Working with Photoshop

Recently I upgraded my old PC and finally I have a computer capable of doing lots of work in Photoshop without freezing every 10 mins or so. I have been going back through some of the images from  my last shoot with the Burlesque girls and reworking them a little. The two lovely ladies below are Winnie Chester and Sadie Von Scrumptious.

Learning New Skills

Some time ago I purchased a chroma green background for use for some of my portrait shots. The plan was to shoot using the green screen and then move the subjects into different backgrounds easily. In theory it sounds easy but I have since learnt that it is not. Firstly the background needs to be lit correctly to create distance between the subject and the background. I failed to do this on my first attempt due to lact of space and at the time I really didn't give it much thought. The outcome was a lot of stunning images of some beautiful ladies that all had a green reflection through them that I couldn't separate. Most frustrating.

I hate to fail at anything and these photos really bugged me. So I have been busy searching for way to fix them without needing a diploma or degree to achieve the desired outcome. I am not totally there yet but as you can see from these two images, I think I am well on the way. There is still a hint of green in the book but otherwise I think I have acceptable images. It helps having such a beautiful model!

Miss La Belle - www.misslabelle.com

Miss La Belle - www.misslabelle.com

Artwork

As a photographer I like to get that perfect image in camera, however that is not always realistic. The lighting, weather, surroundings, people, any number of different variables can affect how the shot turns out, which is why we often need to do some post processing on the images. Now I am working on taking some of my images just that little step further and changing them from photos to artwork. I had a bit of a play this afternoon using some images from past weddings, the results are below. Firstly there will be the original and then the after effects.

Before

After

Before

After take one

   

After take two

Playing with Photoshop

I am a photographer, not a graphic artist. I am always happiest when I manage to achieve the desired look in camera because I have no idea how to achieve it in post processing. That doesn't stop me trying though and lately I have been playing with Photoshop a bit more. I don't necessarily know how I get to where I am but if the photo looks good then I don't really care!

The following are some of my quick plays with Abigail's photos. Before and after shots.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

There is so much to learn when it comes to post processing photographs, I am enjoying hunting out tutorials when I have the time to sit at the computer. I will continue to share my results and welcome any advice or tips that may help me.