Constructive tutorial (3) - Palakaboy

For today's entry, I've been kind enough to have been lent an image by Cameralabs Forum member, Palakaboy. It is another portrait, but unlike the one in the first tutorial we have a different set of issues. Here is his image:
























The composition is solid, as is the exposure. But what we lack here is dynamic lighting and a problematic background. The DoF is quite deep so we have leaves that are competing against the subjects, and as mentioned in my outdoor portraiture entry, green backgrounds close to subjects will act as green reflectors - we have that green cast on the midtones of the skin. Both these issues we can adjust with some knowledgeable post-processing - the issue with the lighting is harder, but we'll see what we can do. Here goes:

We can use techniques to blur out the background, but we don't want to blur out the subjects. To get around this we can duplicate the background layer and extract the subjects in a separate layer. Once extracted, this will allow us to manipulate the leaves separate to the subjects.

To alter the background, gaussian blur is needed, but a common error is to make it look very artificial by having a uniform flat blur. We can conceal the editing by duplicating the background layer again and gaussian blur the layer. Choose enough by looking at the preview and apply it. A layer mask is then added and we use the gradient tool to select where we want focus to be and have a gradually increasing blur away from the subjects to give a less static background blur.

The final part is to make the subjects look good in the light. Green casting can be removed by using coloured filters, selective colour, colour balance and curves. All four methods are shown in the video.

We can also make the subjects radiant - we duplicate the extracted layer and run a high pass filter. To know how much to run through, we guage by using the gaussian blur function - we identify how much we need just to make the skin look smooth but not too out-of-focus, and then we take this value for our high pass filter. After the high pass, we add a gaussian blur, but roughly only a third of what we applied for the high pass. In the video I used 1.5 for the high pass, and consequently 0.5 for the gaussian. We hit Ctrl+I to invert the layer and then choose Overlap as our blending style. This gives a radiant look on the subjects, and a handy technique in hand if you want to hide some skin blemishes. I chose Overlap to accentuate the effect, but we could have quite easily used Soft Light. Using the Soft Light blending style will give a more muted effect than Overlap.

The end result we have is shown on the right with the original on the left (as always, click for larger images):


















The hurriedly made video below goes through the above techniques (though I may re-record it at a later date):



I hope there are some useful processing techniques to take away, and thanks again to Palakaboy for letting us learn through his work.

In from the cold

Following two sessions of post-processing, I thought it might be good to have a slight change. And here we go - here's an image I took on the 14th of September 2008 from Waterloo Bridge in London. I stood in a gusty headwind (not wise with the smoke!)
























More can be found on my official website: www.edtangphotography.com

Constructive tutorial (2) - Alastair

Following on from my last post, I've been given a request from Alastair.

"Hey Ed!

I would love it if you could give this image a bit of a critique and edit (if needs be). I'm very happy with it although not completely pleased with the tree on the right but I think overall it's a good photograph and had a particular mood to it. What do you think?"

















It's a pretty landscape. This small version above doesn't quite do it justice. A larger version is available if you click on the image. What works here is a well captured sky that's filled with interest. The cloud formations as well as the distant horizon bring lots of promise to this image. It's not all good news though - we have a situation completely the opposite to the last tutorial with Thomas' image - we have too much contrast here. There is a large dynamic range between the sky and the foreground; this accounts for the dark and underexposured trees. But there's no need to despair! Underexposure is easier to correct than overexposure in post-processing, so all isn't lost. I'll talk through what we can do to rescue much of the detail in the video. The other issue we have, and Alastair has identified himself, is the composition. The trees aren't quite placed "perfectly" to be pleasing on the eye. Again we can remedy this, and I'll talk a little about some fundamentals in composition in the video.

Finally there isn't an immediately obvious focal point in this photo. The peak lies close to centre, but is marginally overexposed and blends in with the clouds; we have the dark underexposed trees in the foreground, but they don't act as leading lines into the image. I found that my eye wandered across the image. But again we can remedy this, and the other two issues mentioned:


















I've used the construct of the golden mean as well as a natural frame with the dark trees and clouds. This should give more lead into the frame and not let our eyes wander far off. What we've framed is that peak and all the depth behind it. We've also reclaimed a bit of the foreground and added even more drama to an exciting sky.

Here's the video (in two parts) that talks you through my analysis and what I've done.






Once again, this is only my interpretation of how the image should be. I hope I've explained the concepts behind what I've done and if there are questions, please post them in the comments section at the end of this.

I'll finish off with a little in-camera technique. I haven't a clue how Alastair focused for this image - if it were focused at infinity at the peak, that wouldn't be unexpected. However if you're exploring great DoF whilst retaining sharpness, there is the hyperfocal method. You focus one third of the way into the frame using a small aperture, f/11-16. This is because DoF extends two thirds beyond the point of focus. This should achieve a greater DoF and sharper image than just focusing at infinity.

Many thanks to Alastair for providing us with a great image to learn from.