BRRR. The icicles are everywhere, and the ladybug temperature says 24 degrees. It was a cold March day to be sure. However, I still got out with my daughters to shoot some photos. They shivered a bit, but for that brief time we were out, they did very well for me. My emphasis was on eyes. Sharply focused eyes are paramount to good portraits. I shot with a wide open aperture to throw the backgrounds out of focus while keeping their face and eyes in sharp focus.
In the top 2 photos, I use a technique to lighten her face and darken the rest of the photo. I use the circle marquee, set it to blend by 200 pixels. First I circle her entire facial area. Then I hit Ctrl+Shift+I to reverse the selection. This actually makes the rest of the photo editable while leaving her facial area alone. I then darken that portion of the photo. Then I use that same Ctrl+Shift+I to reverse back into her facial area and adjust that to be a tad lighter if necessary. Now the rest of the photo is not affected. The 200 pixel fade prevents the formation of any hard lines and creates a smooth transition. Thus, I have made her face the focal point of the photo.
The bottom photo is simply adjusted with the levels control and left alone. You can see the difference between the top two and that bottom photo. I would not do this everytime, but it doesn't hurt to do that to a few photos!
I use Photoshop 7. If you are using a newer version of Photoshop or using Photoshop elements, you should be able to do the same thing with that software.
In the top 2 photos, I use a technique to lighten her face and darken the rest of the photo. I use the circle marquee, set it to blend by 200 pixels. First I circle her entire facial area. Then I hit Ctrl+Shift+I to reverse the selection. This actually makes the rest of the photo editable while leaving her facial area alone. I then darken that portion of the photo. Then I use that same Ctrl+Shift+I to reverse back into her facial area and adjust that to be a tad lighter if necessary. Now the rest of the photo is not affected. The 200 pixel fade prevents the formation of any hard lines and creates a smooth transition. Thus, I have made her face the focal point of the photo.
The bottom photo is simply adjusted with the levels control and left alone. You can see the difference between the top two and that bottom photo. I would not do this everytime, but it doesn't hurt to do that to a few photos!
I use Photoshop 7. If you are using a newer version of Photoshop or using Photoshop elements, you should be able to do the same thing with that software.
Nicely done, Bryan, especially the top two, only because I love how you captured the lighting on their faces... :-)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful daughters and you brought that out well.
Thanks Glenn! I appreciate your feedback.
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