This is a image I have taken today for a local competion and would appreciate any one giving a critique of the image
From posting my own images on here to resize etc i know some sharpness is lost so i say this with that in mind does your image full size have better sharpness on the eyes? Also the railings behind the subject are at an angle to the horizon, that is something also that the judges might look at, esp if you are one of the runners up. ie try to square up the building to the frame. Maybe the lighting could do with a pop, i see from the trees behind her there is a bit of light from the left, maybe putting a light on the railing to light the subject for a bit of depth, just enough but not too much. over all the lighting looks a bit flat. A small detail but i think her right (our left) hand is a bit too distracting for an image being looked at purposefully, having it wide open and cradling the book draws your eye to it as its quite large in the frame. I'd also loose the sticker on the front cover of the mag, checking you props for distracting artifacts can help sway a judging, yes i know thats how the mag came but it can make a difference. The matched nail colour to here shirt works well, together with her lip colour it has a good tie in through out the subject. May i ask what the competition subject / brief was. i gave the image a quick twist just to see what it looks like straightened, you probably have more of the image to use for the rotate,
Thanks for the feedback Caladina, the theme of the comp was simply 2020. I shall straiten he building and railing up, thanks I did not notice that one,Lighting was not good as the day was very bright, this caused the young lady to constantly squint, I set her up in this shot on a set of steps that was a bit shaded, I was limited for space where I took the shot but I used a flash shooting through a white umbrella to fill in the shaded area of her face that was in shadow from being close to the doorway. The hand was place near the magazine heading, hopefully, telling a story, indicating a marriage at a later date, thus I hoped to cover the theme 2020.
i did pick up on the fact it may have been an intended 'i'm thinking about a wedding' pose. on the theme of 2020 and up coming weddings, having a woman surrounded by wedding mags, sitting at a sewing machine sewing a wedding corona mask might make a winning shot!
Caladina , took your advice and straitened up the building and railing, looks much better, we have not had a virus case in Tasmania for a long time and are at the lowest precautionary stage. Hopefully Thursday, the hot weather will have passed and we will get more usable lighting that is not so harsh. Comp ends Friday.
Pretty decent image overall. I agree with Caladina about the flatness of image. I think it requires a bit of pop. I played a bit with it and here is how it came out. Best I can do with a low rez image. Hope you don't mind. I have removed the posted image.
i did adjust the saturation and vibrancy both to +30 (PS5) and it seemed to look more...........vibrant, but i didn't want to post a 'photoshopped' image without asking first. not sure how you edited the pic you posted Sundar but from here it seems to have gone screwy on the pinks, seems its boosted some sections of her blouse and not others same with nails and lips, but it is a smaller image so something might have been lost
The downloaded image I worked on was very low rez (400 X 358 and 150 kb in jpeg format). Maybe that explains some of the observations you have made. I am sure this can be lot better if it is worked on the original image in RAW or TIFF format. Basic processing made was selective contrast adjustment (apart from rotation to correct the slant). I have removed the image.
i did notice that your rotation was better than mine, it kept all of the image where i had to clip the transformed sections after i did free transform and rotate, i only have ps5 it does all i need for now.
Rotation was the standard tool in photoshop. I filled up the regions with missing data with spatial extrapolation.
Sundar, I have no problem with you posting your edited version of my image, I used the a low sized JPEG so I could be able to post the image, this could go some way explaining the flatness of the image
Ok Craig, with your consent I am re-posting the image here. I have used the slightly better rez downloaded image (1199 x 1067) available now for processing. My best shot.
nah, i think boosting the nails and lips over the natural tone of them doesnt work in this image, the reason i say this, going with the theme of 'girl dreaming of a wedding" there may have been a Cinderella effect where the subjects down played make up adds to the over all image. also the execution is still uneven through the nails.
Seems to make sense but I like this rendering since it makes the lovely girl more lively. It is Craig's call anyways as it is his image. As for the nails, it is still a problem working with a low rez image but the unevenness can be fixed with some more effort. The real estate available over the nail space is still too small for subtle processing. I never process with low rez jpeg images.
I do think the lips have lifted the face. the nails not so much. this young lady has a very pale completion so the slight increase in the lips works ok. I asked her not to put on makeup so the lips are her natural colour, the colour of the nails is her favourite and it did does match her top. The clothes are her every day clothes so the top has faded with long term use and the jeans is a young persons fashion. Thanks for your comments and editing Caladina it is appreciated.
yeah, its more a case of us two playing with his stuff atm, if craigg wants me to i can post mine, its very subtle. its subtle enough that you need to see the two images side by side this and original. i stayed away from changing the lipstick as i like the natural colour +30 vibrance +30 saturation +15 contrast (to darken shadows that increased with the other two alterations)
I don't mind. if it stimulates people to use Photoshop for the purpose of respectfully improving the image. remember this is a image of a young lady who volunteer herself as a model. With that in mind I don't mind if the post the image.
