Before tweaking
I’ve had Photoshop for a couple of years, I think, and largely, it goes unexplored. Occasionally, I’ll go through a tutorial and am amazed at the breadth and depth of PS. Mostly, I stick with the Layer’s menu and then really only using a small subset of that such as Levels, Curves, Saturation, and occasionally the Channel Mixer. I do, however, love the power of layer masks.
Frequently, when I take a picture of something, I am doing it for one of two reason:
1) I am really interested in the subject.
2) I’m really interested in the light falling upon the subject.
Unfortunately, lots of time when I get home, the lighting seems to be not how I remember it at all. It seems somewhat uniform. That’s not to say that it is flat, but it doesn’t have all of the cool shadows that I remember and the delicate touches of light here and there.
Yesterday was the same thing. I took a picture of Tony asleep on the couch. The only source of light was coming in from a window in direction of his feet. I sat in a chair and looked at the light, got my camera, changed the ISO to about 2200, and took a few pictures. When I got them into PS, well, that magic wasn’t there.
After tweaking
I played with the image a bit, but it just wasn’t happening. So, for the moment, I punted. Later, I decided to try it again, as I was feeling more inspired after stepping away from the computer for a bit. I went back into PS, did some layers, masks, and tweaks, and came out with what I saw! It took me about 30 or 40 minutes to get the desired outcome, but IMHO, it was well worth the effort! The differences are subtle, but most times, that’s what makes the biggest impact.
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2 Responses to “Spending a litte more time in post processing.”
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It was only a matter of time until you would be converted by the magic possibilities of Photoshop processing. If I don’t watch myself, I can play for hours with brushes and curves tweaking lights and shadows. The AT (After Tweaking) version demonstrates 30 or 40 minutes well-spent. Love is a powerful motivator, right? Congratualtions on a wonderfully tender and delightfully unconventional portrait.
@Anita: To be sure, I’ve never had anything against Photoshop. I’ve just not invested a lot of time into getting exactly what I wanted. Over time, I’ve come to find that if I want to get what I saw/felt, I have to invest a bit of time, just like I used to do in the darkroom. Also, as you said, love is a powerful motivator and I find that it helps to do the picture when you are inspired.
I don’t know how many of these I could do in a row, though! That’s a lot of effort!