I think this is one of my best portraits. I am just beginning. I’d love to print it, but want to tweak it first. I actually shot it raw, but edited it on my phone as I don’t yet have LR or PS. If you can give me some tips, I will fix it on my phone and also try to replicate it on my laptop using the software I have.
A few shots from the winter of 2025. The last one was inside of the Acropolis Museum. (Unfortunately, I could get everyone to walk exactly where I wanted them to. hahaha)
For iPhone users - a new version of Bluristic has dropped (v1.8) which offers new features and significant improvements in stability & useability.
I am interested in learning Macro/Closeup photography and understanding that Focus Bracketing is a good part of the process, I thought I would give focus stacking a try.
Another visit to our garden using a vintage lens (Canon FD 50mm f/1.4) on my Canon R5. NOTE: With this lens the minimum focusing distance is 18" at which point you have 1/4" depth of field.
Was down in Austin for a bit on a work trip. I've always heard how beautiful the skyline is from the river.
Was a little let down by the clouds, but what can I do!
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I actually use https://www.darktable.org/ which has most of the commonly used functionality which Lightroom has but is free software (as in liberty and in beer). And because you didn't learn LR yet you would not have to unlearn anything. On YouTube there are many Darktable tutorials like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=899uLpO2W9w which explain how to use it.
Now to the image, it would have been nice if the background was darker, cleaner or more blurry to let the subject stand out more and to seperate them from it, but that is not possible all the time.
Perhaps crop it tighter, then the light background would not draw so much attention to my eyes.
I'm not sure if you'll be able to make the skin look a bit warmer by tinkering with the white balance or something.
But overall cute model, good pose, a bit distracting background.
Thank you so much!
I think the photo is good. As for improvements for the next time you shoot something similar, I would (if possible): 1) drop the overall exposure a little and then light her with a flash. Right now the background is a little brighter than her. 2) Watch your background. There is a bright tree/vine on the left side of the image that looks like it is growing out of her head.
Thanks! I might be able to darken the brand a bit. I haven’t done much with flash yet, so I will have to venture in to that uncharted territory.
Diane, I hope you didn't mind but here is a final that I came up with. I put it into PS and only used levels. I gave it an overall adjustment, then I went into the RGB channels and did very small adjustments..and came up with this. The light looked a bit flat but after the smaller adjustments, I got this. It is a great portrait that you took.
Hi Diane, there are software like ACDSee out there on free trail which you might find helpful.
As a freelance landscape photographer myself, there a plenty of first rate portraiture photographer here worth looking into for ideas and inspiration. And yes, the branches do look like they are growing out of her head.
Here I got Before and After edit.
I edit using jpeg 8bit from this post.
lil crop on the top.
This is a good effort for a beginner. I think you just need to get a software package ( I use polarr) and spend time just playing with it. I recommend taking a shot like this and literally running every slider in the program up and down just so you learn what each does.
As for this photo, you have two things to think about next time. Background and depth of field.
Here is a quick stab if what I would do as far as editing this. Just my opinion and just for fun.
:)