Hi Bernadette
If there is one thing
that most photographers need at some stage or other in their work it a bit of courage…
courage to grab an idea and then really push it. I know… I look back on my
early work and realise that by comparison to one or two of my colleagues, I was
rather tame.
Of course, this does depend on what avenue you want to go down as a
photographer. If you want to be a photojournalist or a forensic photographer
then there is no way that you can manipulate your images. If, on the other hand, you want to be a
creative photographer the only thing limiting you is your
imagination.
In this image here with Bogie and your daughter you attempted to get the two of
them together to create a mood. What disrupts this mood for me though is the fact that we can see that they are clearly not in the same room –
we are looking at a picture of a person next to a framed image.
The simplest way to bring the two of
them together is to create the illusion that they actually in the same space. How do you do this? Duplicate the Background Layer and use the Quick Selection tool
to select the white wall. This area on the top layer becomes transparent
(if the wrong area goes transparent, just use the Command-I keys to invert the
selection). Now go to the lower layer and clone the dark area behind Mr
Bogart into the bright area of the wall. You will also need to do some cloning
in the lower left side of the picture too.
At this point you can flatten the image if you want (Layer > Flatten
Image).
Now, I would get some more contrast into the picture and use the Dodge and the Burn
tools to selectively lighten and darken different areas of the picture.
As for the toning… I
would be careful using a sepia effect that has the potential to lighten the
shadows. The toning I have applied on this image is actually a blue toner
effect. The simplest way of doing this is to use the Curves Tool in
Photoshop (just make sure your image is a Desaturated RGB file before you do
this!). Open the Curves Panel, select the Blue Channel and then shift the mid
point of the curve outwards a little and the image will take on the Blue Hue. Next, go to the Red Channel and tweak the midpoint down a pinch just to add in
some Cyan. Its simple, and it maintains the white and black points in
your image!
Cheers, Anthony
Love That Jazz - Image Doctor's edited version
