Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic - Well chuffed about my recent developments

semmickphoto · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 4:32 am

Out of my last 77 submissions I had a 100% approval rate. Which is pretty awesome if you ask me. Either they had a lenient reviewer, or I have approved my skills and understanding of stock. I had my BDE yesterday and this is my BME since I started.

Laurin will be pleased to see that this one was good enough to get accepted ;-) (I think/hope)

And this one was taken, handheld, by myself, of me and my girl, in focus. I am getting better at this :)

hhltdave5 · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 6:57 am

You are progressing nicely Ron. Keep it up. I remember when you first got here there was a touch of resistance in accepting what we were telling you. That is a reaction we get pretty often when your work is closely critiqued. But, you came to grips with it and are now using what you have learned. Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing your next thousand shots :)

rinder99 · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 9:37 am

+1 and good on ya bro.

robhainer · Joined: 03 May 2010 Posts: 2746 Location: Dallas, GA, USA

If only I knew what chuffed meant, I could respond correctly. I'm guessing it means happy. So congratulations.

ruxpriencdiam · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 11:51 am

dlovely · Joined: 26 Oct 2009 Posts: 626

Hi Ron,

Being Canadian, I love this processed shot! Good one and congrats.

Care to share how you over-layed the flag while keeping the pours and skin texture of the face visible? Really interesting set of faces you got there!

Tanis

semmickphoto · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 12:06 pm

Thanks everyone.

And yes, Chuffed means over the moon ! ;-)

ruxpriencdiam · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 12:07 pm

I tried this.

Some simple layering.

semmickphoto · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 12:10 pm

Ola Tanis,

Yes I worked with mask overlay.

The trick is to change the bottom photo to black and white and make it a bit darker. I reduced the reds.

Then I just did an overlay mask and the effect of the pours and skin became visible.

When changing the face to black and white, make sure you have isolated the eye so it keeps the color.

Once the background photo and flag are in place. Apply another mask on the flag and then remove the part of the eye.

Cheers.

rinder99 · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 3:20 pm

I see a niche emerging. Start shooting elements to use in your designs. very Popular.

semmickphoto · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 3:27 pm

ktgraphics · Joined: 16 Jan 2008 Posts: 819 Location: Ont, Canada

ruxpriencdiam · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 10:56 pm

robhainer · Joined: 03 May 2010 Posts: 2746 Location: Dallas, GA, USA

Well, I was really "chuffed" until Thursday, when all of a sudden my sales took a nose dive like it was 2010. I'm hoping it has something to do with the holiday weekend.

dlovely · Joined: 26 Oct 2009 Posts: 626

Thanks for sharing Rob! I tried it out .... pretty cool! It was the "overlay" step that I was missing when I tried this.

I feel like your images (especially the brick wall eye) have a look of actually being face painted! I don't think my attempt is quite there yet... back to playing! I think I will try a colour overlay to see how that looks.

I love this forum because most everyone is willing to share their 'secrets' to help others!

Thanks again!