Steph (again)

[Chris of Arabia]

OK, I realise you must be sick of the sight of her, but this was the result I got using the Petteri Sulonen (http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/100_Curves_and_Films/_Curves_and_films.html) Portra Curves preset on the young lady. It does seem to have a film like quality to it to my eyes, but what do our real experts think?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4656659599_7ac9d7435b_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris-of-arabia/4656659599/)

[Antarctican]

:( The pic isn't showing

[Chris of Arabia]

Whoops! I changed the image at flickr after I'd posted this - a minor edit, no more.

[Aggie]

I think this is the best photo you have done of this young lady!

[Antarctican]

^^^ I agree. The skin tones and eye colour look good, there are catchlights in her eyes, her hair looks good, and the zipper adds some more visual interest. It's an all-round lovely candid pic of her. :thumbup:

[Terri]

I really like the shot, for a candid portait. I like how you've framed her, and agree with Anty that the catchlights are lovely.

I'm not sure I could say it looks like Portra film, however. :hmm: Did you use a fill flash here for those catchlights? There's something about the center skin tones that is drawing my eye.

[Chris of Arabia]

There's no fill in flash, just a very overcast sky. As to the colour tones, I can only go on what the man badged the preset as, never having used Portra myself.

[Terri]

There's no fill in flash, just a very overcast sky. As to the colour tones, I can only go on what the man badged the preset as, never having used Portra myself.Very interesting. You've been doing a lot of experimenting lately with these curves presets - are they making it easier to process shots?

[Chris of Arabia]

I'm not sure they necessarily make it easier as such. It's main due to getting that set of curves geared towards trying to give a film like effect downloaded. I've always tended to use curves based on the master channel affecting the RGB equally for enhancing contrast. The ones alter each RBG to a different extent and provide a colour and contrast shift. The fun comes when you use them for something they weren't intended for like applying them to a monochrome image to get a toned effect, but that's pretty much the last step before resizing and a final run over with the unsharp mask. By that point, an hard work should have already been done.

[Terri]

I'm not sure what you just said, but to me it sounds hard. I'm lazy and would probably have just shot her in Portra and bracketed. :biglaugh:

I'm laughing because I just made a comment in another thread about how some of you digital guys leave me in the dust when you get going explaining some of your processing, and this is such a perfect example!

Regardless, you're doing some good stuff with these curves, so I look forward to seeing some more.

[Tangerini]

I agree about this being one of the best you've done of her. Lovely portrait. The tone and softness of the background is perfect against her dark hair and striking features.

[Heck]

Lucky you for having her as a model. As far as the film look I see it has like a warm bleached out feeling to it. But that just could be me.

[boblybill]

Excellent Shot CoA! I too like the skin tones! Spot on!