Just a Couple Edits from Tonight of Psychiatric Sunday

Just a few more edits I was able to squeeze in last night before bed from the "Psychiatric Sunday" shoot.

For this one I used the Technicolor Dream World Action

On this one I used the Oh Snap and then the Warm It Up Chris action:
Then I took the edit above and applied the Joey L Night Action to it and then in that layer I erased the face so that it wasn't so dark:

More to come!

Psychiatric Sunday VI Dark and Edgy

As I move through editing the series I'm figuring out more and more as to what I think the best processing techniques work best with this setting and these photos.

The hardest part of editing is that I feeli like I have to do multiple techniques to figure out what I like most and then I end up spending so much time editing a series.

So, that's what I'm really trying to focus on....looking at a photo and being able to say to myself that I know what the perfect post processing will be just by looking at it. I know this is possible but I just haven't gotten to that point yet.

Don't get me wrong, I like giving the subjects the variety...especially for a shoot like this that has so many opportunities for variety but it really makes post processing take a while.

I hope when I start doing formal portraits I develop some key styles that I love and stick with them so that I can quickly decide how I want to process them.

Here are the latest from the Psychiatric Sundays photo series from 3/9/08. I love how so many of the ones below came out!!

To view the entire series click HERE.



















Check out those eyes!

Psychiatric Sunday I

Today I got to do a fun shoot with Jen & Brittany (and my lovely assistant Tiffany). We had such a great time.

We did the photoshoot at the abandoned North Princeton Development Center (NPDC) compound. I call it a compound because NPDC sits on approximately 280 acres of land and at one time had over 100 buildings on the property. The center closed down about 10 years ago and all of the buildings now sit vacant (with an elementary school right in the middle of this creepy ghost town). Jen thought this would be a great place for a shoot and she was right! There were so many different boarded up buildings scattered on property that provided us a good backdrop for photo ops. Links regarding this location can be found at the bottom of this post.

The make-up and clothing were perfect for this "dark" shoot. I loved it! Here's a funny slideshow of some photos that Tiffany took of the "behind the scenes" moments at the photoshoot...notice my filty, dusty coat and the lovely black garbage bag hanging out of my pocket (handy for lying on the ground for shots! LOL!)...and of course we had to get Tiffany posing with all my gear. :)

I was only able to process a few before I need to head to sleep for the night so here are tonights favs:











And my favorite one that I processed tonight:



Check out the links below to learn more about the abandoned North Princeton Development Center (NPDC) in Skillman, NJ.

LINK 1 - LINK 2 - LINK 3 - LINK 4

LINK 5 - LINK 6 - LINK 7 - LINK 8

Part II can be seen HERE.

Part III can be seen HERE.

Psychiatric Sunday II

I worked on quite a few edits of this series tonight. Be prepared...until I'm done editing the series you're going to see a lot of it!

Part I of the series can be seen HERE.

Part III can be seen HERE.

I posted this photo in yesterday's blog post, but then tonight, I applied a texture to it and I think it came out pretty interesting:



For this one I applied an action on this photo that applied a blur and texture around the subjects. I love the result...especially of the color:



Cross process worked so well for this one:



I applied many actions to this one but I think I like it best in color:



I like the look of this one...



Then I took the processed one above and applied a bronzed action over it:





Color version with a painting with light effect on the subjects:



Then I applied a number of different actions over it for the next few versions. This shot was my favorite that I edited for the day:



Darker with a blur around the subjects:





Texture over the subject:



A wide angle of the shot above with a little bit of a different angle:



Same shot in color with a bleach action on it:

Psychiatric Sunday V

More from this evening:

When we were at the site I saw this tree immediately and knew I had to get them posing in front of it. I love when there are great discoveries that you didn't realize you'd have at your disposal.

I love the dark look of this photo's post-processing...it really grabs me. The posing is what made it for me as well. I asked Brittany to crouch down like that in comparison to Jen standing tall with her post and the tree standing tall in the distance. The balance works so well.

I wasn't sure how it would come out but I when I saw the shots on the LCD I loved the stagged appearance of the models with the tree (maybe one day I will clone out the stupid piece of tall grass that got in my way. Thank goodness after this shot I saw it and squashed it.) :)

I like the low perspective of this one and the way Jen is covering her face here. Normally I would want a tree coming out of the back of someone's head but this one just has a majestic feel with that crazy tree and branches coming from every which way.



I really love this one of Brittany. How could I not? Her look off into the distance, the crouch in the scattering of leaves all worked so well in this photo.

We couldn't have found a cooler location for this shoot!

I used a the "RUSTY CAGE" action on this shot from Boutwell's Totally Rad Actions (Caffeine Jolt). It gave the shot a surreal, warm & somewhat darker look...

I also did it in B&W and I love the effect it had on the photo so I'm having a hard time deciding between the two of them. I guess I can like both equally! :)

This is the black & white one of the same photo. A whole different feel in Black & White! For this action I especially love the contrast and the vignetted/burned edges. Makes you really focus on the subject.



This landscape (wide) version of this scene is my favorite between the one above and this one. This conversion is great! I decided to use a black & white action that has an infrared look to it. The action is from ITTY BITTY ACTIONS and this is the first time I'm trying it.

For this one I did a Photoshop action that blurs the entire photo and then you erase back in the parts that you want to be in focus.

The effect that the photo above had on the scene really made Brittany pop out of the background and the soft feel of the background is very dream-like to me.



Again, I'm not usually a fan of the tree coming out of he head of a model but for this tree I knew I wanted a really low feel so I crouched down and took the shot from below the girls. I love their looks as if something is in the distance...



I love this one of Jen. The look on her face is perfect and the way she is leaning against Brittany. Even the positioning of Brittany's hand is perfect on her head. I was worried that it would have the same impact without seeing Brittany's face, etc but I think this speaks volumes just the way it is. I know people hate "blown highlights" but they don't bother me here. I want a HARSH crazy feel to these!

I also love this edit with the a Lomo Cross Processing action on it:



Well folks...that's all for tonight! More to come tomorrow (and the next day and the next day and the next day)... LOL!

Be on the look out for more of this series.

All I Had Time For Tonight

This is all I had time to edit tonight from the "Psychiatric Sunday" series...it's 3:40 am and I need to get to sleep.

My mom is coming over tomorrow and she promised to let me do some portraits of her. I'm looking forward to that.

Here a few of Jen & Brittany:

Oh Snap! and Warm It Up Chris actions applied to this one:

In Dark B&W by Itty Bitty Actions

How could you NOT love this one? This place was perfect for this shoot!

Lights on Action applied and then Dark B&W by Itty Bitty Actions applied:



With Texture over the one above: