#exposurex2

Flores Ephemeri 18031

Flores Ephemeri 17117

Flores Ephemeri 17120

Flores Ephemeri 17111

I had taken a hiatus from this as I don't really do a lot of portraits, so I don't have a lot of need to keep my Photoshop skills up to date. But I realized that things like correcting white balance, setting tone curves and even just the small touchup work gets used in my photos often. Plus I got a new tool! Alien Skin Exposure 2. I love Alien Skin stuff as it is usually the slickest thing going for quick fixes to a shot that lacks 'oompfh'. Plus...they are in RALEIGH! Yes, cutting edge professional creative software is being developed here in NC. Good company, great support, unreal products. All good.

So this weeks model is just not having her best day it seems.

My primary tool for these is a piece of software called PortraitProfessionalStudio. Does some of the heavy lifting so to speak. Evens the skin tones, provides some face sculpting tools, and does a REALLY good job of making the eyes less tears and makeup smear. So a pass through that gives us this.

But here is where we put the real 'Cosmo inside the cover shot' stuff on it. 

In Exposure X 2, I fix the White Balance giving me what I am guessing would be a good approximation of this young woman's skin tone. Then into the Presets to the Color Focus section. I want to soften this some, but not make it all one tone, so 'Glamour Shot - Halation (-Saturation) is the choice. Soften the highlights a bit and....well...it is good. but there is nothing making it 'POP'. Think back to the rules. If you want to make something look interesting either don't light all of it, or don't make it all in focus. Add some 'mystery' and such. So I open up the Bokeh panel, select a two edged channel mask, and bring her eyes and lips to the edge of the focus region. So the rest of her face is softened and really makes her eyes and lips jump out of the image. OH...yeah. Here...

So you can sit here and monkey with these for hours. I really should have made a pass through Photoshop to clean up her lipstick and a smudge or two of makeup from around her eyes. But this took me less time to do than it did to type up this blog post about it. So not bad.

As always, want to learn how? Want me to do it to a photo of you? Or someone else? I am happy to do any of the above. And if you are looking for a tool to add to your Photoshop box, give Exposure X2 a look.