Does She or Doesn't She? - Self Portrait Challenge

Well, I absolutely do not like being a subject. Especially when a non-pro (my husband, Frank - who does know his way around his Canon) is behind MY Camera. I wish there was a mirror on the front of the lens. Anyway, this is the photo I am submitting to Kodak to be published with my images. They will PS it a bit since I am not expert at that at all. But you can have at it if your like to PS. What would you do to make me look my best?

Hello Kathy so nice to meet you in person, I'm about to go out, but will try some work on this later, my skills PS as I'm sure you know (grins) are not that great either, but I like to try....

Nice one Kewl!

Hi Kathy,

I think it will be fine with your photos. Just out of devilment, I wonder what variations Nikolai could come up with ;-)

I'm not sure if I'd alter anything much, maybe the leaning wall, the two white splodges. wrt the usual 'skin processing', I've no idea. You seem to be doing fine.

Best wishes,

Ray

Ray West said:

maybe the leaning wall, the two white splodges. wrt the usual 'skin processing

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Hi Kathy
Nice to see you in person!
I would add to Ray's sugestions:
Straighten the wall angles
enlight your yeaes and area around…

and ask the guy who's behind the wall to stop trying to pull you out of the frame! ;-)

Ray - I played with this for three hours if you want to chat devilment....and then went back to the original . I did Black and White, Sepia, I tried to do Braces (yes - braces) removal Eye enhancements. Good eye - I did not think about straightening the brick poles, or burning and dodging the cement walk.

I cropped out the whole left side, but if I make it bigger, then I have all kinds of skin issues that I could not fix without looking like a Barbie. My husband took this at a focal legnth of 60mm at 4.0 and a shutter speed of 20 so there is a bit of visible motion blur blown up too.

I had the studio set up to go, but, my husband has never shot inside any studio, prefers outdoor stuff and it was uncomfortable for him to use my camera - I have all kinds of straps - a hand strap and a neck strap and I used the 24-105 on my 5D and he is used to his 20d.

Kathy,

You old meanie, why not let him use your lens on his 20D.

Not so sure now about
Best wishes,

Ray

;-)

Kathy Rappaport said:

Well, I absolutely do not like being a subject....

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Hi Kathy

I'm just the same, hate being in front of the camera.....

As I say I'm no expert I've spent about half an hour or so trying various things, but didn't want to do anything too radical to you, you're perfect as you are, and your personality shines through....

I did do a very gentle bit of dodging in your hair particularly to the LHS also a little to the top RHS, also a very gentle tweak with shadow/highlight, and straightened the walls (well almost!). Not sure if it's an improvement or not, what an accolade/opportunity to be published by Kodak - well done you!

Thank you, Jan.

Thank you for adding to the photograph. Yes, I guess you hit it - my personality does reflect in the image. And yes, I am excited that Kodak will be publishing their promo book with images of mine because of my involvement with the Santa Fe Workshops. No compensation for it, but, I will get copies for the studio.

Hi Kath,

Just straightened it a bit - ps filter lens distortion, then rotated slightly (the measure tool), then cropped, and edit /transform and removed the white and cropped again. I'm not sure if straight is good, your choice. not done anything else.

Best wishes,

Ray

Another fine adjustment!

Ray - I like what you did too....I just registered for a class on CS3 locally. I have a couple plug ins - Ron Nichols and Color Efx but what I really need is a good class to take me to the next level of PS.