My First Coloring

[nebgranny]

Please be gentle, this is my very first real coloring try. I did not fool with skin tones , just wanted to practice working with masks and re-coloring . However this forum is a place full of very talented folks, therefore I do want your honest input, but where you see room for improvement , please post the steps of how to make your suggested improvement. Thanks Ever so much! Nebgranny

PS: I has taken me a long time to post any of my practice works. But finally made the big leap!!

[Kraellin]

it would seem you're still just a tiny bit paranoid of us....gotta attach the picture

Craig

[nebgranny]

I tried to download it twice and it just did not seem to want to go. LOL Will try again now! Neb

[Kraellin]

if you want an overall critque, i'd say crop out that top dark area. it's totally unnecessary to the image.

it could stand just a bit more sharpening overall.

the dog is a bit monotone yet. some shadows or other color in the fur would help.

the baby's dress is a bit over-white, but it is in bright sunlight. still, maybe turn it down a peg.

was this a black and white to begin with?

Craig

[nebgranny]

Thanks for the thought Craig.
Yes it is a black and white photo. I did nothing to the dog. No color at all. The dress was white and I colored it . I did nothing else to the pic but try and color my dress and grass. How and where do I sharpen the photo and I will crop out the black and see what I get. Thanks Neb

[Kraellin]

neb,

ok. wasnt sure how much you'd done. looks fine so far. i dont do coloring yet, so you're already ahead of what i can do

as for sharpening, you can try sharpen, sharpen more, or unsharpen mask. all shld be in your menu items somewhere. photoshop prolly has even more ways. are you using photoshop or something else? just be aware that most sharpening will add some noise. so, it's always a compromise, sharpen and get noise, reduce noise with blur, sharpen to get rid of blur and get more noise.....etc, ad infinitum.

the cropping is of course optional. some folks like to leave the whole picture, particularly older pics in the original form. i prefer to 'find the picture', in most cases, so it's just a matter of suiting yourself or a client.

good luck and keep posting

Craig

[nebgranny]

Here it is , with your suggested changes. Can you see any difference? Neb

[Flora]

Hi Neb,

I think this is just great!!!

Clean, great attention in the details ... no 'bleeding' colours ... very well done!!!

The fact that you get 'pale' colours on the little girl's dress and on the dog is only because the highlights are a bit too bright ...

I hope you don't mind, I downloaded your picture to show you the steps to tone down the highlights with it ....

[nebgranny]

Thanks Flora:I had a good , kind, patient , wonderful...lol teacher and tutorial! I do not mind you downloading. Where did you post it to? I would love to try it. Neb

[Kraellin]

neb,

yup. you 'found the picture'

Craig