It’s been posted nearly everywhere by now. The official White House portrait of the first lady, Melania Trump is being criticized all over the web for its 1980’s-esque vibe and overall lack of quality. The image has photographers everywhere claiming that they could have produced better, however, given that it’s highly unlikely that you’ll receive an opportunity to photograph the First Lady in a studio environment, I’m interested in how the community thinks the portrait should look.
Considering the amount of media attention the US President and his family already receive, does anyone actually care about one more photograph of the First Lady? The White House does, and they updated their website to include a new portrait, the official portrait, of the First Lady. Mrs. Trump can be seen standing in a strong, forward-facing pose with her arms crossed, wearing a black scarf and business coat. Personally, I’m okay with that. What I can’t seem to get over is the apparent lack of quality present in the image. Either I need some corrective glasses, or whoever processed this image seemingly hates clarity and sharpness and chose to lean on the left-hand side of their clarity and sharpness sliders.
No doubt, one of the many competent photographers here among the Fstoppers community could have taken a much better portrait. With the obvious aside, let’s have a little fun with this. I’m interested in seeing if any of you Photoshop experts out there can make a few, corrections. Ready, set, go! Post your edits in the comments. Oh, and be nice!
Photo courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov
The Weeping Angles of Doctor Who comes to mind.
best I can do
I really wanted to bring out the sharpness in her eyes to contrast with the petroleum jelly on the lens.
This should make everyone throw up
i'd obviously spend more time to make it proper if it was an actual project and had the time... but yeah... and one thing... she is a STUNNING woman. haters will always hate :))
nailed it
Let's start with the basics, from all the background to chose from a spider web? really? Is that the hidden message?
She looks pissed off like in any other photo. .I can go on if you like :)
There are thousand + one explanations why the quality is below average so let’s not blame the photographer if we don’t know his version of the story.
The Public Relations stuff should recognize this problem before the photo was available on the official website.
The quality of retouching is poor so not really much can be done. I’m attaching a quick 5minute fix – this is what I would do if I needed to upload this regardless of the poor quality.
P.S. What’s with the web in the background – Black Widow?
no comment......
I know you said "be nice" - but I couldn't resist . . . . . . .
Thought to work with the background and the face not too much but some of the touchups ...I dont wanna change the background totally just did blurred to make her more focussed ...
I had a go at it.
Hard to sharpen a low quality photo but slight sharpening and softened her hair a bit. Added a little more color to her eyes and lightened her jacket a bit. Just simple changes.
How hard can it be a President have nice photographers switch should have nice retoutchers.
Here is my version.