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Haven't posted in ages but trying to take more photos

Would love C&C on this one:

I'm not one to comment of people photos (and especially kids) so perhaps take my comments with a grain of that crystalline stuff that ends up on my dive gear if I don't wash it...

I find the lack of sharpness in the eyes a little frustrating. The hand and lens cap are very sharp but the softness of the eyes has me wondering what the main focus is. Perhaps if he was looking at the lens cap, it would work for me.

I reckon at least one eye needs to be in focus (even if everything else isn't).

Thanks guys - good points.

Do you think it's worth trying a selective blur on the hands/lens cap to get the focus back on the yes?

I just like the idea

"Of course it will fit dad......"

whilst the eye might not be perfectly in focus, I reckon a bit of tweakage can bring the focus back to it! Those eyes are amazing!

here's what I would do! Let me know if you want it removed.

biggerry wrote:whilst the eye might not be perfectly in focus, I reckon a bit of tweakage can bring the focus back to it! Those eyes are amazing!

Wow...what did you do here Gerry?

Fantastic PP Gerry - Thanks!

I'd also like to know what you did

A big improvement with the eye looking sharp and the hand a bit softer.

I have two minor technical problems.

1) Both eyes appear to be in the same plane so I would expect both to be sharp. With only one sharp, it looks like some trickery has gone on.

2) I guess I'm a bit of a purist and feel this sort of PP is a bit like auto-tune in the music industry - although I will admit I have done something along these lines in the past.

Whilst the left eye is more in focus, the colour seems overly pink such that the child looks, well, unwell.

ATJ wrote:1) Both eyes appear to be in the same plane so I would expect both to be sharp. With only one sharp, it looks like some trickery has gone on.

The two eyes weren't quite in the same plane. Added to that the DOF ranged from the lens cap to the left eye, but didn't quite reach to the right eye.

I get your point though.

I took Gerry's edit and copied the sharper eye over to the softer side...

aim54x wrote:Wow...what did you do here Gerry?

dviv wrote:I'd also like to know what you did

from memory, i only saved jpeg so i lost the edits...

All in CNX2

1) D-lighting or levels and curves in LR3 etc
2) U control point on the eye with a radius just enough to cover both eyes. Brightened only with a smidge of contrast, no added saturation.
3) applied glow to whole picture then selectively removed it from the main focus areas. This is also what warmed the picture up alot
4) overall contrast bump.
5) vignetting applied unevenly around corners ( i never use that stupid circular vignetting, it looks crap imo)
6) guassian blur, selectively applied.

hth - I can expand on stuff further if you want.

Reschsmooth wrote:Whilst the left eye is more in focus, the colour seems overly pink such that the child looks, well, unwell.

he has fair skin, however does this look better?

Wink wrote:I took Gerry's edit and copied the sharper eye over to the softer side...

nice one!
I cant do that in CNX2 - damn program...

Wink wrote:I took Gerry's edit and copied the sharper eye over to the softer side...

Much better, you just need to have the highlights in the eyes matching instead of being opposites...

Nice picture and impressive edits!

To add to Andrew;'s suggestion, all you need to do is flip the pupil... I'd also clone that mild imperfection on one of the eyes to hide that it was copied...

Thanks guys - Vey impressed with the editing skills

I'll give it a go on the full size and try and replicate it.

The problem I have with the edit is that the eye & eyelashes are sharp, but the eyebrow is unsharp. Not taking away from the editing skills, with the duplication and this small flaw, the image starts to take on a contrived view.

I think there are definitely times when an imperfect photo of a child can be better than the technically correct one.

My personal opinion only.

Reschsmooth wrote:I think there are definitely times when an imperfect photo of a child can be better than the technically correct one.

I agree Patrick - It's something that I'm finding as I take more and more pics of the boy.

Sometimes, rather than try and fix photos of him, I just spend more time with him shooting more pictures, rather than sitting in the study going over old shots.

Lovely shot, David.

Reschsmooth wrote:I think there are definitely times when an imperfect photo of a child can be better than the technically correct one.

Without a doubt! I can't remember the number of times we have used images that are soft, poorly lit, poorly composed etc but have a particular expression or pose which just outweigh anything else about the image.