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Category: Studio, Still, & Personal Portraiture Photography

Photography Question 

Kristi Eckberg
 

Help with Senior Portraits


I just did a senior portrait session, and it was really cloudy. I did not use the flash because this girl has very pale skin and my experience with flash and pale skin has not been good. The pictures look a little dull - I believe from being so cloudy out. Is there any way to add catchlights into her eyes or anything I can do in PS to brighten them up a bit?
The gal I photographed has a lot of freckles, and it kind of makes her skin look blotchy and uneven. To present her with the best photos that she will be pleased with, I feel that I should try to smooth out her skin with the clone stamp tool a bit. Is this wrong of me to do since the freckles are part of who she is? I'm not saying try to take them all away so that they are not visible, but I did smooth some out and it does look so much better. I just don't want to offend. For those of you doing senior portraits, what kind of touch ups do you do to the photos?


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October 08, 2005

 

Cyndee Wanyonyi
  Hi Kristi,
I had a gal who had really pasty skin in real life. So, in the pics where a flash was used, it came out REALLY pasty. Anyway, I added a warm filter on PS. It completely changed the lighting. It was a lifesaver.
An option for the freckles: I wouldn't clone stamp the freckles, but I would place a gaussian blur on the photo and erase the blur on the eyes, nose (any facial lines). This will be a remarkable improvement, and still keep her look. It will make them less of a focus in the portrait.
I hope this helps.
Cyndee


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October 08, 2005

 

Michelle Ross
  I wouldn't erase the freckles either, but I often use the nose reduction feature in PSE 3.0. This will give you a soft effect to their skin and you can adjust it to how much or how little. I tend to use strength 10 Preserve details (varies on the sharpness and subject, but I use anywhere from 126% to 180%) and Reduct color noise 100% As far as flash goes. The ones in my gallery of Tanya I took using flash. I used my accessory flash and adjusted it to the ISO I was using and then just adjusted the flash head length as I needed. I also put my flash strength to -2 ... that seemed to work well and I don't think it had a bad effect.


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October 09, 2005

 
LightAnon.com - Steve Parrott

Contact Steve Parrott
Steve Parrott's Gallery
  I am hired by a local studio to retouch all their senior portraits. It can amount to hundreds in a year's time. I also do my own portraiits. Here is the number one question you ALWAYS want to ask your client: Is there anythiing about your looks you do not like? This is much better than saying something like, "do you want me to remove all your freckles, blemishes, etc. Let the client tell YOU what to remove. It is a much more subtle way of approaching the issue. As for skin smoothing, you can use Gaussian Blur, but you will lose sharp edges. The Gaussian will actually blur some background into the outer edges of the skin.. not good. Better to use Median. Create a duplicate layer. Go to FILTER/NOISE/MEDIAN. Enter a radius of about 10 pixels, then lower the opacity of the layer by about 50%. You then use a layer mask to erase areas you want to remain sharp, such as eyes, teeth, and lips. I like keeping the soft blur on the hair, as it looks much better than the hard, sharp, "digital" hair look. Contact me personally if you need some more indepth help.


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October 11, 2005

 

Ed Ganze
  My suggestion for the freckles is to duplicate the image layer in Photoshop. Then on the duplicate layer clone stamp away, or I prefer the patch or healing brush. Afterwards adjust the opacity down of that layer so that a desired look is achieved. This will not totally wipe away her freckles, but just soften them up a bit.


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October 11, 2005

 

anonymous A.
  You might like to have a look at the free stand alone CleanSkinFix application at www.mediachance.com which is designed to give the most flattering honest portrait effects...
David


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October 12, 2005

 

dennis w. mcclain
  first thing I do is run the pic through a program called neat image. you can cut down on noise with this( it should help smooth out the freckles). then I take it into ps, adjust the lighting color and contrast. then make a duplicate layer, and apply white diffused glow. after this, I reduce the opacity on the layer to between 50-75%. you can also add some gaussian blur to give it an ethereal effect


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October 13, 2005

 

Justin G.
  guys what if the girl likes the freckles. everyone is saying REMOVE THE FRECKLES and I say, what if she likes them. personally I think freckles are cute so why would you want to rid them? Kristi, you need to ask the client what they don't like. if you just go fixing stuff, the could get offended. that's what makes the unique. we're not all plastic barbies with one set way of doing things. this is art. nothign is absolute. the appearance of freckles doesn't mean get rid of them. it means use every facial feature possible that the client loves about themselves and to brighten up the portrait and give it pop.ask her before you go erasing freckles. I personally would be pissed because what it says to me is "hey you're an ugly girl with these freckles so I did what I thought is pretty and you're opinion doesn't matter."


Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.


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October 13, 2005

 

Cyndee Wanyonyi
  Justin! I completely agree with you :). Kristi had said that the freckles made the skin look blotchy and uneven. She just wanted to even out the skin tone :). I think freckles are beautiful! I agree that one should not go rearranging the body to accomodate social "norms" (or "abnorms" in reality).
Cyndee ><>


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October 13, 2005

 

Kerry L. Walker
  Keep the freckles. Freckles are beautiful!


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October 13, 2005

 

Kristi Eckberg
  I totally agree and I'am not trying to erase her freckles or change who she is. That is what I orgignally asked the question about. I do not want to offend her so I was looking for advice on just how to smooth or even the skin tone a bit. She did not wear any face makeup which I assume never does or she would have put some on. Not wearing any makeup when you have blemishes and uneven skin really shows up it seems with digial cameras. It just makes it hard for me to touch up her blemishes that are showing and also try to even out her skin tones. They asked me before the shoot if I could touch up the skin a bit. I'am still learning how to work with lighting, don't have any fancy light equipment or reflectors. People have seen my work and love it and there for I have been getting business and everyone has been very happy with their photos. I'am asking if I should do these touch ups b/c the few portraits I have seen from some of the local studios obviously work with reflectors and good lighting equipment b/c all the skin tones look smooth and even. My clients all know I'am just starting out and know what I can or cannot do.
I absolutley am not trying to change her to the way I think she needs to look. I'am not that kind of person or photographer.
There is alot to learn about doing senior portraits so I need to ask questions like this. Thanks for everyone's responses.


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October 13, 2005

 
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