# color or B/W? CC too please



## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

I know there's a little hotspot on the cheek  But I think it's still a good 
capture  But I'm his mom, too


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## Landcruiser (Nov 2, 2006)

He's looking pretty serious about ridding that horse...

Cute pic.


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

Color shot for me. Too bad about the hot spot. I even tried to lessen it in Picasa. Maybe someone with a better program can do something with it. I like the bokeh...

Rich


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

I love them both. It would be hard for me to choose between one or the other. I like color but B&W, to me, has a very strong impact of its own. Great work. Great model too. What a cute child. He has this look on his face like mine used to get, just wondering what he can get into next.


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## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

Thanks. 

Yeah, I could probably clone it out if I tried. hmmm, still thinking on it


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## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

Gator_Nutz said:


> What a cute child. He has this look on his face like mine used to get, just wondering what he can get into next.


Thanks! I hope you didn't get into a lot! He's my strong willed child, so I'm lucky to get a shot of him, and when I do, he's nothing but faces, no cheesy grins from this one


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

Intsead of cloning you can brush it out a litte. Use the color right next to the blowout and a feathered brush at about 97% Transparent. (or 3% opaque depending on the program.) Do the brush work on a layer above the photo so you can just delete the layer if you make a mistake and start over on a new layer.

I like the color one. Here is what I did to it. I also did the ear. I used several color choices from the picture itself.


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## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

Grayfish! It looks great! I wonder if I even have a feather brush. And then I don't know how to use it! Hmmm, off to find out 

Thanks for the tip!


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

I love the tone range on the B&W. I can never get my conversions to come out that good. But I'd go with the color version of this one beacause of the rich saturation and contrasts. Both are nice, and it is hard to pick one over the other.


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## chicapesca (Jun 7, 2004)

I like the color shot. Very nice by the way. The colors are great, and the expression on his face is priceless!


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

my3peas said:


> Grayfish! It looks great! I wonder if I even have a feather brush. And then I don't know how to use it! Hmmm, off to find out
> 
> Thanks for the tip!


I think photoshop calls them soft air brushes or something like that. I don't know what program you are using.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

While I like the tonal range in the black and white, I think the out-of-focus background colors in the color version bring some extra life to it with the vivid tones of the grass. The colors of the wood add some warmth as well. If you can seamlessly brush out the blown-out highlights it will be very nice.

I hope this is not offensive, but I think it would be a bit more attractive if your logo were a little smaller.


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## Dances With Fish (Jul 24, 2006)

Im a sucker for Black and white......


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## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

M3P, I vote for the color pic. I like it...especially if you get to touch it up like the fellas said. I'm amazed at what some of you can do with the photo editing programs. I try some of the fancy stuff and it winds up getting deleted! 

Still, a nice shot regardless of color or black and white. It is simply a good capture period.
Thanks for sharing.
Mike


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

good work again grayfish. 

my3peas... i was looking at this and trying really hard to make a decision about which photo i preferred, and why. it's taken me forever to decide on one but i do have a good reason now.

i prefer the colour option. in the colour option i can clearly see 'three' pieces of colouring that are warm... the horse, the arm, the face. i can't see 'three' anything in the black and white, maybe because there are too many tones between straight black and straight white.

by the way, if ever you want to give this little one away, keep me in mind. 

as usual, great photo!


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## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

Thanks everyone! great feedback 



Charles Helm said:


> I hope this is not offensive, but I think it would be a bit more attractive if your logo were a little smaller.


Oh not at all  There are issues on another board I post on as far as picture stealing goes. so the logo's big. I moved it, but forgot to trim it down for this site


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

my3peas said:


> There are issues on another board I post on as far as picture stealing goes. so the logo's big. I moved it, but forgot to trim it down for this site


Stealing pictures of someone else's kids would be pretty low!


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

Want 3 peas I couldn't help myself


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## Shed Hunter (Mar 14, 2006)

*Color or black and white.*

Really nice composition. I like them both but I guess it just depends on the mood you are after. Grayfish really fixed the hot spot well. It is amazing what he can do. I guess I like both. The color is more modern and up to date, but the black and white is timeless so I guess I will go with the black and white by a slim margin.
SH


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## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

Charles Helm said:


> Stealing pictures of someone else's kids would be pretty low!


Yep there are some wacko wanna-bes out there!

thanks again, everyone!


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## Dorado-Mahi (May 23, 2004)

I like both versions so I thought I'd through in one more wrinkle by cross blending the B&W and color images together giving it an aged/antique look. Didn't take time to touch-up blown out areas but it lessened them up somewhat.

Nice editing work Grayfish.


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## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

Oooh I like it Ray! I very much like the aged/grungy look that I've been seeing around lately  I'm going to have to try that!


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## grayfish (Jul 31, 2005)

Dorado-Mahi said:


> I like both versions so I thought I'd through in one more wrinkle by cross blending the B&W and color images together giving it an aged/antique look. Didn't take time to touch-up blown out areas but it lessened them up somewhat.
> 
> Nice editing work Grayfish.


Thank you Ray.

Your treatment of the image was very interesting. I like it. I like it alot. Well done sir.

Ray and M3P. Intead of using the two different pictures (you may not have both) you should be able to duplicate the color image to a new layer, then desatuate the dup. Then merge the two togeter using normal merge and tuning with transparency (opaqueness) of the copy. Desaturation may not work quite the same. You could even repeat the duplication and use other merge options (maybe behind merge) to mod the two lower layer. I use Corel so terms may not be correct in PhotoShop. (or even correct for Corel for that mater )


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## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

Aaah, yes! that's what I was going to do  I didn't even think about merging the actual photos 


I'm still trying to figure out how to lessen the blowouts  I'm having a tough time not getting it perfect


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

my3peas...re "lessening the blowouts"...Every camera is different...but..one thing that I've observed and that I utilize more now ...is that the shots that I take that are "too dark", at first glance, can almost always be perked up with Picasa or Elements. But, the ones that are "too bright" are often lost forever. 

The moon shot of the other day was an example. 

I've toned down my camera settings to get an initially darker image. I now have more usable shots .. 

I have an EOV adjuster on my camera ( I'm certain most cameras have something similar)...and I am often using it to automatically take slightly darker pictures now. regards, Rich


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

my3peas said:


> Yep there are some wacko wanna-bes out there!


I thought someone was calling me. 

I've enjoyed watching the progression of this thread. Just a few comments... First of all it's always better to start with a nice image, very well composed great expression and warm light. I'm not that concerned about the hot spot. It's really not that big and it's a small sacrifice to capture the moment.

OK, you're the photographer specializing in portraits preferably of children who like nits mentioned because you want to be perfect. I'm the guy with no people in his pix because I hated commercial portraiture and if I don't come up with something my peers will laugh at me. :tongue: What do you think about the placement of the horizon line? and what do you think about the facial exposure? Review the image...my comments will be further below.

Grayfish you continue to blow me away! This is a great example of why I keep my original images - when I learn something I can always go back. M3P (I keep wanting to put MP3) use a small, soft brush and low opacity on the layer. It needs to stay near white.

Ray, I really love the effect of hand-tinting. That was my mindset on DWF's B&W earlier this week, but I didn't have any color to work with and *if I was artistic I wouldn't need a camera*. Great effect for that shot!!!

For those new to the board, we had an image hijacked last year and the guy that posted it somewhere else had the nerve to tell others not to copy HIS images. It had a very funny ending and I think he learned his lesson. I've had a couple of issues myself, but I'm already being long-winded.

Ok after a day of looking at the image and since I don't have anything on the board for you to retaliate on - the horizon line runs in one ear and out the other...I can hear Grayfish saying "at least the horizon is level" now. It's certainly better than at the neckline and I don't know what your options where. This is just a consideration, but since I've noticed it I can't stop looking at it.

In regard to the exposure, have you considered using a reflector or a white card to help soften shadows? Pain in the rear? Yep. Create another distraction for your subject and make it harder to get a natural expression? Yep. Need four hands? Yep, but they do work. Most importantly though, Andre should be proud of Mom on this one. She did good. :cheers:


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## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

:dance: Thanks Rusty! you got a big grin out of me there  


I hadn't even thought of the horizon. Something to incorporate next time. I'll keep it in mind  

Yes, the reflector. I have one. But need more hands (Isn't a mom always in need of more hands?)  hubby will be in the garage this weekend tinkering around making me some sort of attachment for go-go-gadget arms!  
Okay, if not those, at least a stand to rest the reflector on  

Would you say this is too comercial as far as portraits? I'm trying to shy away from those types and get better, more realistic, more candid shots. But, I supppose maybe he's looking too directly at the camera? 

I'm really so glad I've gotten such great feedback here! I can't say enough how much this helps me! Thanks guys!


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

If you have a spare tripod (I think we have two or three of the cheap flimsy ones) you could set up a reflector to attach to the tripod head.


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## my3peas (Jan 9, 2007)

Ingenious, Charles! I would have never thought of that. LOL 

Thanks


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