Portrait for christmas gift

[Reschsmooth]

Last August, my father was diagnosed with Leukaemia and was in full remission and back to work by Christmas.

On his birthday in May this year, I took this shot of my parents (not a posed shot as such - no flash, etc). Whilst the shot itself may not be the best, I liked the context of it.

Now, I want to print this off on A3 size, frame it and give it to my parents for Christmas this year.

I have played around with it in PS, creating layers, desaturating the background layer and reducing the opacity of the top colour layer, playing with curves to slightly increase contrast, etc.

Now, can I borrow from the deep, deep pool of talent and experience to get your opinion on how I can make the photo really worthy of a largish print? I have posted the original, unprocessed version below.

I accept the photo is a little soft.

Even if you think that it isn't worth printing large (apart from my own sentimental reasons for doing so), feel free to let me know.

(For whatever reason, I don't generally feel comfortable posting images of family members anywhere on the net, but really want to tap into this the Dslrusers resources for this one).

Many thanks.

[Oz_Beachside]

I really like the image, and know it will be well received.

On topic, as for suggestions for printing...

I see this in a nice frame, therefore, my first thoughts were to crop to Portrait Orientation.

Perhaps leave height as is, and crop from male shoulder on left, to female shoulder on right?

Cheers,
Oz

[PiroStitch]

That's a very nice shot. Particularly like the rim lighting created by the lounge room light.

I probably wouldn't want to go overboard with the PP on this photo because it's great as is. But if you want to do something, make it so that it's minimal and that the essence of the photo is not lost from the additional PP.

Here's a quick 5 min job.



Basically duplicated the image as a seperate layer. Applied Gaussian blur of 3px. Set the opacity to about 50% to maintain the softness. Merged the layers. Duplicate the layer again, desaturated a bit and set layer blend option to soft light. Adjust the curve to bring the darker elements up a bit.

Also best wishes to you and your family, particularly your dad. Whatever you end up doing with the photo, I'm sure it will be a treasured photo for generations to come in your family.

[Reschsmooth]

Thanks for the quick feedback guys, and the rework Piro - I like the effect and will give it a go.

Oz, I first tried the portrait orientation but something didn't sit right with it. However, I will try it again.

This feedback, in very short amount of time, illustrates clearly the strength of this forum! Thanks guys.

Re your comment regarding treasure for generations to come, I have two photos of relatives, one of which is over 150 years old. It would be great if my great, great, great grandchildren can look at this pic of their great (x4) grandparents.

On a side note, regarding leukaemia, my father is a vet and has therefore basically self-diagnosed illnesses for something like 45 years (and is as stubborn as hell). The form of leukaemia he had was the acute version which doesn't take long to have a fatal effect, but is more easily treatable. The point - if you feel anything 'not right', get it checked sooner rather than later. Don't let stubborness get in the way of your health! As mentioned, due to early detection and the FANTASTIC care at Westmead hospital, he was back at work within 5 months of first diagnosis - and he was 63 at the time.

P

[Aussie Dave]

I wonder what a square crop would look like...just another idea....

[Reschsmooth]

I wonder what a square crop would look like...just another idea....

Interesting idea, and one of the reasons I love medium format! (not that I have had much experience with them as yet).

I will give it a go.

Cheers

P

[PiroStitch]

Well encourage him to be stubborn as well so that he's too stubborn to let the illness overcome him

[Reschsmooth]

Well encourage him to be stubborn as well so that he's too stubborn to let the illness overcome him

We all joked that his stubborness was what saw him through the whole thing.

Thanks for the kind words!

P

[shutterbug]

Maybe try Portrait Orientation (Oz) or Pano ( Just cut top area off).

You can also think about printing it on canvas.

Just keep the PS simple, what you did looks ok or maybe try B&W?