Wes Odell
February 2025 - Pretty Mother at parade
Original
About the Image(s)
Taken during a brief parade of people affiliated with the Hispanic Ballet Folklorico. I saw this young woman with a baby and thought she represented the group of beautiful young people.
Converted and edited primarily in Nik Silver Efex with presets and settings as: “More Silver,” Amplify black, Structure: Reduce Highlights and Mid-tones, Tonality Protections, and Border #1. And then in PSA an increase of Contrast to +50….. I don’t know which I like better: Color or Mono?
9 comments posted
She does have a lovely face but I find the slightly out of focus effect neither one thing nor the other. I would like you to try sharpening or even better doing something creative to emphasise the softness even more. I'll have a think and see what I can come up with. Posted: 02/11/2025 15:09:41
In the "olden days" of film cameras there were devices that one could screw onto the fromts of lensds, called filters. There were several that were called portrait filters and they would "soften" the image. This was how I learned. Posted: 02/14/2025 00:51:33
OK what I've done, is open in raw camera filter, draw the dehaze slider to the left and also the clarity slider halfway left. That made the whole image much softer. Then I lassoed both eyes and in Ps, I dodged just the eyes so the eyeliner and pupils went darker and more defined. Then I sharpened just the eyes several times to make them stand out more. I felt it made the whole image look as if you meant to have a soft focus flattering look. Do you like it? Posted: 02/11/2025 15:18:54
No, I think this "softening" is too much. I prefer the one I did, above. But there are many edits that will appeal to different people such as the nice sharpening done below by Tom which is very nice and one that I would call modern. Posted: 02/14/2025 00:54:10
This new software is amazing and keeps getting better. Posted: 02/14/2025 22:25:59
I agree that you captured a very attractive young woman and I like that the face fills the frame. But I do agree with Diana that she is a bit soft. I do not like what Diana did to soften the image, to me that makes her look like plastic. I did use Topaz Photo AI to sharpen the image, and then NIK Silver Efex to convert to mono. Posted: 02/12/2025 19:37:07
I usually don't like models looking like plastic either. I do like your sharpening. Posted: 02/14/2025 22:18:32
Good discussion about soft focus and sharpening.
I find the original pleasing as a soft focus image.
Tom's sharpening also looks good should one prefer a sharper image.
Another thought: I think for the soft focus version, planned viewing distance would be a factor. If it were displayed on a wall and viewed from a distance, the effect would be pleasing. Posted: 02/15/2025 20:10:25
I find the original pleasing as a soft focus image.
Tom's sharpening also looks good should one prefer a sharper image.
Another thought: I think for the soft focus version, planned viewing distance would be a factor. If it were displayed on a wall and viewed from a distance, the effect would be pleasing. Posted: 02/15/2025 20:10:25
Good comment, Stephen. Posted: 02/15/2025 21:36:43