Football & Smoke

[Bob Stothfang]

AlienBee 800 in a softbox front right. AlienBee 400 fill in a softbox near camera axis. Two AlienBee 400s at rear on each side with gobos to provide the rim lighting.

Original image processed using the "Gritty Look" found on Photo Shop Insider...
Photoshop Insider Getting That Cool Gritty Look Right in Camera Raw and Photoshop or Lightroom

Smoke added in Photo Shop from an "expensive" $20 Halloween fog machine. (I could only find one of these at this time of the year)

[Rain Lily]

Hmm, I like this a lot but there's something about it that's not seeming right to me...I can't put my finger on it...maybe it's that I'd like more light in his eyes.

Oh, well, I'm not sure - but it's a cool photo with the smoke, and a tough looking football player, imo!

[Rain Lily]

LOL you need to take your own advice on your signature, Bob! HAHAHA, you're too funny!

[Bob Stothfang]

Sis,

You are one of the few folks who have commented on the subtle humor in my signature.

You might not believe it, but that tough looking football player is an 8th grader.

I agree about the dark eyes, I actually dodged them a bit lighter, but for some reason it looked better in Photo Shop and also when saved as a JPEG, but when I posted it to the web the whole photo came out darker. The smoke shows up better in the original too. I am not sure why this is happening, maybe some one can "enlighten" me on what is going on.

[Rain Lily]

Ask my kids, I'm a stickler for correct spelling and grammar - at least in writing; that doesn't mean I talk that way, I'm about as redneck as they come!

Mind if I have a go at lightening the eyes? It's fine if you're not ok with that, but if you are, I'd like to try something.

[Bob Stothfang]

Sis,

I don't mind at all, just "edumacate" me on what you do for my own knowledge.

I put a fill layer over mine with a 50% gray and multiply blended the layer and then just painted the eyes lighter. I didn't want to go too far with them. As I said above, the whole image appears darker on the web than it did directly on my monitor either in Photo Shop or as a JPEG viewed directly. Viewed directly I can actually see the catch lights in the eyes.

Louisiana eh, guess we'll cut you some slack on the redneck stuff.

[patterfr]

Cool concept and I agree with Sis about it needing more light on the eyes. I think what's troubling me is the shadow on his jaw from each shoulder pad. Puts kind of a straight symmetrical line on each cheek, at least that's where my eyes focused.. LIke the idea though, maybe play with it a little more!

[Rain Lily]

Wow, I haven't worked on it yet but there's a huge difference in what saved to my computer when I right clicked on it, and what's here ! The one I am seeing on my computer is brighter and the tones are great, I love it! That's weird, wonder why it happened like that?

I'll post my edit in a minute...thanks for letting me play.

[Bob Stothfang]

OK, I am starting to feel better already.

[Rain Lily]

OK - let's see what comes up here, whether the jersey is bright red like I saw it in my CS2 or if it's more like what I saw in the original post...

And what I did was duplicate layer, select bottom layer (click off the eye on the top one) and brighten it up in a levels layer, pretty significantly. Merge those 2 bottom layers, then click on the top one and bring the eye back to see it. Make your eraser tool really small and soft, and erase the eyes, all over, at 15%. Then erase the iris and pupil of each eye again, at about 10%, but not the whites. Flatten that. Then I did a contrast bump, just a little, and a little USM. Not a major difference from yours, but the eyes are a little lighter.

[Rain Lily]

Nope - it didn't come up bright like I have it on CS2. What's up with that? I'm showing my ignorance here...and you can't even tell the editing I did, but it's obvious when the pics are side by side when I'm working on them.

[Rain Lily]

Here it is side by side to see what you think. I still can't figure out the color differences.
Original is on the left.

[Rain Lily]

How about this one? You can't even tell the difference in the other one I did, grrrr.

After that editing I did, then I just came back and brought it up in levels. Maybe too far, HAHA

I give up...LOL

[Rain Lily]

Going to bed now, in defeat...sigh...

[transcape5]

Pretty cool effect, Bob. Wow, 8th grader. He looks ready to be drafted.

Regarding the color differences, I'm wondering if it has something to do with the color space defined for this photo? I checked the EXIF info and it said "Uncalibrated" and I believe it's normally defined as sRGB here? I may be way off but just a thought...

[Bob Stothfang]

The one where you brought up the levels is similar to my original, I tried that too, but it looked really too bright on my original. I am going to send it off to my lab and see how it prints (WHCC).

I am really confused as to why it is showing up so dark on the web. I tried it on a another site also and the same thing happened.

Thanks for trying.

[Rain Lily]

Tom - that must be it, because the jersey is a wonderful bright red when I have it on CS2 and the flesh tones are really nice...

[Bob Stothfang]

I normally have it set to sRGB, I don't know why it changed for this image. I'll go check it.

[felix.reichardt]

Nice concept Bob! Now where did you get that PS smoke machine? Any link?

[Bob Stothfang]

I bought it at the local Target store, just check in their Halloween section. I think this is the only time of the year when they are readily available.