I tried to create some portraits of my daughters

[theantiquetiger]

morgan tree1 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


morgan swingA by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


maddy swing1 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


maddy tree1 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


maddy swing2a by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[theantiquetiger]

OK, who can save #'s 2 & 5 for me, since I spent $60 getting their hair done and $30 to get to where we took the pictures.

I can email the RAWs to you

[theantiquetiger]

I tried again, a little better


maddy swing new1 by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


morgan tree new by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


morgan new swing by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[Iguanasan]

I'm curious to understand what you think is wrong with these images since you are asking them to be saved. Also, I'm curious to know what they look like without any particular processing other than convert to JPG from RAW. There are things here that look a bit off to me but I'm not quite sure what is your vision for these images to maybe what looks off to me is just fine for you.

[Marko]

Most of the images have colour casts and look over processed to my eye.
But each cast looks different even though the lighting was probably similar. There is no consistency (they are not all too blue, yellow etc.) and that's a problem for learning.
Even on your own monitor, you will surely be seeing casts in some of these images.

The overprocessing (to make the girls and scenery pop harder) isn't helping at all, it's hindering you imo.

shot 2 is my fave here. Love the gesturing of the feet. Colours are a bit better in that one.

I too want to see the images more natural (to advise you better) and I'd recommend you trying to render shots more naturally until you can consistently get good skin tones.
THen, feel free to play with punchier tools....but until then, these punchier tools are weighing you down. Hope that may help and hope it wasn't too harsh.

Is your monitor calibrated again?

[theantiquetiger]

Here are the untouched images. I do know they are soft and WB is off. I am just pissed at myself.


raw jpg by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


raw2 jpg by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


raw3 jpg by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


raw4 jpg by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


raw5 jpg by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr


raw6 jpg by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

[Runmonty]

I am with Marko on this. The colour cast is obviously the major issue (as you worked out) and they do look little too processed to me.

OK, who can save #'s 2 & 5 for me, since I spent $60 getting their hair done and $30 to get to where we took the pictures.

I can email the RAWs to you

AT - I am more than happy to look processing issues any time you want, and also dont mind at all doing it, but I am also very conscious of getting you comfortable with doing it yourself. I find the only way to learn all this stuff is to try it and try it again. So if you are up it for it this is what I would do.

If it were mine I would go back to the original raw and start again. Firstly beacuase you have the white dresses I would set the WB by using the neutral colour picker on the white of the dress (not by using the presets or sliders). I think this will give a more natural result. Try a couple of different areas on the white dress if you dont like the first result. To be honest I dont think they need much more processing than that. Maybe look at a levels or curves adjustment (start off with auto and see what it does), perhaps a slight sharpening, and maybe VERY SUBTLE vignette or burning of the edges (so that someone looking it without seeing the original wouldn't even notice).

I think if you do that you may have some really lovely shots of the girls. I love the set up, particularly the swing shots.

[Marko]

Nice to see the set of RAWS - they all have a similar cast so if you follow a corrective workflow on 1 image, all images should correct in a very similar fashion.

Key Question at this point - How do those raw files look on your particular monitor? What colour cast do they show, or do they look good?

If they look good.....then I'd suggest your monitor needs serious calibration.

If you see a cast then RM suggested a wonderful recipe for neutralizing that cast.

Maybe try 1 shot and see if you can neutralize it with that recipe. Imo these strong images are well worth correcting. I too really dig those swing shots.

[theantiquetiger]

They all have that yellow cast to it (missed WB). The first ones in this thread have that strange neon green glow in the background. My biggest problem here (other than I missed the shot with sharpness) is when I start editing, I adjust and adjust until I have no clue where I started. I still have the original RAW images, but not sure where to go with them.

Somebody on another forum did this pretty quickly, so I know they can be saved, just don't know how. Like I said in my "hitting a golf ball" thread, it doesn't take practice, it takes correct practice. If you practice it wrong all the time, you will never learn the correct way.

[JAS_Photo]

I have to say even with the yellowish cast, I prefer the second set of images by far. The girls look very natural and sweet in them.




Took this into LR, did just a quick adjustment to the white balance as described by Runmounty, a little bit of vibrance and clarity, a very light vignette and took it into Elements to do just a quick sweep of some debris on the ground. Just a real quick edit.

The images themselves, are awesome A.T., it's just on the processing that you panic and get carried away.