Lesson 10

[kimapali]

I'm working on this lesson, which is kicking my butt. I can't seem to figure out how to shoot a "good" portrait. I've been trying to work with my daughter, but she just won't sit still and the pictures just never turn out right.

Here's are two attempts, please help me out and tell me how to improve them.

Thanks!

[ladyups]

Kim, I'm not even close to lesson 10, and I'm not a good critic for your portrait shots cause I don't know how to do them either but I think the one of you (correct?) is great and the one of your daughter is cute...taking photos of kids is a challenge and I've resorted to using burst mode and a fast shutter speed. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

[Snappers]

Kim, I too have not reached lesson 10 yet, but I do like your pictures. Portrait is one aspect that I am looking forward to learning more about.

[jerryph]

Portraits of kids are the hardest. As you just learned, they cannot sit still for more than 1/500th of a second.

For me, I was lucky that I have a very patient niece that is very photogenic and she was doing a class project that needed... a portrait pic... lol.

I just took it as a learning experience and integrated the portrait concept and added the twist of how to use a chromakey background to "change" her location.

I had a blast with that photo session... then again, I like that end of photography.

These are not the ones I used for my assignment, but are from that session.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2377/2288748933_ebc609ee5d.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/2288748367_3839f5ff21.jpg

Dark images needed to portray the madness of Lady Macbeth in her school play. She had the role of the rather suicidal Lady Macbeth and needed pics that displayed those tendancies... lol

[Snappers]

Great pics Jerry, Did you add the background in afterwards then? If so, what did you use for that?

[jerryph]

Yes, the backgrounds were originally a light green. I added the backgrounds later.

The "before" of the first pic:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/2288851053_1a90bf40d2_m.jpg

Sure looks plain in comparison, doesn't it?

All done in Photoshop CS3. The flower was a shot that I had taken several months earlier (same as with the moon) and then I just played till I had it in the red we needed and added "the bloody drip" effects in the background.

Edit: Just a note... at the time that I did the portrait portion of the course, I did not know how to do chromakeying or anything similar. Peter was nice enough to show me a good example and promised to send me a walk-through. It took him a few days, but he did send it. During that time, I picked up a way that ended up being different from his method, and I learned a second way from him. That was very nice of him too, since it was not part of the course, and I did appreciate him taking the time to teach me something outside the curriculum!

[Snappers]

That is an amazing difference. It really makes your niece stand out in your adapted picture. How difficult was it to get it to your desired end effect?

Is it possible to share peters method of chromakeying?

[Snappers]

I have done a Google search too and come up with this photoshop tutorial about chromakeying. Thought it may be of use to some people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAF9GFBTaAo

[dkippen]

Jerry - you've done a wonderful job with your niece's picture. I've learned that portraits are not one of my strengths. I'll leave that to those that do it quite well.

Kimapali - I love both of your shots. The only critique I have is is looks like there is a sun spot on the right side in the picture of your daughter. And like, Mary, I won't say anything else as I don't do portraits well.

[kimapali]

Kimapali - I love both of your shots. The only critique I have is is looks like there is a sun spot on the right side in the picture of your daughter. And like, Mary, I won't say anything else as I don't do portraits well.Does anyone know how to take that sunspot out? I'm not good at PS Elements yet and haven't figured everything out.

One of the reasons why I signed up for these courses was to take better pictures of my daughter, and it's the one thing that causes me the most frustration! :cool:

[LensBaby]

Jerry did you have the photo titled "Faith" in the POTM competition last month? I LOVED that photograph! It looks like the same girl

[jerryph]

Does anyone know how to take that sunspot out? I'm not good at PS Elements yet and haven't figured everything out.

One of the reasons why I signed up for these courses was to take better pictures of my daughter, and it's the one thing that causes me the most frustration! :cool:

I am not sure in Elements, but in Photoshop, I tried and failed using the healing brush... but the clone/stamp tool worked reasonably well.

What do you think?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/2291387012_75ceabd109.jpg

Full size picture here (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/2291387012_9f1434d482_o.jpg).

BTW, its a great picture that tells a story of curiosity and play... I love the reflection in the piano.

[Snappers]

Kim, Here is my attempt at removing the sun spot. I just used the clone tool with a small brush working at a zoomed level to remove the spot.
What do you think?

[jerryph]

Jerry did you have the photo titled "Faith" in the POTM competition last month? I LOVED that photograph! It looks like the same girl

Yes that was a picture from that session and a picture that I took from a stained glass window at a local Montreal landmark, St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal.

Good memory!

[LensBaby]

I thought that photo was BEAUTIFUL!

[jerryph]

Thanks so much!

One of the ways that I see my own personal growth is to look back on pictures and see how they've evolved. I've been a bit more serious about photography only since last July, and I have to admit that there are some pics that I have that I would never say could come from me... and then to humble myself, I look at the first 100 or so pics I took, and laugh... I mean they were really bad... lol.

I hope to continue growing and learning. :)

[LensBaby]

Jerry - I do that with some of my photos as well, and it is funny to look at them from the beginning because I just laugh now and think to myself "How did I NOT see that in the photo when I was taking that picture". It goes to show you that everyday your photographers "eye" will get better!

[kimapali]

Thanks Jerry and Andy! I need to figure out how to use the clone stamp, I've seen it and tried to mess with it but I guess I need to read up on it first!

[Snappers]

Clone stamp is easy to use. (well fairly easy)
you select it.
Hold down the ALT key and left click, (This will select the area you clone from) then move your curser to the area you want to work on and press left mouse button.
Best to practice on a photo you dont mind messing up first though.
Dont forget also to change the size of your brush, it is best to work small unless it is a large area you are trying to copy.

[LensBaby]

I lvoe the clone tool. I try not to use anything like that unless of course I have to, but the clone tool is so cool. I always make duplicates of the photo and then mess around with the photo, that way you don't accidentally change something that you didn't want to change. There are so many ways to fix something in Photoshop

[dkippen]

The clone tool is one of my favorites as well. Sue, we must have learned Photoshop together, I do the same thing.

I too look back on the pictures I've taken. I have a digital frame on my desk at work and some of the shots I see, OMG, I can't believe I actually took that. I do need to get it updated with more recent "better" pictures.

[ladyups]

I learned to use the clone tool in Corel Draw when I first started computer crafting years ago and I couldn't do anything without it..its fun to see what you can do with it...this is a poor exposure but was fun to play with. We had sun on this day and my snowman had a big frown...:D thanks to the clone tool.

[dkippen]

Mary - Very cute.

I saw the weather just before I left the house this morning. Looks like you just got missed this time and it looks like the entire NE is covered with some type of moisture.

[ladyups]

I took this on Sat. while I was going for my walk..he had no mouth but with the clone tool I was able to give him a frown..:)
Yes, we got a dusting but that is nothing what I went through yesterday...we had 40's over the weekend and all this snow is starting to melt...the bottoms have fell out of the gravel roads and its making driving impossible on them. This morning all schools in the area are traveling on hard surfaces only till further notice.

[dkippen]

We had 30's this last weekend and lots of sun. YEAH. I watch the weather and see that you're getting dumped on and I feel so bad for you guys and we can't buy a snowstorm this year.

[ladyups]

I could box some up and ship it to you..:D just have to find some dry ice to ship it in and it would arrive nice and white...I delivered ice cream a couple years ago in the middle of the summer..in fact, it was one of the hottest days of the year. They were shipped out of Wisconsin, so they had to ride in a hot semi trailer for 2 days before getting to me. I had 12 coolers of them and they were a promotion for a corn seed company and went to farmers on my route. The last delivery was at 5:00 and I knew the family well enough to ask them to open it and see if it was melted. We were both SHOCKED to see not only was it not melted, but it was frozen so solid that she couldn't get the ice cream scoop in it..unreal.

[dkippen]

It's tempting. On one hand, we are 30"+ below normal for snow this season. On the other hand, spring is not that far away. And I can't believe the ice cream was still froze solid.

A few years ago, my hubby and I went crabbing in Oregon and packed the crab in a cooler with lots of ice for the trip hope. To our amazement, none of the ice had melted. It was a 4-hour flight, that was one nice cooler.

[foxmix]

All i want to know is, how much does this course cost all up?

[dkippen]

Foxmix - are you talking about Proud Photography?? If so, its just under $100. - Great value for what you get in content.