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need some help....

Ashley Sperry

New member
Not sure if this is the right place for this, but this picture was taken of us at our wedding a couple years ago, I've been messing around with them a little bit in paint shop and photo shop. This is the only one we have on the lap top at the moment, but its my favorite one and I've been wanting to do something special with it but everything I try to it doesn't look right. I haven't figured out how to do the b&w with color (the b&w pictures that have one thing that is still color) yet and black and white just doesn't look right. Any help and pointers would be greatly appreciated. TIA
989454686_l.jpg


and we had a bunch of people taking pictures at the same time and basically over ran the person we asked to take the pictures (granted that person didn't tell anybody to get out of the way which they should of, because my family, well they sort of need to be hit over the head with things, hinting at it just doesn't work lol) so in all our pictures we are never looking in the same direction, I was really disappointed with my pictures turning out that way. Oh well maybe some day when I can fit in the dress again we'll get all gussied up and just that one 'special' picture to hang on the wall until then, this is the one i've got.

Coming from the stand point of the bride: to those that are taking pictures of the happy couple and everything and their family members start to get in the way, i would recommend to nicely ask them to move lol.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Ashley,

First the reality! congrats on a wonderful step in both your lives, finding the person to share life's journey. You are a lucky lady and he is a fortunate fellow. This picture is really fine as a keepsake. It shows you happiness and that means one can work on it. The background is very pale and could easily be dropped out and replaced. I would go to the original sheet of film or digital file. So let is know what the original was and we can, if you wish set up a retouch challenge. There are obvious things that are not right with the picture, but what's important is what you would want.

If you are to do it yourself, I'd suggest going back to the original to get the best possible file (if it's film, get a professional scan for about $30 or someone might do it for you for less). If it's digital then if available the RAW file.

We can have fun and if you like what you see then you could learn to do that on you other pictures too!

BTW, who took the pictures? Was it a friend who volunteered?

The main thing to know is that a lot can be done with this picture.

Asher
 

Ashley Sperry

New member
Hi Ashley,

First the reality! congrats on a wonderful step in both your lives, finding the person to share life's journey. You are a lucky lady and he is a fortunate fellow. This picture is really fine as a keepsake. It shows you happiness and that means one can work on it. The background is very pale and could easily be dropped out and replaced. I would go to the original sheet of film or digital file. So let is know what the original was and we can, if you wish set up a retouch challenge. There are obvious things that are not right with the picture, but what's important is what you would want.

If you are to do it yourself, I'd suggest going back to the original to get the best possible file (if it's film, get a professional scan for about $30 or someone might do it for you for less). If it's digital then if available the RAW file.

We can have fun and if you like what you see then you could learn to do that on you other pictures too!

BTW, who took the pictures? Was it a friend who volunteered?

The main thing to know is that a lot can be done with this picture.

Asher


My father-in-law, he likes to dabble in photography, i'll have to get onto the desktop to get the other pictures (should of just left the wireless plugged into the desktop lol) I'm pretty sure the pictures weren't taken in a raw format but do still have all the original digital files. I would love to see what all can be done with this picture, and i'm all for learning new things to do with pictures! thanks so much.
 

Kathy Rappaport

pro member
Selective Color

What you are asking for is selective color. And it was very trendy about 10 years ago. It's now considered very dated and few wedding photographers today will do that to an image.

Personally, the image has a lot of possibility but that would ruin it.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Ashley,

Maybe you are thinking of a B&W image toned to look like a platinum print or just a tad of sepia, something like that? I'd start with just getting this picture optimized as a great color picture and go from there making B&W monochrome derivatives then, as you wish.

Asher
 

Husain Alfraid

New member
Hello,

maybe something like conceptual! for example, you have the whole picture in B&W, but only the red color is appearing?!

example:-
my_lil_audi_by_bad95killer.jpg


maybe thats what you mean!!



regards
Husain
 

Adrian Johnston

New member
Not sure if this is the right place for this, but this picture was taken of us at our wedding a couple years ago, I've been messing around with them a little bit in paint shop and photo shop. This is the only one we have on the lap top at the moment, but its my favorite one and I've been wanting to do something special with it but everything I try to it doesn't look right. I haven't figured out how to do the b&w with color (the b&w pictures that have one thing that is still color) yet and black and white just doesn't look right. Any help and pointers would be greatly appreciated. TIA
989454686_l.jpg


and we had a bunch of people taking pictures at the same time and basically over ran the person we asked to take the pictures (granted that person didn't tell anybody to get out of the way which they should of, because my family, well they sort of need to be hit over the head with things, hinting at it just doesn't work lol) so in all our pictures we are never looking in the same direction, I was really disappointed with my pictures turning out that way. Oh well maybe some day when I can fit in the dress again we'll get all gussied up and just that one 'special' picture to hang on the wall until then, this is the one i've got.

Coming from the stand point of the bride: to those that are taking pictures of the happy couple and everything and their family members start to get in the way, i would recommend to nicely ask them to move lol.
Hi There, I know its a while ago since you posted but a friend of mine gave me a similar image earlier this year. Rather than going for full black and white with colour, once I had managed to select the background, this can take some time, I blurred it slightly and desaturated it by about 30%. This was just a very subtle change but I thought it looked quite effective ! May be worth a try.
 

beth anthony

New member
unfortunately, b&w with selective color is something that most of the brides i've shot ask for. it is something that i do for them, but usually don't admit on the web or show off on my samples gallery of events.

one way to do this is to open photoshop. if you can do adjustment layers then make a hue/sat adjustment layer. if you can't, or don't know what an adj. layer is then just duplicate the background layer and run hue/sat on that layer. in the hue/sat dialogue click on the drop down box that says master and change it to the first color. move the sat (saturation) slider to gray. go back to the drop down box where you saw master and change it to the second color and do the same thing. repeat this for all of the colors except the one you want to keep (ie, red or blue, etc..). the master's sat. slider should be left alone. mask out any unwanted color. if you're not working on an adjustment layer make your bottom layer b&w then add a mask to the top layer and mask out any unwanted color on the top layer.

google "selective color tutorials" and you'll find many more ways to do this.
 

George Cannon

New member
Maybe something like this

Ashley,

Maybe something like this (keep in mind this is only with your low res attachment to this thread) but just a little crop, post crop vignette, and a masked gaussian blur.

989454686_l copy.jpg
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
989454686_l.jpg
989454686_l copy.jpg


Wedding Picture Original left, edits by George Cannon, right

My own attitude on vignetting is derived from the work of the classical portraitists who realized that the eye move towards the light. We, OTOH, have obsessed with "even illumination" by our lenses, so we get lighting to the corners and that's not favorable in most cases.

Why on earth would one not take advantage of how our minds work? I remember watching my late father-in-law in burn in the corners of almost all his portraits and still-lifes, to focus attention on the main subject. It was just like getting only the best cuts of beef or the finest teas. That's what we did.

Here, George's quick edits have transformed the image from a snapshot that does fit in an album towards one that goes on a mantle shelf to remember that wonderful day for such a handsome and radiant bride! The two seem closer and in a 3 dimensional space.

This is just the direction one needs to follow. Wide aperture or older soft focus lenses s generally recommended for an even better result. This way, the major localizing effects to our eyes can be achieved at the moment of releasing the shutter. Then the peripheral blur, or "Bokeh" will be beautiful.

Even illumination should, IMHO, be reserved for pictures were vignetting will harm the presentation. Otherwise, vignetting or varied gradients or abrupt changes in light should be standard. Obviously, it's hard to have vignetting in many seascapes, but, for example, a still-life hardly should be without it.

Of course, geometric or documentary pictures get the lighting they demand.

Great help, George!

Asher
 
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