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How much should you charge for a photograph?Dramatic portraits
One of my favorite programs for enhancing photographs is Portrait Professional 9. It creates the most beautiful, porcelain-like skin on models, and I find the effects to be truly captivating.
I revisited a portrait of a young Gypsy woman I photographed in India a few years ago, below. I photographed her in sunset lighting, and when I was giving a Photoshop workshop in my home this past weekend, I used this image as an example of what could be done with this software. The procedure is unbelievably user friendly, and in about two minutes I turned a very nice portrait into what I consider a work of art.
To further embellish the image, I darkened the original background and lowered the saturation of color in the sky to direct more attention on the subject. To do that, I used the darken/lighten center filter in Nik Color Efex 3.0. This added drama to the portrait by forcing all of our attention exactly where I wanted it -- on the face of the model.
- Tagged with:
- exotic faces
- india
- photoshop
- Portrait Professional 9
- Portraits
- portraiture
Comments
Stunning image! Thanks for the tips.
Thanks, Michael. It helps to have a stunning model.
Jim
I fault the processing in that the color of the whites of her eyes is the same as her skin. Poor job.
Morgan,
If you are commenting on the original capture, I included this unmanipulated to show what it looked like before I applied the Photoshop effects. This is exactly what I saw -- the lighting was sunset, hence yellowish, and the whites of this young lady's eyes were not white. They were exactly as you see them.
I did lighten the whites of her eyes slightly in post-processing, but more than this would have made her look like an alien. To make her eyes more white than they are now would look unnatural and disturbing. You are simply wrong.
Jim
I think the original is a great shot - nice composition, great light, good detail and overall very natural and involving.
The manipulated shot looks just that - obviously manipulated and unnatural. The viewer has been distanced from the subject.
I'm not sure what the need was to hide details of the 'models' face for this type of shot...does it need to tend to the superficial needs of a Western fashion magazine?
Each to their own I suppose :-)
Nick,
I wasn't trying to emulate styles seen in Western fashion magazines. I have never been a fashion shooter. I was using this software simply to embellish a face that was already beautiful. Photography is art. If you don't like a particular treatment or style, that's why we say that 'art is in the eye of the beholder'.
Jim
Jim, this is a great portrait, however, I like the un-retouched version much better. I think "Portrait Professional" is a gimicky program that over softens the skin, making it look too smooth and unnatural. There is also a noticeable halo around her head that is a bit distracting that might have come from you masking out the darkened background, or might have come from the preset, not sure.
Sometimes photos are best SOOC.
Eric,
Like all special effects in image making, the intent is not necessarily to simulate reality. I agree with you that this doesn't look natural at all, but I consider myself a 'photo artist' rather than a 'photo journalist', if I can use those terms. I take images all the time in which I do nothing but tweak the contrast and perhaps the color saturation a bit. However, from the beginning of my photographic career I've loved special effects -- from the bizarre to the surreal. That's just me.
Regarding the halo, that came from darkening the perhiphery, not from Portrait Professional.
Thanks for taking the time to write.
Jim
Absolutely agree. We all have our own styles and tastes, and what each photographer brings to his craft is unique. I also like to add my own touch in photoshop, I guess I'm more of a realistic photographer than artistic, most of the time. Like I said, it is a great portrait to begin with, so the final outcome is your artistic decision, which is what makes art art! Thanks for the great posts!
Eric
Eric,
If you would like to see an image that would cause some people to deduce I should be in a padded cell, please see the attached. As much as I like shooting hummingbirds and leopards, this kind of imagery has been a part of my photography from about 1970.
Jim
wow, now see that is where special effects belong. That's such an interesting shot, well lit, and insanely setup. I really like concept photography like this. Great photo!
Thanks. This one even blew me away. I thought you'd appreciate seeing the original, unmanipulated image. This was the most outrageous costume last Feb. for the carnival in Venice, Italy. I do a photo workshop there every year.
Jim
Thanks. This one even blew me away. I thought you'd appreciate seeing the original, unmanipulated image. This was the most outrageous costume last Feb. for the carnival in Venice, Italy. I do a photo workshop there every year. Note the off-camera flash.
Jim
"You are simply wrong."
How can I be wrong about an artistic opinion? silly boy.
I think the the color balance in her eyes is the result of either poor processing or bad choices.
To just say that I am wrong shows a pompous arrogance that has no place in artistic conversation.
and for the record, I agree with all the commenters that think the original is MUCH better than the processed result. much more natural and engaging.
Shame that the 'processed' image looks way over-processed. The skin looks like it's smudged into almost being porcelain and the halo around the head makes it look like the image had an HDR effect applied. I appreciate that the playing with the software is fun - I do it a lot myself. Not criticizing, just sharing my thoughts. Personally I think the original is a lovely capture.
The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don't like their rules, whose would you use?Are you agreed?
curt
Nike Dunk SB Hi Shoe
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