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Surfer Girl Image Post-Production ( part 2 of the Location Lighting Workshop in the DR )
Beach workshop image produced with PhotoShop CS2 and Craig's Actions
What follows over the next two pages, are the steps involved in taking an "out of the camera" image, and putting it through the standard production that all my images go through.
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Here's the final image, after it's gone through it's image production and enhancemenst steps. I would consider this a standard workflow, with typical time involved to do everything being less than 5 minutes.
There are a couple of areas of the original image though, that need some additional attention... |
* My personal style of shooting, has my camera settings setup to give me maximum flexibility in image control and quality. While they do necessitate some post-production steps, they eliminate problems in capture, that can be a pain to deal with after the fact. See Part 1 of this Tutorial for full explanation.
As I look at the original image above, I'd like to bring a bit more attention to the subject, and as this was shot very quickly ( 11 mins available ) there are some issues with her pose that are unflattering, with the surfboard, background rack and overlit wetsuit needing work. These could have been fixed during the session, with more time given to styling, the subjects balance while posing, and some scrims for my lighting... Doing so however would have blown the window of opportunity, so I consider them minor inconveniences in making my subject comfortable and getting images that would otherwise never happened.
I find that the easiest way to deal with moving the surfboard is to select the chunk of image and paste it to a new layer ( Command+J Mac / Control+J on PC ) move it where I want it, and then maks out what I don't need while letting the rest blend in... This is generally quicker than dealing with selections and edges, as you'd still need to do masking for the final touches.
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Here's the masked board visible on its own. In this case, the edges are less important as they blend into the background image.
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Now I need to address the posing... The lower camera angle, wide-angle perspective, and fit of the suit cause the model to appear larger below the waist than she really is .
For such instances, I find that the Booty Buster Action (vol 4) is actually quite useful, but in this case I will use the Liquify tool in PS. |
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| I rarely use the Liquify tool, but when I do, I generally just use the Forward Warp ( top tool ), and just vary the brush size between a small and large to get the desired effect ( with the smaller brush ) and not generate any giveaway rippling ( using the larger one). I also used the Pucker Tool on this one a bit to tighten in the seamed areas. |
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Here you can see the effect of the Liguify Tools as a before and after...
Mouse over Image to see the effect! |
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Next I'll deal with the cosmetic aspects to her skin.
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| I tend to use the clone tool, but only in lighten or darken mode, and generally at 30% . The image on the left shows the effects of the harsher lighting, while the image on the right shows the results of the clone tool used subtlely under the eyes and on the problematic skin areas. Using a tablet is really a must for any brushwork as it is so much more effective, and much easier on your personal ergonomics! |
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Mouse over image to see the Effect |
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Working the Eyes and facial features are next... the Facial Enhancements Action does all the dogwork setting up the masked layers, so I just go in and brush the brightness back into the colored areas of the eyes, whites, lashes, pupils and teeth ... You can even enhance the lips by working them on the "Eye Blacks" layer .
Adjusting the eye color is instantly possible as well, but I wouldn't go too far with it at this stage as it can easily appear overdone.
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The image above and below show how I prefer to deal with vignetting and balancing the brightness within an image. I'll select very loosely around the subject with a large feather ( 150-250 ), invert the selection, and then do a curves adjustment to evenly tone down the overall surrounding area - right to the image's edge.
Similarly, selecting smaller areas to brighten, I use a smaller feathered selection (35 - 85), and then subtlely lighten them with a curves adjustment as well. |
Next Steps - Color Adjustments and Final Effects - Click to Continue
Related Links:
Upcoming Location Workshops:
July 23 - 26 , Vancouver BC - More info...
August 7 - 10 , Long Island NY - More Info...
August 20 - 24 , Niagara ON - More Info...
Location Lighting Techniques - Surfer Girl Tutorial ( Click for Part 1 )
Other Links:
Working with Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw
Apple Aperture Review
Return to Main Tip's 'n Trix page
All Images & Text Copyright 2006 - Craig Minielly M. Photog., MPA
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