Experimenting with editing

Experimenting with basic photoshop tools: 

• curves
• hue and saturation
• levels

Example 1

Before                                                                  After

Processes used

Evaluation

With this portrait I took, I used multiple basic editing tools in photoshop. I think editing pictures like this is crucial as it makes a lot of difference. I think this especially applies to portraits to make the subject more interesting. Even more so with studio portraits where the background is just negative space, this is because all of the focus goes on the person in the picture. I liked my outcome and I think it looks much better than before editiong. I lowered the saturation to make the colours slightly more muted, I think this fits nicely with the denotation of the picture as we can see she is in a dead pan expression so she does't have a happy expression. Also I think muted colours have a connotation of being more serious and maybe less exciting and happy if the picture had more saturated colours. Therefore I think my editing fits with her expression to create a fitting over all theme to the picture.

I also adjusted the curves and mainly to enhance the contrast in tones. This darkened the shadows making the more obvious. In addition, to make the subject stand out more from the background, I adjusted the levels to make the background appear more white and bright. And this along with the enhanced dark shadows from the curves, I think gives the overall picture more contrasting in tones.

Example 2

Before                                                                      After

Processes used

Evaluation

In this studio head shot I took, I used these basic tools aswell. I think this example does't make as much difference between the before and after as the top example. However I still think these processes are necessary. When duplicating the layer, I sharpened her eyes. I think this made a lot of difference as it makes them stand out a lot more and makes them glisten in the picture.  I think this does make a lot of difference are eyes are a very important feature to consider when looking at portraiture. I also slightly increased the saturation and used levels and curves to enhance the shadows and tones to create more of a contrast.

Using different photoshop tools:

• dodge
• burn
• white balance

Example 1 (white balance)

Before                                                                   After

 Processes used

Evaluation:

In this example I experimented with the white balance tool. I chose this picture as the background is supposed to be white but it has more of a grey like tone to it. Therefore I felt like using this tool to make the tone a closer tone to white, it would make the tones more cool rather than dull which I think worked well with this image. I also used this with the basic tools I experimented in the above examples. I think this tool is useful and I will defiantly use it again in images like this where the white areas are perhaps off-white.

Example 2 (dodge and burn)

Before                                                                   After

I personally think this image was better before I used the dodge and burn tool. This is because I think with these edits on this picture, as there is already some shadow on her face due to her arm, it looks quite artificial and unnatural with he dodge and burn.