# Jena- Experimental Surreal Edit



## DanOstergren (Apr 7, 2015)

I've been putting together a photo book for myself over the last two days of my favorite shots (I have zero prints of my own work), so I've been combing through my archived shoots looking for anything I may want to include, and came across this shot from last Summer that I hadn't touched. It's not perfect (I really wish I had pinned her clothing during the shoot), but when I saw it I was inspired to try out an idea I had using adjustment layer masks. I went a little out of my comfort zone with this edit, but I really like the result I got and plan to try the same technique out on more photos in the future. 

Anyway, here's the shot, and I'll include a before/after as well. 
Natural light. 
EOS 5D MKI
85mm @ f/5.6
1/1000 sec
ISO 500







Before/after:


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## D-B-J (Apr 7, 2015)

Beautifully processed, Dan. I like it. Do you think the leaves would look a bit less distracting if you darkened them a bit? It's not that I find them overly distracting now, but I find myself looking at them in almost the same amount of time that I spend looking at the subject. 

I wish I could process like you.. 
Jake 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Braineack (Apr 7, 2015)

love it, bro!


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## mishele (Apr 7, 2015)

The edit is amazing!! It blows the original out of the water!! Nicely done!


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## runnah (Apr 7, 2015)

Did you desaturate and recolor the leaves or just do a hue shift?


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## sscarmack (Apr 7, 2015)

Not that I don't like all your other work, bc I do.

But this may be one of my favorites! Amazing edit.

And I'm extremely curious as to what her tattoos are haha


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## ronlane (Apr 7, 2015)

Nice one Dan.


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## Braineack (Apr 7, 2015)

runnah said:


> Did you desaturate and recolor the leaves or just do a hue shift?



I think he used the selective color layer filter.


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## MRnats (Apr 7, 2015)

Great job!


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## runnah (Apr 7, 2015)

Braineack said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> > Did you desaturate and recolor the leaves or just do a hue shift?
> ...



Nah that wouldn't work with so much variance. 

The reason I ask is because the leaves look a bit flat tonally which lead me to believe it was a desat then a blend layer.


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## Designer (Apr 7, 2015)

Excellent!


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## DanOstergren (Apr 7, 2015)

runnah said:


> Did you desaturate and recolor the leaves or just do a hue shift?


I used a hue/saturation adjustment layer with a mask. I mainly only changed the hues of the yellow channel, and yes I lowered the saturation just a little bit. Without reducing the saturation I felt that they were too vibrant, and I wanted a more subtle color gradient throughout the entire shot.


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## IronMaskDuval (Apr 7, 2015)

I would love the photo and agree with everyone else that it is excellent, but I cannot, because you are using an outdated camera that only has 12 megapixels and shoots at 3fps; therefore, it cannot be a good photo. Sorry. Had it been a MKII with 1 cross sensor, the photo might have turned out, but who knows?


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## DanOstergren (Apr 7, 2015)

IronMaskDuval said:


> I would love the photo and agree with everyone else that it is excellent, but I cannot, because you are using an outdated camera that only has 12 megapixels and shoots at 3fps; therefore, it cannot be a good photo. Sorry. Had it been a MKII with 1 cross sensor, the photo might have turned out, but who knows?


Bye Felicia.


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## DanOstergren (Apr 7, 2015)

For anyone interested in knowing, it took 17 layers and quite a few hours to get to the final image.


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## The_Traveler (Apr 7, 2015)

I like the edit but her 'chestal area' is brighter than anything else.


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## BrickHouse (Apr 7, 2015)

Wow. Great stuff! I love that her tattoos are just visible enough to kill with curiosity about what they are. Brilliant! Go ahead and send one of those photo books to my house while you're at it.


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## DanOstergren (Apr 8, 2015)

The_Traveler said:


> I like the edit but her 'chestal area' is brighter than anything else.


You're right; I burned it a bit, but could probably take it a little further.


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## DanOstergren (Apr 8, 2015)

BrickHouse said:


> Wow. Great stuff! I love that her tattoos are just visible enough to kill with curiosity about what they are. Brilliant! Go ahead and send one of those photo books to my house while you're at it.


I'll gladly send you one if you want to pay for it!

I've already picked my cover for it. I'm SO excited to finally have it!


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## BrickHouse (Apr 8, 2015)

Great cover!


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## MichaelHenson (Apr 8, 2015)

Yeah, your processing is inspirational! Great work!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Austin Greene (Apr 8, 2015)

DanOstergren said:


> For anyone interested in knowing, it took 17 layers and quite a few hours to get to the final image.



The image is great, and I appreciate the screenshot! I've been trying to nail down similar color-grading lately and it just doesn't come easy. 

As for the book, who're you printing with?


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## DanOstergren (Apr 9, 2015)

Austin Greene said:


> DanOstergren said:
> 
> 
> > For anyone interested in knowing, it took 17 layers and quite a few hours to get to the final image.
> ...


I haven't decided yet. WHCC and Artisan State are two that I'm considering for their lay-flat books. I'm happy to take suggestions though.


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## kdthomas (Apr 9, 2015)

DanOstergren said:


> I've been putting together a photo book for myself over the last two days of my favorite shots (I have zero prints of my own work), so I've been combing through my archived shoots looking for anything I may want to include, and came across this shot from ...



This is really great work, Dan ... I'm glad to hear about the book, I really hope it does well for you (and hope to be in that position myself someday  ). Based on what I've seen you post I'm sure it'll do well


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## DanOstergren (Apr 9, 2015)

kdthomas said:


> DanOstergren said:
> 
> 
> > I've been putting together a photo book for myself over the last two days of my favorite shots (I have zero prints of my own work), so I've been combing through my archived shoots looking for anything I may want to include, and came across this shot from ...
> ...


Thank you. 

I should clarify, the book is just something I'm having printed for myself. I'm not publishing a book (yet).


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## Ironlegs (Apr 10, 2015)

Your skills with natural light are incredible, post processing style too.


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## DanOstergren (Apr 10, 2015)

Ironlegs said:


> Your skills with natural light are incredible, post processing style too.


Thank you.


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## acparsons (Apr 10, 2015)

I think that her skin needs to be a tad brighter in the photo and the leaves should pop a bit more. However, that could just be my monitor.


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## DanOstergren (Apr 10, 2015)

acparsons said:


> I think that her skin needs to be a tad brighter in the photo and the leaves should pop a bit more. However, that could just be my monitor.


Thanks for the feedback.


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## frommrstomommy (Apr 10, 2015)

I really like this. Makes me want to attempt an outside of the box edit for fun sometime soon.


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## annamaria (Apr 10, 2015)

Love that edit! You defiantly have a knack for processing.


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## DanOstergren (Apr 10, 2015)

frommrstomommy said:


> I really like this. Makes me want to attempt an outside of the box edit for fun sometime soon.


You should! I tend to learn a lot when I start getting more creative with my edits.


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## frommrstomommy (Apr 11, 2015)

When my husband is finally able to leave Arizona and get his butt here to Florida with my desktop I will! lol All I have is LR on this laptop and editing on this thing is horrific.


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## beagle100 (Apr 13, 2015)

excellent processing


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## DanOstergren (Apr 14, 2015)

annamaria said:


> Love that edit! You defiantly have a knack for processing.





beagle100 said:


> excellent processing


Thank you.


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## DanOstergren (Apr 14, 2015)

frommrstomommy said:


> When my husband is finally able to leave Arizona and get his butt here to Florida with my desktop I will! lol All I have is LR on this laptop and editing on this thing is horrific.


Not too long from now I'm going to start giving lessons over video chat and making some tutorials for youtube. I'll be sure to post something here about it when I do.


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## terri (Apr 17, 2015)

Lovely!


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