Carol Watson, QPSA  

Forest Maiden by Carol Watson, QPSA

November 2024 - Forest Maiden

November 2024 - Carol Watson, QPSA

Original

November 2024 - Carol Watson, QPSA

Original 2

About the Image(s)

This image was taken on a Photoshoot at the beginning of October. The model was lit by 2 studio flashlights, a primary light to the upper left and a second fill-in light to the right. I used my Olympus OM-1 with a 12-40mm lens at 19mm. The camera was handheld, and the settings were auto focus, f8, 1/160s, ISO 100.

The following changes were made in Photoshop after initial processing in Camera Raw:

Copied the background layer and masked the figure from the background.

Added the forest image and a few of textures over the background.

Did some dodging and burning on the figure

Added a subtle mist on the ground using one of my homemade cloud brushes (created by throwing flour onto black card)

Added a vignette using Nik Efex Darken Lighten Centre

This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted

Georgianne Giese   Georgianne Giese
This is a stunning portrait. I like the way you smoothed out her skin. The dark texture around her feet is a vast improvement over the floor of the original.

My only suggestion is that you might try increasing the opacity of the background, just a tweek, in order to make it more apparent that she is emerging from a forest. That's just a thought.

Excallent improvement on the original photo!   Posted: 11/08/2024 19:53:06
Carol Watson   Carol Watson
Hi Georgianne, many thanks for your comment. I will try a version with the tress less opaque as I agree they probably need to be a touch more obvious.   Posted: 11/30/2024 10:28:06
Denise McKay   Denise McKay
As usual Carol, you beautifully dressed and posed this model. The lighting, exposure, and composition are well done. For me, the sharpness of your model against the muted forest background doesn't give me a sense that she's in the scene but standing in front of a backdrop. So I played around with your final image as follows:

In Topaz Studio 2 and added a painterly look to the model that softened her appearance and added a bit of glow to her skin and some of the highlights in her dress. I think it made her a little more ethereal looking. Then in Luminar Neo I added a layered fog filter to add a bit more atmosphere to the background, again, hoping to blend things together a little more. Food for thought!
  Posted: 11/16/2024 14:11:10
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Carol Watson   Carol Watson
Hi Denise, many thanks for your comment. I think I either need to make the trees less opaque or give the model a more ethereal feel as you suggest. I will have a play.   Posted: 11/30/2024 10:30:43
Jan Handman   Jan Handman
Beautifully posed and photographed image, Carol. She looks like a forest nymph, so I agree with the other comments about the background needing to be more visible. It looked like a fun image to have a play with, so I hope you don't mind. I placed her on the forest path and reduced the saturation of the forest so it more closely matched her. I felt that the dark spot (frown line?) to the right of her mouth was distracting, so I used the spot correction tool to eliminate it. Then into Nik Color Efex to apply Classical Soft Focus, Glow, and Vignette filters. Lastly, I cropped slightly on the top and left to bring her face into the rule of thirds, and used the PS dodge tool to pop some of the highlights on her dress. Just an alternate interpretation of your very lovely portrait.   Posted: 11/16/2024 23:48:34
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Carol Watson   Carol Watson
Hi Jan, many thanks for your comments and suggestions and for spotting the dark line at the side of the models mouth, I will remove that. I will have a further play with the image trying out some of the suggestions.   Posted: 11/30/2024 10:34:49
Rita Johnston   Rita Johnston
Beautifully posed. I love what you put together, and also like what Jan proposed with showing more of the trees. Very nice either way.   Posted: 11/30/2024 03:00:35
Carol Watson   Carol Watson
Thanks Rita   Posted: 11/30/2024 10:35:14