Beautiful Shot

Hi guys; I took this pic of my daughter a couple of hours ago, which I really like.

Just wondering if I should leave it as-is, or not - what would you do?

Nice capture snootchies

Maybe a tad under exposed but apart from the .its great

Not much to do here, except lifting the girls face (correct underexposure), and put some life in her eyes.
Oh......you should convert your files to sRGB for web use.
No need to use Adobe RGB.

Other than that, it is a beautiful picture from a beautiful girl !!




Martin.

Cheers Chaps; this was my attempt at addressing the exposure situation:




But I prefer what Martin managed I have to say. If you dont mind me asking Martin, what did you do?

I usually convert to jpeg from Photoshop CS3; and by default it saves the colour as Adobe RGB. From what you are saying Martin, I should leave this unticked?

Out of curiousity, (and at the risk of sounding a complete newb) what is the difference?

Hi Bob,
I didn't do much actually.
Open in PS.
Duplicate layer.
CTRL-L to open levels.
(Bring back highlight slider until it just hits the graph, then move mid tone slider to 0,85-------> press OK)
Apply layer mask and use a very soft brush to paint back in, everything except the face.
Create new blank layer. Press and hold ALT while goiing to layers----> merge visible. This creates a new layer.
Select both eyes (feather with 2 px) Press CTRL-J
This creates a new layer with only the eyes.
Select blend mode screen at a opacity of 35 %
This lifts the eyes a bit, and brings them to life.
Flatten layers and save.

The reason I did this is simple. Seeing your picture I thought the girls face should be corrected, not the whole picture. I know it is underexposed but it is all about the girl. By keeping the rest of the scene, slightly underexposed the girl gets all the attention.
In your example (last one) the background is to present, and presses attention away from the girl.
It all comes down to the following belief: Technical correct doesn't always mean aestheticly pleasing.

About the sRGB issue. Most(if not all) web pages have a sRGB colour space. When you convert your web-pictures to sRGB, you know for sure no strange shifts of colour will occur to your pictures, while others view them.

HTH,
Martin.

Thanks Martin - much appreciated for the advice!!!!

Another example of the great advice available on this forum. Well done Bob and Martin.