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hydrangea
#PORTRAIT#HYDRANGEA#HELP
Jun Sonokawa PRO
3 years ago

I like portrait photos that blend into the landscape.

In Japan, we have a rainy season, and it is the time of year when the hydrangea blooms.

 

In this photo, I want to express the humidity of the rainy season and the freshness of a moment of sunshine.

 

I have repeatedly submitted retouched photos, but have not received good feedback.

It may not be what you would call a pure portrait photograph, but it is my favorite.

How can I reconstruct this photo to make it more attractive?

Daniel Springgay CREW 
3 years ago — Senior critic

Hi Jun 43 Published images and 2 Awarded Wow congratulations and welcome to Critique. - Thank you for sharing this fine image...

 

All I can do Jun is give you my view on how I see your wonderful image. - This may or may not fit into your way of working. - I did take it back into Photoshop just to see up close what I could have fun with - I found your image very heavy in the shadow department but I don't have the Raw file so opening up the shadows was a problem for me.

 

This is what I did - A small crop off three sides to make the image more balanced and compact - I opened up the tone and contrast to add more colour and impact to this fine image. - last I used the dodge tool with Opacity set at 20% and worked on your beautuiful model and flower heads the brighten them up and give your image more power to please. I also cloned out the bright area on her dress. - Please remember this is to my taste and not yours...

 

 

Theo Luycx PRO
3 years ago

Jun,

To be honest,  for me this image is not good enough for 1x. But about your question "how can I make him more attractive"  Daniel gave you already a good comment. I go one step further. I made a greater crop to give the model more attention with enough of the background. Than I did in Photoshop the following: I used niveaus, there you see the histogram. with three triangle. I used the two on the outside. If you push ALT on your keyboard and bring the right one (LIGHT) to the left . All is black and by moving you become some light points in it. Stop there. If you do this on the left side you will start with white by moving you become dark areas. Now your are on the best place in the histogam. With the middle triangle you can go for a little bit lighter or darker. That was my main action. After this I went to Camera raw as follows: FILTER>CAMERA FILTER  there I played with the radial gradient for some special places. But you can also do this with the dodge and burntool. Below my suggestion. Theo senior critic.

 

 

Edited: 3 years ago by Theo Luycx
Cicek Kiral CREW 
3 years ago — Senior critic
 
Hello, @ Jun Sonokawa
Welcome to our forum. Portraits are dear to me,too. However, you seem to be more into the naturalisti side of it. I like them more in the studio with some supernatural effect. Never mind. Let's look at youe image, Shall we.  You chose a beautiful place. The hydrangea is very nice. Its colours are heart warming. I read through your explanation. You told us that you wanted to capture the freshness of the flower  as well as the rainy nature of the place. I would like to say that the hue on greens unfortunately does not reflet the freshness. That's according to me, though. So I advice to change the hues of the green. You could use color mixer in Photoshop camera raw for this. As my friends did I would lighten the shadows as well. I do not know how close you are to the model but I could have been much better if the model had been smiling a bit. If you have the opportunity why not take some more images at the same spot. A smiling model with a dynamic stance and last but not least some eye contact. It would have been great to harvest warmness and happiness from the pose and face of the model. Then one more advice. Composition is quite important in portrait photography. I would advice you to work on it. You would really benefit from a strong omposition. Youtube has great videos on it if you are looking for budget friendly lessons. If you can afford it check out creativelive.com and/or Kelbyone.com
I lightened the shadows a bit, added some dehase and played with the hue in a snapshot of your image. Then I cropped it for a better focus on the model. This is just my advice. It is quite close to my friends's advices. Have great light.
Cicek Kiral SC
 

 

Theo Luycx PRO
3 years ago

Jun,

I cannot replace my earlier photo, therefore here a new one.  I lightend the eyes a fraction and did a small scale action. For me the eyes in my first version could use a fraction more light.

 

Theo-senior critic

 

 

Edited: 3 years ago by Theo Luycx