Portrait in the park

Was out at the park today and took dome portraits of my son.
Not sure about the shadow cast by his cap, but I like them.

C&C please

[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/Father_Ted/PHOTOS/Jacob1aupload.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/Father_Ted/PHOTOS/Jacob2upload.jpg[/IMG]

Any father would like them. The issue isn't the shadow from the cap but the burnt out areas on the cap and his ear. What you do about it I don't know - apart from having him take the cap off. Don may be along shortly

Mike

Thanks. I can probably do a bit about the burnt out area. The originals are a little darker. I'll take a look at them again.

Were these shot in RAW?

Nope

I keep meaning to use RAW, but my PS software doesn't open it, so I end up needing two bits of software, then I can't be bothered and use jpg.

father Ted, do you mind if I have a go at trying to just tweak a little the images? The expressions are fantastic in your son's face, these is a really nice set of images

Not at all. All help gratefully received

a good raw converter with highlight recovery tools might just work... if shot in raw...
but in jpeg, you're pretty much stuck with what ya got...

now for next time, a reflector and or flash to fill in the shadows combined with metering for the highlights would get it right in camera...

but with these shots, I'd say make two layers:

in the first layer try adjusting your levels and color , highlights and shadows tool, dodge and burn tools, etc...to get the face looking good...

on the top layer adjust for the rest of the image, do some burning in on the cap and clothing etc...
then just erase out the face from the top layer to let the bottom layer show through...

maybe select the burnt out areas and of his face and paint in some color sampled from his face and add some noise to fake the skin.... or clone in some skin from elswhere...

With my limited ability this is the best I could come up.
I think there is a way of selectively working on highlights or shadow areas, but I don't know how to do it in photoshop.

All i did was use the Shadow/Highlight tool and then ran the noise reduction software on them. Just managed to bring a few aread that were darkened such as the cap and a bit of the face that was too darkened with the shadow.

I am sure some members with more ability will be able to improve much more.

Oooo Amin!!
I have lots more pics which need your touch.
I love what you've done

Thanks father Ted.

I am looking to improve my post processing skills also and been leaning more towards it lately.
And whenever I get a chance its nice to try to apply and improve these skills.

I read what Don mentioned and since I tweaked these images I have been playing around further .

Do you want to pass me the original files? I might try to improve a little bit more. You could have these two shots of your little ones pretty nicely actually. The shadows can be improved dramatically and probably even the clipped highlights a little bit more.

I will PM my email if you want to drop me the files I will have a go at them if you want. Its for my own benefit also as I am looking to improve my skills on PP

If you don't mind.

I'm still at the basics stage with PS. To be honest, Don lost me a little with his advice ( sorry Don )

Yep, I can send the originals. Probably won't be tonight, going to be now, but I'll send them over tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Father Ted,

Would you mind if I had a go. I am like Amin and still trying to improve my skills in pp. It is nice to be able to have a go with and compare against otehr people's results. I am not as good as Amin though!

Father Ted,

Please ignore my last post. I realise that picture quality is a personal thing and I am nowhere near good enough to attempt to improve your photo. It is a lovely picture of your Son with no that much wrong with it anyway. In my opinion.

Cheers

Nothing to stop you having a go, though. Practice makes perfect.

G