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Paula's redux shoot - too Much?

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    Paula's redux shoot - too Much?

    Hi

    Please post your comments here for Paul's redux shoot. Thanks.



    abby

    #2
    In my opinion the high-contrast on these outside images is excellent. The background green color fits very well to really fresh looking paula. The close-ups are just perfect as well, professional. You say you did some afterwork on photoshop?, or is it directly out of the camera?

    Comment


      #3
      Dear Abby

      Paula is a really beautiful young woman -- gorgeous body, lovely skin tones, expressive face and eyes, all of which you have captured splendidly. And green
      can work very well as a backdrop for her kind of beauty -- as you've shown in
      her videos. For me, though, one problem with this shoot is the very strong green
      of the grass in the foreground, which to my eyes is at times a bit too rich and overpowering; and a bigger problem is the conflicts between different shades of green (for instance, the grass and the green of the top she is sometimes wearing). But hey, one of the things about being creatively experimental is that some of the experiments don't quite come off — the important thing is to dare to try things, and that, coupled with with scope for just this kind of dialogue, is an important part of the character of this site, isn't it? Besides, I feel there are also some really successful moments in this shoot -- like using the textures of trees, shrubs and leaves as a foil for Paula's radiantly lovely skin.

      But I've gone on far too long.

      Comment


        #4
        Grea model, great setting. But on most shots other than close-ups, the colors are muddy and way too blue. Probably the result of trying to get out the green cast from reflected light. With film photography, I have at times successfully used a filter for
        florescent light to get out the green. Especially helps in open shade. This might have been one of those times when major reflectors or fill light would have helped.
        Thanks for showing us more Paula. Again, she's great!
        Chuck

        Comment


          #5
          Hi Abby,

          I also find the model great and the place where you shot her really nice. You know I love outdoor shots. The problem in my eyes is the large brilliant green-yellow background compared to the light colours of the model, a very hard contrast. On some images she seems to get lost in that green.

          Maybe you could have tried to adjust the saturation on the yellows and greens only, to get a more natural vision. I do that often in my video stuff because I’m in front of the same problem frequently.

          Forgive me my impertinence: I’ve tried it on one of the images. I’ve slightly desaturated yellow and a part of the green. Just have a look at it and see what you think. I find the modified image less hard (I mean contrast of the colours).

          lxm

          The original:
          Attached Files

          Comment


            #6
            ...and my modified one:
            Attached Files

            Comment


              #7
              Hi Abby

              Above you asked for comments on Paul's shoot. I had no idea you were going to start putting solo men up so soon on the site but then again, you did promise Nursefan that you would.

              Seriously I enjoyed the shoot. Photoshop you say, well as long as you're not messing with the actual model. I mean in an airbrushing sense, I do hope if a model wanted a specific part of her digitally altered because she didn't like it (unless it was something very reasonable), then you would think again about shooting em. Cos perfections and imperfections are both welcome to me. As long as all the colours etc on Paula are real then I don't mind.

              If you just alter the lighting/background colours etc a bit, then that's different. Really the presentation of this shoot was fine for me, maybe I'm not fussy enough but beautiful girl and location make this an enjoyable outdoor set. I'm wondering if there was something in particular you didn't like about the way the pictures turned out Abby. Strange because I think many would agree with me here that many recent outdoor shoots have been superb, of consistent quality and it seemed to me you have now got these shoots down to a fine art.

              Anyways I'm off to Paula's thread to actually talk about the girl in question, see ya.

              SF

              Comment


                #8
                Speaking as a layman the new style photoshoppery has given the images an added vibrancy, however I prefer the more natural feel in the Paula reshoot "teaser" pic (though it looks very slightly jaded)

                Comment


                  #9
                  I think the set looks lovely.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Nice and Bright

                    I really enjoyed the effect. I have tried similar tricks with my own photos and found them too garish. I think you have found a good balance that brings out the best in the subject! And what a subject...........

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Very Nice and the pics too

                      Comment


                        #12
                        photoshop

                        Hi

                        Looking at the photos on an uncalibrated monitor I'd have said that there was just too much magenta in the photos. But then as I said it is difficult for any people on this discussion forum to really comment on picture saturation and contrast without first calibrating their monitors to your grey cards anyhow.

                        Sorry to put a technical downer on everyone !

                        Cheers

                        Chris

                        PS I have also attached a couple of files, the original and version B as determined by my monitor to look pretty good in colour tone and saturation. But I dont expect anyone to view it in the same light or monitor settings as me, so I have no idea as to what you will see. As you can determine the whole concept of colour/ colour balance and tone can be very subjective
                        Attached Files

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Hi ofx,

                          Being sometimes confronted with colour calibration on pre-press systems I know exactly that this thing is a science and can only be done by specialists. A calibration of a whole system (scanner, monitor, printer, proofer, …) can cost a lot of money (between 1500 and 2500 US$) and has to be repeated regularly.

                          So it’s absolutely normal that everybody has a quite different view on his own system. For my taste our modified sample is a little bit too warm (red & yellow), specifically on my monitor (22" pre-press monitor with basic calibration).

                          lxm
                          Last edited by Luxman; 1 May 2004, 12:04 AM.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I remember when Abby first was confronted with the whole colour calibration aspect of photography. We all went nuts trying to determine what aspect of it was the crucial factor and I think that, as it turned out to be so subjective, that we have gone fairly generically in the end.

                            For my tastes, I like the first one better because I know it reflects Paula's true skin tone more accurately - she's very pale.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Vid Dude
                              ...as it turned out to be so subjective, that we have gone fairly generically in the end.
                              In my eyes the only accurate decision. You have no influence on how people see your images. Everybody has the possibility to have “personal” adjustments for his monitor so everybody gets something more or less different.

                              A real calibration is only necessary if you have to shoot or scan photographs, manipulate them in Photoshop, print them on your printer (the cheap one everybody has), create a colour proof print (on the horribly expensive printer that only well equipped professional have) and finally transfer them to the print shop to get a finished magazine, book or poster. In this case you need the same colour representation (or profile) on all your devices. And even with a fully calibrated production chain you get sometimes surprises (of the expensive category).

                              Anyway, there's no accounting for taste.

                              lxm

                              Comment


                                #16
                                I thoroughly agree with Vid Dude and Luxman. The eye is the only arbiter, in the end.

                                If Abby decides what she wants to achieve, based on how the pics look on a calibrated monitor (and using the default Windows colour space, I guess, since that is what Photoshop uses), then we know where we stand if we want to tinker. Norman Koren's website http://www.normankoren.com is full of useful information about what's involved in the tinkering. See especially his article on Monitor calibration and gamma (part of Making fine prints in your digital darkroom).

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by paleorchid
                                  Norman Koren's website http://www.normankoren.com is full of useful information...
                                  Very interesting site with a lot of useful information. Thanks for the link.

                                  lxm

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    I like the vibrant green It reminds me of Hawaii where I saw the greenest greens I have ever seen.

                                    I think the true skins tones are far more important than the background. I would prefer to see Paula in all of her pale glory.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      That's it VMS, I think true skin tone, true body colours etc are more important!

                                      SF

                                      Comment

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