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help with my photos


N

NicolaDancerBare

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Good morning everyone, I have not used a forum like this before, so please bear with me :)

I'm a dancer (in a Gentleman's Club) and I have to take photos for work...Nothing smutty,or nude,just stuff to load onto a Facebook page. However I'm rubbish at taking the photos, always end up with junk in the background, looking really amateur. I have tried using the edit photos option on my phone, but seem equally useless at that lol. If I post a distinctly average attempt at a photo on here,can you guys show me the best that can be done with it?

Kindest regards

Nicola
 
Because there are so many different ways one could modify the photo that you posted, it would help to have your thoughts about what changes you might like to see. For example, I could easily imagine some people would suggest removing the pale green cast of the background, but it might just be the one part of the photo that you really like.

Also, since you stated that you took the photo, I would love to know exactly how you achieved the shadowless illumination of your face, but have such prominent catchlights in your eyes.

It would also be very helpful to have a "normal" selfie image of yourself, as a reference to work from. For example, because of the high vantage point of the photo you posted, we don't know the true shape of your face. If you could post a selfie taken outdoors in normal sunlight, no makeup, etc. that would help considerably.

Tom M
 
Hi tom, all I did was stick my hand in the air and take it on my phone... So no idea how my eyes look one way when my face doesn't :) I guess I just want the stuff on the floor hidden, maybe the dresser gone, just the whole thing looking at lot more polished. Sort of what the guy below you had done with the background... In fact I live everything he's done, apart from my cheeks look strangely chubby,and I think he's given me purple eyeshadow :) it's really cool to see what people can do.
 
Here is another for you.
beauty .png
 
Thanks Larry, that's really good. Nice to see how people put their own touch on things. Can you get rid of the junk on the floor? (memo to self, tidy room lol) and if you can, can you tell me how you did it?
 
This is a very interesting photo. The distortion from the angle gives you a narrow triangular face, which is not so different from your actual face. The narrowness looks like an effect achieved. I don't think it should be dark, but very subtle maintaining the paleness.. Personally I like that. I don't think your cheeks look chubby. You have apple cheeks, even in your photo outdoors.shows that up.
 
This is a very interesting photo. The distortion from the angle gives you a narrow triangular face, which is not so different from your actual face. The narrowness looks like an effect achieved. I don't think it should be dark, but very subtle maintaining the paleness.. Personally I like that. I don't think your cheeks look chubby. You have apple cheeks, even in your photo outdoors.shows that up.

Here's mhy interpretation. It could use more work, but as you know there are many issues of poor resolution creating graininess and this is hard to cover up. Try to use a better camera and have a friend take some pictures. Bring them back and we can spruce them up a bit for you.

selfie2.jpgselfie.jpg

Here are the two side by side. I have already removed the BG but you can sompare the changes.
 
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Hi Nicole
i think you just need to take more time taking/staging your selfies before hand rather than trying to tweak too much afterwards.
No offence to anyones work above but id prefer your original picture, its natural and real looking which is what people on the facebook page would prefer to see in my opinion.
A good camera (new iphone cameras or the like will suffice) and good lighting and tidy background is all you need for what your after.
 
Hi Clare - I was just about to point out exactly the same issue as you, ie, perspective distortion because of the angle from which the photo was taken. In addition to the bizarre narrowing of the lower part of her face compared to the upper part, the vertical dimensions are also stretched bizarrely. For example, compare the vertical size of her forehead compared to the distance between the tip of her nose and the bottom of her chin. In most people these two actual (vertical) distances are roughly the same. This can even be seen in the nice outdoor photo of herself that she supplied.

Although this angle is common for selfies, personally, I don't think it is at all flattering to her, even if it does accentuate the actual shape of her face. If I was photographing her, I would use the traditional photographer's technique (for a face shape like this, as well as many others) to place the camera at about the level of her chest or neck.

In addition, I *strongly* suspect that the OP's skin in both photos was smoothed either in-camera or after-the-fact by something like an Instagram-like filter. This makes post processing considerably more difficult.

Just my $0.02,

Tom M

PS - I just saw the post by PhotoshopLad. I couldn't agree more!
 
Although it's impossible to actually change the viewpoint from which a photo was taken using PS, one can at least make the outlines of objects and dimensions close to what they might have been had the photograph been taken from a better position. Below is a cropped version of the original (on the left) and an approximation of the shape of the OP's face had a better camera position been used.

T
 

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Jesus that thing of my face....actually crying with laughter. I have to say I agree with both of you, that so far, I still prefer the original so far ...I just wanted the background, particularly the floor tidied up...mainly so you can see the shape of the bottom of me, as the clutter detracts from that. I think people are concentrating more on me...which is cool though.
 
Also, might be worth me pointing out that the weird angle is due to me needing to get my face and body in the shot, and I have no option but to take the pic myself when the little ones are asleep, so it's in very artificial light.
 
NicolaDancerBare said:
Thanks Larry, that's really good. Nice to see how people put their own touch on things. Can you get rid of the junk on the floor? (memo to self, tidy room lol) and if you can, can you tell me how you did it?
Click to expand...

You'll have to take care of the floor :bustagut: Your hair was green on my screen and I just made it blonde, as I believe it is. Glad you liked it.

Edit: Oops , I think I see the part of the floor I left. Most certainly I could clean that up for you. However, can't see how it detracts from the subject matter.
 
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NicolaDancerBare said:
...the weird angle is due to me needing to get my face and body in the shot, and I have no option but to take the pic myself when the little ones are asleep, so it's in very artificial light.
Click to expand...

I certainly understand, but, don't forget that the camera on almost every cell phone that has ever been made has a self-timer. Prop the phone between two books, activate the self-timer, and you're got that problem licked. If you really are into selfies and want to get a bit fancier, tiny tripods designed for cell phones can usually be purchased for $10 - $20 and you can do away with the books or trying to find something to lean it on:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Univ...UwgFbbVfLPQoTQTnCYMEgbgOhblE8GC1csaApZ18P8HAQ ,
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/joby-go...d35395&ksprof_id=14&ksaffcode=3113&ksdevice=c , etc.

Tom
 
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I agree with the doesn't look as good in some ways. Maybe just take out the BG, but doing another is best. The one I did makes her look like a plastic barbie doll!
 
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