I'm seriously rusty on my Photoshop skills after doing barely any selfies during the summer that needed heavy retouching, I did most edits just in the Camera Raw. Now that I'm back in school and we have a course of studio photography and Photoshop, I need to brush up on my skills. It had been so long since I've done any proper retouching, that I had to find the instructional notes I wrote for one of my school mates last spring, lucky I saved those.
This picture is taken just with natural light, since I'm yet to master anything in the studio because I haven't had a chance to reserve it for myself to try things alone. I took this after school and tried to make a super light and bright and very un-Eve photo, so that I could say that I can do it, if I want to.
I shot this with a 85mm lens, almost wide open at f/1.6, and made sure it's just in the brink of being overexposed. It actually looks like it's way over because I like it dark, but the histogram shows that the only overblown parts are the window reflection on the eyes, and tiny bit on my lipline, both of which are fine. I have no idea how I nailed this focus, I suck at getting the focus right, and in a shot like this, it needs to be absolutely perfect because the focus is a matter of millimetres in this aperture and focal length.
To me this kind of picture lacks soul, it's too bright, too close, too neutral, there really is not much that the image tells you. I did an edit I call 'supernatural', meaning the face is heavily retouched, but I do it in a way that it's pretty much undetectable and skin still looks like skin and not porcelain. I'm pretty happy with my editing skills.
Once I had played around with the light image, I made a very heavy black and white image of it. I pulled down the red channel really heavily, way too much to look natural, but I think it gave the image a lot more character. The original image is really flat, being shot straight on, with soft natural light, but the whole mood changed drastically with a heavy black and white edit. Darkening the reds, and a bit of the yellows too, a lot more details came out, like some freckles, and all of a sudden there are some proper shadows too.
I think a light like this is super flattering to the skin and eyes, but it doesn't do anything to the bone structure. I prefer carving out the bones on ones face with light, and then just deal with the skin that takes the hit on those kind of pictures.
I like each individual thing in colour. IE - eyes, lips, hair, ect.
But for some reason the B&W had more of an impact on me as a whole.
The colour is nice. But the B&W, I can't stop looking at.
Yay at least one vote for the BW! Super light photos just lack detail, the only thing interesting in them are the eyeballs in my opinion 😅
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BEER.Something's not right about the black and white. It seems that the depth of field is very narrow in this one. The focus is on your eyes as it should be. Parts of your forehead and nose are quite soft. In the ethereal edit that does not do significant harm but in the b&w the partial sharpness looks strange. I think the aperture was simply too large here. It's ok if areas of the face behind the eyes like the hair is out of focus but in my personal opinion the depth of field is too narrow here.
I remember from your old editing videos that your retouching skills are good. But because this image is so unlike what you usually shoot, it is quite understandable that some minor errors may have crept in. Focus is critical. A slightly off exposure can be salvaged in editing but there's nothing you can do about focusing errors.
Isn’t it weird how different the same image looks when it’s turned to monochrome? Like the super shallow depth of field isn’t as visible in the coloured one.
I definitely agree that a wide aperture does not work for a portrait like this, it’s weird to have the nose and forehead outside the focus field, but I’ve seen it done by some celebrity photographers for example and I wanted to try it. Though I think in a way it works for bw because it gives this kind of an vibe of an really old portrait photo, something like silver gelatine maybe? I’m not sure what it’s called but I have an image in my mind that reminds me of the kind of edit I did, and it’s kind of a creepy vibe those images have.
Absolutely right.
While that wide an aperture might not work, a wide aperture is still desirable because you definitely want to isolate the subject in portraits. I can't really give you a value because that would depend on the lens and the camera body and, to be honest, I wouldn't know the answer even for my own gear. The whole face should be in focus (maybe a bit of softness on the edges and the hair).
Creepy is the word. I think you have a talent in creating shots in the plasticky and soulless style we have seen a lot in commercials that are downright creepy. Subtly subversive Eve!
I’ll show the other pictures I took on a later date, where I stopped down the aperture to have the whole face in focus.
I need to be able to show that I can make a light bright boring image, but just choose to live on the dark side 😁
I prefer to call these "facials"
Normally I go black and white - but the colour for this. The B&W looks a little blown out for my liking.
Hahah I like that, facials.
The BW is definitely way out there.
Depends on use case I guess.
An anarchists angel with blue eyes but a devil in the sheets. 😉
I prefer the ethereal since it makes you eyes pop.
Fallen from heaven, now tempting humans to sin.
eyes!!
I have two of them! Plus contact lenses!
Hahahaha.. Love the details is what I meant :)
Black and white looks like you used a high-pass editing effect on it. I can see the skin pores.
Well, you could see my pores clearly in real life too, doesn’t take much to get them to show on a photo 😅
Alright
Document photo 😀
I should actually take a new passport photo because mine is expired 😅
Definitely black and white. It's sexier, maybe because the lips and bone structure is emphasized.
Bones are sexy am I right? 😁
You bet!
I love the colour
Colour is getting more votes for once 😂
I'm a fan of the color version.
For once colour is winning.
Eve, you're too close to the camera. It's making me nervous. I like the color one!
I’m making ME nervous, I much prefer some distance and space around me in a photo :)
Color! Blue eyes should be visible! 😍
Exactly!!
I so wish I had the same colour eyes as my dad, they are ice blue, mine have more green and grey in them.
I rarely see Ice Blues eyes where I live, they should be amazing.
I like your eyes in the color version! I agree that perhaps the depth of field is too shallow in the black and white. Did you try a series of shots with changing the aperture? That would be fun to see.
I took a lot of shots, only this one I took first was with a super wide aperture. I think I shot most at f/5, or at least f/3,5. I’ll show some of those on a later date when I feel like editing them :)
Generally I prefer black&white but this time I have to say that colour wins!!
No lovely eyes for black&white world :(
I want to see more lovely eyes like yours in this world :)
Well fine, the coloured one does put the focus on eyes, othewise it’s boring.
Good editor
Thanks!
Looks beautiful to me with the colour
Love the ethereal look Friend! But you shine in any light💕
There's something so magnificent about a black and white portrait that I love, and personally, I prefer it! There's a bit more detail with the B&W edit, and a lot more soul and character, too 🖤
Good