Sister's

[DigiDiva]

Taken on a recent trip to Tenerife, I took this candid shot of the two sisters as they rode on a donkey in a procession through ttheir little village. I think I have captured a precious moment between two sisters here. What do you guys think of this image?

[markgozz]

I think you have a lovely image here of two very pretty young girl in lovely traditional dress , I think you have controlled the exposure very well in very difficult conditions and the composition work well but there are signs of PP work in the bottom left and right corners . The PP work ( if that is what it is ) is something that can be improved but the biggest problem for me is that I see no sign of ( a precious moment between sisters ) , it's a real shame because it is such a nice shot but there's no eye contact or interaction between the girls at all .

Just my opinion as always .

Mark

[DigiDiva]

I always enjoy your critique Mark, you have very constructive things to say, so thank you. I put a full gaussian blur layer over the image,, then erased it to reveal the girls, so shouldn't have any PP on show in bottom corners. Though the background was quite out of focus, the layer made it more so. maybe it doesn't really need it. Will take a better look tomorrow.

[JonnyM]

I agree with Mark about the pp. Sometimes I believe it's a case of "If it ain't broke don't fix it". I'm sure there's enough separation between foreground subject and background without the need for artificial blurring. However, I disagree with the interaction. I can tell that the older girl has her arms around the younger one and there is a protective embrace there. Okay it's a close-up and you can't see they're on a donkey but the body language and their dress infer that bond. I like the younger girl's profile looking into the distance which is complemented with her sister's 3/4 profile. In this case they wouldn't have eye contact with one another and it's better for me that they don't look at the viewer.

Another good shot DD.

[LaPistola]

It is a nice shot and one to be proud off. I couldn't tell they was riding nor did I notice the old one was hold the younger girl until I read you post. I like the level of blur but can see the PP.

After you explained I can see why and think I know where you can improve.

If you haven't already make your cursor full size. Edit > Preferences > Cursors > Painting Cursors: Full Size Brush Tip.

Now I think the biggest tweak here to your method would be not to reveal the girls but to reveal the blur if that makes sense. Set the blur layer mask to solid black then making sure the mask is selected in the layers panel press (D) to default the colours to Black & White and press (X) until white is your foreground. Press (B) for brush then using the { & } make the brush size quite large. Now the trick here is to have a larger brush size so the feather is wider creating a much nicer blend between the layers. To change the feather amount using keyboard you hold (Shift in windows sorry I know your a mac user) and press either { or } the less "jagged" the outer line the less feather.

If the blur is still a little noticeable or you don't wish it to be to intense you can select the blur layer (not mask) and reduce its opacity. I like to make my blur layers more then required and start by reducing my opacity, this way if it wanted to add more blur then I originally thought, it is less hassle to increase opacity than it is to play with effects again. In fact smart filters would have been a better choose here as its the only PP you required this would have enabled you to just adjust the blur level from the original effect tool which does give you more scope for control.

This is of course if your using CS3 or above which im sure you said your using CS3?

[DigiDiva]

Thanks guys. You really are helpful. I have a whole day alone tomorrow to play