Portrait Project: Processing Post - Editing

 After taking the photographs, it is time to do the editing. First, here is ZFC_5000.jpg. 

It was a coloured photograph before editing. But I want it to be black & white. So I choose Black & White at the right upper corner on the menu of Basic.

The following are the reasons why I used such settings. First, it was a bit underexposed so I increase the exposure directly so that the photograph would look brighter. I think in B&W, the photographs can have more contrast, so I set the contrast to +35. Since the photographs got brighter, the whites and highlights were slightly overexposed, and in order to reduce the light reflection on the skin of the model, I tune down the setting of the whites and highlights. The histogram shows that the photograph's shadow and blacks are way underexposed, so I set them to a positive settings, so that it can show more details on the shadows and blacks. To make it a bit softer while not losing any clarity, I slightly reduce the clarity and gain a bit more on dehaze. 

To give extra blacks and shadows, I move onto the tone curve that helps me to have extra settings. To gain more details, I set both of them to +20 to reach such results.

Then I move to Masking. 

In my opinion, it was a bit too bright on the right side of the photograph, so I used a masking layer to cover it. For the setting I used -57 and -77 for highlights and whites to give additional reduction on the lights from the right.

Lastly, I move to Effects, where I add vignetting to the photograph. To create a bit dark emotions to the photograph, I reduce the vignetting for 20 so that it can create a darker corners.

And this is how I complete the editing for ZFC_5000.

The next photo would be ZFC_5467.jpg. 

The following are the reasons why I used such settings. First, it was a bit underexposed so I increase the exposure directly to +0.60ev so that the photograph would look brighter. I think in B&W, the photographs can have more contrast, so I set the contrast to +30. Since the photographs got brighter, the highlights were slightly overexposed, and in order to reduce the light reflection on the skin of the model, I tune down the setting of highlights. The whites are set to positive 20, in order not to be very odd on the skins. The histogram shows that the photograph's shadow and blacks are way underexposed, so I set them to a positive settings, so that it can show more details on the shadows and blacks. To make it a bit softer while not losing any clarity, I slightly reduce the clarity and gain a bit more on dehaze.

Move on to the Tone Curve, I slightly reduce the light to have additional reduction. And of course, to make the shadows and the darks brighter, I set them +20 and +10 respectively.

I want this photograph to be a bit brighter, so I ignore the slightly overexposure at the right side, and therefore I did not add masking.