Photo Processing - Before/After Critique!

[Vicky]

Hi,

Came across this unseen 2yr old photo of my son while browsing through my sister's mobile phone. Technically, the photo was noisy, underexposed, had terrible shadows, distracting backgrounds, and was poorly composed.

However, in spite of all these drawbacks, it was one superb photo. It told a story. It perfectly portrayed his innocence and aspirations as he was actually trying to ride his toy bike.

This is the original shot..
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg143/Vikash2007/DSC00345.jpg

Edit 1 - Moody conversion into B/W with some strong vignette and a sepia tint with added noise. Trying to give it the feel of a photo that was shot 3-4 decades back...
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg143/Vikash2007/DSC00345a.jpg

Edit 2 - Standard conversion... removed the obvious shortcomings and made it more presentable
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/rx100/DSC00345b.jpg

I'm sure he'll appreciate the beauty of this shot 20yrs from now:)

Thanks for looking. C&C welcome!

Vicky

P.S. I would be glad to share the work flow with anyone interested:)

[KrishnenduKes]

PP Critique Approved

Yes we are quite interested in the detailled workflow Vikash. Hope you put it up. Then others can also try it out. Thanks.

[Xavier]

Cool PP Vicky! :)
I see some Clone Stamp, Healing Brush, Curves/Levels adjustments, eh? ;)
Would love to see the detailed step by step process on how you went about doing the PP.

[raunak]

Hey Vicky. I like the original shot more than the second one... The effect is nice but it doesn't do justice to your son...

The effect is making his skin look kind of unhealthy...

[Bibudesh]

@Vicky- Given the beauty of this pic, I liked the original pic than the modified one.
A modification when made to a photo should not feel like modified (leaving creatives/HDRs) ..
The modified photo is giving me a 'duplicate' feel and is far away from the quality shots u have been sharing....

I believe the foto needs to be redone from scratch..

-- Just an honest critique wat I felt.

[motorcycho]

Good editing Vicky!! but what i think is rather then sharpening the photo go for the softer effects, that way even the pic will look appealing without without making it look too edited.
The Shadows have been neatly removed!! great work there!!!

[Vicky]

Cool PP Vicky! :)
I see some Clone Stamp, Healing Brush, Curves/Levels adjustments, eh? ;)


Thanks Xavier.. and you're spot on about the PP!


Hey Vicky. I like the original shot more than the second one... The effect is nice but it doesn't do justice to your son...

The effect is making his skin look kind of unhealthy...

You're correct there.. even my wife did not like the edit! I was going for that moody look.. vignette, sepia tint, film grain and all that.. trying to give it the feel of a photo from the 60's..


@Vicky- Given the beauty of this pic, I liked the original pic than the modified one.
A modification when made to a photo should not feel like modified (leaving creatives/HDRs) ..
The modified photo is giving me a 'duplicate' feel and is far away from the quality shots u have been sharing....

I believe the foto needs to be redone from scratch..

-- Just an honest critique wat I felt.

Thanks for the honest reply SP. This is exactly what I was looking for. Like I said, this was a moody conversion... sorry it didn't out:o

Here's a more conventional edit... from scratch:)

[motorcycho]

The 3rd one is amazingly done!!!

[KrishnenduKes]

How did you remove the flash shadows?

[Xavier]

How did you remove the flash shadows?
The Cloning Stamp tool in PS is my guess.

[Bibudesh]

the third one is something I was actually looking from vicky :) ..

I tried to work on that foto yesterday but couldn't get anything well, I gave it up impatiently..

[motorcycho]

the third one is something I was actually looking from vicky :) ..

I tried to work on that foto yesterday but couldn't get anything well, I gave it up impatiently..

Even I tried the same!!! :D
But couldn't do anything!! maybe because the of the small pic, but still!!

[Vicky]

How did you remove the flash shadows?

First select the shadow areas with the Polygon Lasso tool and then use the clone stamp tool to fill in the selected areas:)

[Vicky]

The 3rd one is amazingly done!!!

the third one is something I was actually looking from vicky :) ..



Thanks guys:)

For the third image this is what I did:

1. worked on exposure & levels in PS CS3
2. then opened the photo in Neat Image and removed noise
3. opened again in cs3 and added space above the head
4. cloned out all unwanted stuff like shadow & almirah
5. added saturation and contrast. USM 8%
6. added vignette and boarder

[KrishnenduKes]

First select the shadow areas with the Polygon Lasso tool and then use the clone stamp tool to fill in the selected areas:)




For the third image this is what I did:

1. worked on exposure & levels in PS CS3
2. then opened the photo in Neat Image and removed noise
3. opened again in cs3 and added space above the head
4. cloned out all unwanted stuff like shadow & almirah
5. added saturation and contrast. USM 8%
6. added vignette and boarder

*Pant pant...

I am out of breath...

[raunak]

Great work there dude! I guess this is perfect... :)