Which do you prefer?

[SteveLongPhoto]

One of my favorite photos of my granddaughter processed a couple of different ways.

Original, this one is pretty close to what the camera saw:

http://stevelongphoto.smugmug.com/photos/19249913-L.jpg

B&W, used many different layers and duotone:

http://stevelongphoto.smugmug.com/photos/19249929-L.jpg

Heavy color, color burn layer for extra saturation:

http://stevelongphoto.smugmug.com/photos/16296211-L.jpg

[windoze]

she has beautiful big eyes http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_11_8.gif , i like them in color - #1 is my choice!!


troy

[QUOTE=SteveLongPhoto]One of my favorite photos of my granddaughter processed a couple of different ways.

[digismile]

I too think the eyes are amazing in #1! I would do only minimal correction to the blown out areas to the left. Although the B/W is a nice photo, you don't often get eyes with this much pop!


Brad

[bfjr]

Blk & Wht :thumb
gets rid of distracting background, eyes still pop and I like b&w portraits :thumb

[ginger_55]

How about a tryptich? I love them all! I really do............ probably I prefer the black and white for its arty appeal. Not all portraits can transfer so nicely. And it puts all the emphasis on the child. But I do like them all.

ginger

[rutt]

This is a classic place to apply the shadow/highlight correction I suggested here:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=9231

(read to the end of the thread). If you shot raw, read this as well before you get started:

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=9300

Even if you must convert those beautiful blue eyes to B&W, you really should fix the blown areas of the cheek first. She needs a cheek, whether or not she's in B&W, but the problem is much worse in B&W.

[rutt]

I took a stab at it. The prognosis for that blown cheek is not good unless you shot in raw. This is the best I was ableo to do:

http://rutt.smugmug.com/photos/19258948-O.jpg

[SteveLongPhoto]

The S1 doesn't shoot raw, only jpegs or tiffs and the tiffs are so huge they're unusable (reeeaaaallly slooooow recording), plus they're 8 bit-3 channel so there wouldn't be anything extra there. So I shoot jpeg. I've used shadow and highlight quite a bit before, but it tends to give an unnatural look. She has very pale skin and it's real hard to get a good exposure sometimes. I'll try some shadow and highlight and then add a little color and noise to the blown area to see if I can retouch it. Thanks for the feedback.


edited for typos.

[Lucky Hack]

the first shot is great, I was struck by what a great exposure it is, yeah, her cheek is washed out, but it's still a perfect shot. Sometimes having areas which are washed out is the perfect exposure. One of the hardest things to do is just leave a photo as is and not try to improve it, especially with digital, this one's a keeper don't touch it. (re-touch that is)

hoping this message finds you well -Ian

[Michiel de Brieder]

100% the first, WOW :bow what a model!!! Those eyes are 100% spot on captured! :clap awesome!

[angiethegreat]

I would have to say I like the 3rd. There's something about the shawdowing I like. Very Beautiful model!!!