Brian, I am suprised this shot did not get much responce from the membership. The concept it fabulous. I like witty and quirky stuff like this. You just need to add a bit of more B&W editing pezaz to it. Do you want me to try re-editing this shot to show you if it can become closer to WOW? Let me know.
I opened this post thinking I'd find a vampire slayer but instead found a picture that made me smile! I agree with Hera, a little touch up and this picture would look fab - Buffy would become art!
He has got "IMAGE EDITING OK" in his profile, so I guess you can go ahead. I would be curious how would your approach look so. I'm eying your pictures for some time already and got some very unbalanced feelings, so I'm curious with what you'll come next :smile:
I am still not satisfied with it. The shadows on the wall behind Buffy are a bit distructing to me, why? It is taking my eye away from the dog and the dog print on the wall. Maybe by closing a door we would get rid of the shadows created by the sun. I tried to clean out the walls. A poor attempt. The original shot is grainy, I tried to take away that grain, then it became clean and plasticy. Here we go. I am not satisfied with it. But the dog and the print stand out better now. So what do you think? Be brutal. I don't mind. :smile: Personally It isn't great. But it has a high key feel to it.
Hi Hera, its a tough one, I can imagine the problems you were having trying to get the contrast right. Personally, I think you've upped the contrast too much. The dog on the wall needs to be a more prominent part of the picture than your edit allows because Buffy is supposed to be imitating his stance, but you can't see the dog so well because he's now partly whited-out (is that a word?) I also think the loss of grain kind of divorces Buffy from her surroundings. But its all subjective ... I'd have kept some of the grain in the picture by meeting you half way with the contrast. Not easy though with the light on the wall.
I think that softness is quite typical for your latest work Hera...I can see your manuscript in it. I'm still quite beginner in the LR, but I thought I'll try as well. My goal was to emphasize those three important objects - dog, painting and poster.
I'd just be tempted to adjust the curves slightly to improve contrast and to add a slight unsharp mask. I don't think there is a need to go too much further with this image as the concept of the image is so 'right' to begin with. Less is more.
Thanks! Thanks for all the feedback I always appreciate it. I do indeed like all the mods, Hera's version of the piano player poster is so sharp, I really like it, fyi is was the diamonds of light that made me look at the wall then notice the "dogs" Buffy was trying to tell me its time to go out. I like Johns take as well, soft and still keeps the diamond lights. FYI the dog print on the wall is from ikea, the piano print is from world market Ironically almost everything else in the house is one of my prints. : ) BTW here is a link to the raw file if anyone wants to play with that. 12 megs.
I love your doggy Buffy Brian. Suce a cuitie... The image is great, my only beef with it was the hotspots caused from the sun on the wall. Trying to take them out was futile on my behalf. Grain is no bother to me. I like grain sometimes. I see slight digital distortion in the image. I have to check your raw file. John's version is ok as well, but the hot spots are still there. PS: by the way you run your noise ninja twice on such grainy shot, you'll get what I had John. I rarely shoot high grain stuff to use noise ninja twice. My latest burlesque dancer shot was the only case which noise ninja was used twice, and yes it became plasticy like this one.
That's funny. The sunspots are one of my favourite parts of the image, particularly given where they are positioned 'next' to each dog.
You see how likes or dislikes can differe? Vive la difference... There are no right or wrongs. :smile:
