The appreciation of another genre of photography

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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The appreciation of a portrait photographer...

I shoot weddings, weddings is about moments, although there are editing involved, it not often involves the use of PS. I could easily edit an entire set of wedding photos in LR and not have to go into PS. Most of the work can be handled by LR normally.

However, in portraiture, I really got deep into skin work this weekend after shooting some product shots for some knitwear., this means PS.

Spot healing, healing brush tool, some liquify, clone tool, frequency separation, dodge and burn, catch lights enhancements, face contouring, teeth and make up enhancements, sharpening.

The aim/key is subtlety, not to look plastic.

This image below I spent 90mins on, probably one of the longest I have ever spent on a single image. She didn't have any make up which made my job actually a lot more challenging. And that was using a Wacom Intusio, if It was all done by a mouse it would probably have taken even longer with all that clicking. It's pretty much my 3rd go, still learning! /note to self, get a MUA next time!

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Any of you guys step out of your comfort zone and tried something new and thought...this isn't as easy as you'd think?
 
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Think you may have overdone the eyes a little bit, bit too white and a bit too sharp. My OH always chastises me when I do eyes for those very reasons...:p
 
All of the tools in LR still baffle me, I haven't got as far as PS yet :p I think I'm still at an early stage to be properly editing photos, and I've done no official shoots like above, just a few snaps at family events etc.

Side note - how many bleedin' icons do you want in your menu bar, Raymond?!?!
 
It's a lovely picture, and a very pretty girl but I suspect I would have found her just as pretty without the 90 mins of editing! :p

I have issues with the use of PS in modelling but that is a different discussion entirely.
 
I find the amount of work done to portraiture quite staggering it seems almost that nothing is perfect enough I wish we could convince the industry to back away from PS I'm bored of seeing super smooth skinned models with glass eyes what ever happened to real life, a touch of makeup and some decent lighting!

Got to agree with the comment about the eyes in this they just look fake with the more natural skin surrounding them and really highlight the bags under her eyes
 
Would it be strange to say I've done hardly anything on the eye...? Here are some but more like 20 seconds of touch up vs 89min of skin work.

I find the comment about natural skin and bags under the eyes amusing because "the natural skin" is actually been through a lot of work....so I guess job well done that they still look natural lol and I resisted removing the bags under the eyes as taking them away would surely look fake.
 
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I just enjoy taking pics of everything, I'm not good enough as it were to specialise in any one area, say like yourself and weddings. Regarding your pic though, I like the pic that's on your monitor, the skin tones look warmer, I prefer it to the finished version below in which the model looks a little bit pale.
 
a1ex2001 said:
I find the amount of work done to portraiture quite staggering it seems almost that nothing is perfect enough I wish we could convince the industry to back away from PS I'm bored of seeing super smooth skinned models with glass eyes what ever happened to real life, a touch of makeup and some decent lighting!
Click to expand...

When it's done well it's very hard to notice any retouching being done at all, especially if you approach it with the intent to make the photograph closer to what your mind sees. Our minds tend to gloss over any flaws that a camera would pick up on when we see faces in real life. As for models themselves, you'd be surprised at how 'flawless' they are in real life and that's before they've even had make up done. It's their job to look look good and take care of themselves after all.
 
A very nice edit there, like with anything you will soon make the process more lean! I do like most portraits but I tend to find quite a few so overly edited they look nothing like the person in front of the glass but this has a nice balance
 
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