I love the way the well-lit skin and lovely eyes work with the rich blacks to give this image both subtlty and punch. It looks like a Hollywood Studio shot! Tim A
I saw this briefly before the blue background was removed and I think I preferred the "old" version. There's no accounting for taste eh?! ;) This is a lovely portrait and the selective colour works well.
Thanks for your comments John and Dennis. I took your suggestion and eliminated the distracting color in the background. Dennis, I shot this at fairly close range with the built-in A1 flash. If the lighting is good, it is a lucky accident. Part of what you see is the effect of tweaking the levels and contrast in Photoshop Elements. Thanks again!
I'd love to know how you lit this subject. The shadows define the facial features really well, without looking excessively dramatic. Very nice balance. But I do wish you'd eliminate the non-eye blue, especially the wall behind her head. Keeps drawing my attention away from where it should be, on her eyes. Great shot.
Guest
31-May-2004 14:17
Hi Pat,
I like your image. I'm not sure about the colour elsewhere, but the woman with her stark blue eyes is quite striking and natural. Nicely framed natural portrait.
Cheers, John
I zeroed-out the saturation for all colors except blue and cyan. I increased the saturation for these and heavily adjusted the levels and contrast. Not the cleanest of methods, but still a reasonable way to isolate certain colors. - Pat
