Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Before & After, Episode 14 | WESLEY CHAPEL MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER

In continuing with this recent maternity kick I'm on, I'd like to show you yet another example of an image that was heavily manipulated to achieve the final effect.  While I'm a huge advocate of getting things right in-camera, sometimes knowing a thing or two about Photoshop can come in really handy.

One of the first things I noticed about this image when I pulled it into Lightroom was that the hand and flower weren't in the ideal position vertically on her belly.  When I was originally taking the shot, I told my subject to just let her her arm hang fairly loosely, which put her hand (and the flower) in a much lower position.  I thought it would look better in the final shot, but it turns out that I was wrong.

To move the hand & flower higher up on my subject's belly and  into a more visually appealing location, here's the procedure that I used:
  1. Duplicate the background layer
  2. Drop the opacity of this new layer down to around 20%
  3. Use the Move tool in conjunction with Free Transform to reposition the hand/flower in the new location
  4. Mask out everything but the hand/flower
  5. Go back to the background layer and clone out the original hand/flower
Aside from that, I performed some light "digital plastic surgery" to alter the shape of her belly, and of course I reduced (but not removed) some of the skin blemishes that I found to be rather distracting.  The background is nothing more than a lavender-to-white radial gradient, with the subject, hand, and flower masked out.  Please let me know if further detail would be helpful.

To see the before & after, just move your mouse pointer over the image for a few seconds until it changes. Then you can switch them back and forth as much as you like.

Maternity Pregnancy Photography
For further examples of my work, including high school senior pictures, baby & family portraits, and fashion & glamour, please visit my website at http://RussRobinsonPhotography.com









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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Pic-A-Week, Episode 3 | NEW TAMPA MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER

Maternity photography can be a rather difficult thing to do well, because the focus generally needs to be on the baby bump, and there are really only so many ways that you can shoot it without being clichè. Of course you can choose to change the scenery by leaving the studio behind and heading outdoors, but it will probably make things rather difficult if your client wants more of an intimate portrait.

So fortunately for me, as I now begin my maternity portfolio in earnest, the "client" happens to be my beautiful wife. We are expecting our precious Ainsley Claire in August, so the time is perfect for me to jump into this new genre feet first. I have been looking at lots of other photographers' work over the past couple of months trying to get a little bit of inspiration, and this particular image was inspired by a shot from the great Sandy Puc'.

To achieve the lighting effect, I placed a beauty dish with a 10° gridspot behind and slightly to the right of my wife, who was laying on the floor. I had my camera mounted on a tripod, and the tripod had to have the center pole inverted in order for me to get the camera low enough to the ground to get the angle I wanted. I then focused on her belly, put the 10-second timer on, and ran over to quickly drop into position behind her. Fortunately it only took a few shots to get it right, as I was getting out of breath from all the running around!

The shot was later processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro, and then some additional dodging and burning was performed in Photoshop to [de]emphasize certain areas and really put on the finishing touches. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed putting it together! If so, hook me up with a "Like" and a comment. Thanks ya'll! =)










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Monday, June 21, 2010

Before & After, Episode 13 | NEW TAMPA SENIOR PICTURES

This shot comes from the same senior portrait session that I referenced in a previous post.  It's a typical example of the kind of fashion/glamour retouching that I normally do for my modeling clients, which includes:
  1. Skin smoothing (while still retaining texture)
  2. Removal of major blemishes
  3. Reduction of dark circles under eyes
  4. Eye & teeth whitening
  5. Removal of stray hairs
  6. Lip color enhancement
  7. Iris enhancement
  8. Tonal contrast boost (using luminosity, dodging & burning, and a few other techniques)
  9. Eyebrow cleanup/enhancement
  10. Minor facial reshaping
Obviously, this young lady was quite beautiful to begin with, and by most folks' standards she didn't really need to be "enhanced".  However, to be a successful commercial photographer these days it's an absolute MUST to achieve a mastery of the latest high-end beauty retouching techniques.  So I give all of my fashion, glamour, and senior portrait clients the 5-star treatment to really accentuate their best features and make them look like they just stepped off the cover of Cosmo.  It's relatively difficult to find photographers who have expertise in this area, so I continue to study, practice, and improve my craft constantly. 

To see the before & after, just move your mouse pointer over the image for a few seconds until it changes.  Then you can switch them back and forth as much as you like.

New Tampa Senior Pictures & Portraits

As always, I am more than happy to share my post techniques with anyone who is interested, and I'd be delighted if you'd click "Like" and share your thoughts in a comment below.  Thanks!








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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Pic-A-Week, Episode 2 | NEW TAMPA BABY PHOTOGRAPHER


This is a personal family shot that I captured over Memorial Day weekend.  I thought it was pretty cute when I first converted it to black & white, but based on the overwhelmingly positive response I've gotten on my Facebook fan page, I am now considering adding it to my professional portfolio as well.

I have to give props to my mother-in-law for assisting with the posing, because getting two energetic toddlers to pause for a sweet moment like this certainly takes more than just one person.  Plus, you have to worry about one or both of them falling off the dock, so there are some additional safety concerns as well.

I'm always my own worst critic, so when I look at this shot I still wish my nephew's head was turned a little bit more toward my daughter.  I also wonder if perhaps a slightly shallower depth-of-field might have produced a more pleasing result.  But in the end I think it still works pretty well, and I'm sure I'll be making a print or two from it.

So what are your thoughts?  Do you think I'm being overly critical with my assessment of this shot's weaknesses?  Are there other areas where you can see room for improvement?  Would more of a sepia tone work better?  Please sound off below.








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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

An Exercise In Digital Compositing | WESLEY CHAPEL BAND PROMO PHOTOGRAPHER

What do you do if you've been asked to put together a promo shot for a band consisting of 4 members, and your studio space isn't quite big enough to pull it off?  Freak out and tell them you just can't do it?  Of course not......Photoshop to the rescue!

Not only does this method save you the hassle of trying to squeeze 4 people into a space that was really designed for a single model, but it also affords you quite a bit of flexibility in terms of shot selection.  In other words, you can mix and match the best individual shots to your heart's content in order to come up with the best overall composite.  So you basically don't have to worry about capturing good facial expressions on all 4 faces in a single frame.

Here are the 4 original SOOC shots:



Using Photoshop CS5's new masking tools, extracting a subject from a solid-color background has never been easier.  You just draw a rough selection around the subject with the Lasso tool, add a mask, and then use the Refine Edge dialog to decontaminate the excess color (in this case, white).  Then just take the individual shots that you want to composite together and drop them onto a large white canvas in Photoshop.

One last thing I had to do in this case was use the Free Transform tool to adjust each band member's size relative to the others.  In order to figure out who was taller than who in real life, I had to go back to a previous shot that I had done of this same band.  Of course I could have saved myself quite a bit of time by simply using a tripod and shooting each person from the exact same position and angle, but I'll just have to take that as a "note to self" for next time.  Anyway, here's the final composite:


Ever use this technique yourself?  Plan to use it in the future?  Please tell me about it in a comment below, and click "like" along the way!  :-)










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About Me

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Tampa, FL, United States
I'm a commercial photographer in Tampa, FL specializing in band & musician promos, CD covers, press kits, posters, and the like. Please feel free to check out my website/blog using the link below, and give me a shout if I can be of service to you!

http://TampaBandPhotos.com

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