this image is actually on the background. This is creating most of the problems with the image. The light on your subject is "fill like" and flat. You could solve this problem in the future by moving the light on your camera to the right and make it a little stronger. This will make it the main light. A main light which has direction and better ratio for your subject. It will also darken the area of the dress to the left and make it easier to deal with in PP.

I think that the first two edited versions did not solve your problem. The area of the dress on the left is still the brightest part of the image and takes the emphasis off your subject. The edited version by Luis takes care of the problem but over does it by a 1000%. In my opinion, Luis' version eliminates the original idea of the image, that is a bride laying on her white dress.

My attempt was to darken the lightest part of the image and let the area of greatest contrast shine through. I tried to be subtle and not overpower the original idea of the photographer. I also took care of the details that were of concern to you. I added some retouching to the eyes.

I took the original color image and applied the following:
1. Curves adjustment layer; Input 88-->88 Output 88-->108
2. Channel Mixer adjustment layer; Monochrome checked, Red 75, Green 33, Blue 33
3. Dodge tool, Mid-tones 20%, Sight dodge on the left side of the picture to balance with the dress on the right.
4. Eye, face, arm and hand retouching.

[luis_relampago]

Michael, I agree with you totally about over processing the image, just wanted a different look something out of the ordinary, but in the real world I would done a couple of takes a classic and a dramatic, then show both of them to the client and let them decide.
God Bless!
here is a sample of a more classic approach:

[MicWayWal]

Originally Posted by luis_relampago

Michael, I agree with you totally about over processing the image, just wanted a different look something out of the ordinary, but in the real world I would done a couple of takes a classic and a dramatic, then show both of them to the client and let them decide.
God Bless!

Luis,

Glad you were not offended. I like your ideas on retouching.

[luis_relampago]

Michael,
I am here to learn and become a better photographer, I appreciate any comments it's a learning experience and don't mine at all. I post my ideas so people can used them or tweak them for their own benefit. Personally I like to think out of the box a little and produce images like this one with a more dramatic look. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as the bride.

[Akissavi]

Everyone,

I sure do appreciate all your input. The variety of talent here is remarkable & I am continuously learning from the commentary & retouching. Whether the image turns out to be edited with a classy, dramatic, or traditional edge I am definitely open to the creativity at all levels. It's so nice & encouraging to have your eyes review, critique & tweak my posts - thank you for taking them time to share your knowledge & opinions. Believe me, I am beyond glad to have come across this forum as it's as much a valuable tool for me as Photoshop is. My goal is produce high quality images & the easier I can make that happen before I press the shutter button the better. That being said, I was very glad to read the technical explanation of lighting above. I'm very much appreciative of any & all feedback so please keep it coming. You all are great!

[barP]

lots of good advice here, but in the interest of being argumentative....



seriously, my personal belief is there is no such thing as "over processing."

there IS plenty of evidence out there of POOR processing - things like sharpening to the point of creating halos, inaccurate masks, blown whites, noise in shadows...etc.

but...processing in general is a totally subjective thing. it's all about flavor. some eyes prefer what i call a "straight" image, and some people think the totally artificial look of an automatic hdr from photomatix is cool. i personally disagree with that last thing, but i respect that each has their own artistic and creative point of view. personally, i'm now looking at a lot of luis remalpago's work because i like his processing style.

whatever you do, akisavvi, let no one put you in a box!

wp.