hows this?

[doctahjones]

first "paid" e-session.

good god did i muck it up good. for some reason when it's something "important" i choke up a little and don't do all that well. but when it's.

so, i had alot of pp to do. ugh.

anyway, how's this look for a before and after? does it look too photoshopp-ed? any comments as to what else i can do in pp would be great!


before, color/exposure/etc corrected in lightroom, then pushed to photoshop, only resized:





after, a bunch of stuff in ps: liquify, portraiture, etc:

[carrbowl]

Welcome to the club!!! I am getting over the hump though...which I am glad...just to give you me hope!!! I think you did good saving yourself!! The notices are subtle but helpful.

[humminboid]

Doc: They both look good! Like Renae said, the diferences are subtle, so much so, I had to look carefully to see what they were. Imo, the wall could have been a bit more oof, but, that's just me.

Glad I'm not the only one who "chokes" upon the least provocation. One time, I was photographing a church group for their directory. My camera was operating soooooo smoothly...till I discovered I hadn't put any film in it!

I bet they liked the photo!

[joedanger11]

great job. the difference are subtle, but makes a big impact.

[doctahjones]

thanks ya'll. that sucks about not having film in the camera! doh!

and oops, i totally forgot to finish part of my sentance.

it was supposed to read:

"for some reason when it's something "important" i choke up a little and don't do all that well. but when it's something like my gf's moms dogs, they come out awesome! (or at least i am always very happy with how they came out)."


the woman in the pic is already concerned about how she was going to show up in the pictures, so i didn't want to make it -real- noticable that i trimmed her down, but i wanted to do just enough that maybe she'd think i hadn't touched them, and that she didn't look -that- bad in the pics. know what i mean?

oh, and yeah i wish the wall were more out of focus as well. that was me not chimping as much as i normally do, and going off the suggestion to shoot at f8 while < 75mm, instead of dropping down to like f4 or so. i'm sure f8 would have worked just fine if i was at 150mm or so. doh. my instincts told me to open up but i didn't listen cuz i though f8 was what i was supposed to be shooting at. so, i'll go back to trusting my instincts from now on :P

[carrbowl]

The other think I thought of for posing, and being a woman, I know she was worried about how she looked!!! was if would have moved more to the left and shot more of him in the "front" and her sitting behind him...not too much behind him, but more so... just something for future reference..

[doctahjones]

oh i totally knew that, and actually have quite a few with her behind him alot...but those actually didn't come out that well.

thing is, i was told by my gf that if i did that too much, she'd catch on and might get her feelings hurt.

the fun part about these people is, they are very good friends of my gf's mom. sooooooooooo, not that i would intentionally hurt someone's feelings, but i have to really try and balance being nice with getting the shots.

basically if it was a 'random' couple then i would have been a little more commanding and such.

[humminboid]

Originally Posted by doctahjones

..the fun part about these people is, they are very good friends of my gf's mom. sooooooooooo, not that i would intentionally hurt someone's feelings, but i have to really try and balance being nice with getting the shots.

basically if it was a 'random' couple then i would have been a little more commanding and such.

Doc; You don't have to sound like a German sergeant to let the people know YOU are the expert, and want to do good job for them.

But! and it is a big one, they should know from the start that you KNOW what you're doing, and are applying your not inconsideable talents in their behalf.

That couple's essence...can't think of the proper word...is the miles they have on the airframes, the battles they have lost and won, and the haartaches, the sum of their lives...character...that's almost it...gravitas...dignity...

I think it shows. You did good!


I LIKE the Goldens!

[LEATHERNECK]

Just right.....

[sparkyjr]

Nice job on the post production. Too many people tend to over-do-it. I read your first post about setting up the shot, so I understand the angle you took (to get the stone wall in the background). Otherwise, It'd been nice to take a higher shot, aiming down, for a slimming effect. Very nice shot. I feel they'll be very happy with it.

[doctahjones]

thanks ya'll!

and yeah robert, i would have liked to have done some down, and really i would have LOVED (i actually did try a couple, but they didn't turn out well at all!) to done one with 17mm from low in from with the wheel turned. but i couldn't get them both in frame right and such though, so oh well. maybe the next couple with a bike :)