[News] 『A BALLADS 2』on sale 2021.04.08 [II]

[BlackSilence]

Originally Posted by sora-kara

It's literally just a shallow focal length. Her eyes (or just the one in the lying down cover) are in focus, then the rest of the image slowly falls out of focus. It's a technique to give a soft, intimate, dreamy and romantic look.
Skin imperfections can be easily hidden with photoshop, so that's not likely what they're trying to do here.

It's nice seeing all the buzz and activity in the forum right now. The way she's rolling out updates is fun and certainly giving us lots to talk about!

You took the words out of my mouth. Can't expect people who don't mess with photography know of these things. lol However, i have to say, me as a total amateur could do this sort of crap and get away with it, but a pro photographer? They should know their stuff to be able to get the focal point in control, right where it needs to be and the rest softly blurring out. This looks like something i could take rather than an actual pro lol It's all over the place... The skin thing? I mean how often do we ACTUALLY see skin texture in Japanese covers? or anything for that matter. The faces are airbrushed to oblivion, sometimes to the point where it looks like it was taken with a phone camera rather than professional equipment. The light, to me from what i know and by the reflection in her eyes - it looks like a massive panoramic window to me.

Natural light can be very harsh but also very flattering, if you know what you're doing and get a good angle to "wash out" the imperfections.

[Toniayu123]

Originally Posted by artcika

The skin thing? I mean how often do we ACTUALLY see skin texture in Japanese covers? or anything for that matter. The faces are airbrushed to oblivion, sometimes to the point where it looks like it was taken with a phone camera rather than professional equipment.

True. And I don’t dislike it. Her skin is always edited to perfection (and nicely done imo). I said in this case it looks like those kind of pics where blur is used to hide imperfections (myself included with PicsArt lol). I studied photography for only a year so I’m not a pro at all, it’s true what you guys mention, it is just so poorly done that I didn’t even think that could be the case

[sora-kara]

Originally Posted by Toniayu123

True. And I don’t dislike it. Her skin is always edited to perfection (and nicely done imo). I said in this case it looks like those kind of pics where blur is used to hide imperfections (myself included with PicsArt lol). I studied photography for only a year so I’m not a pro at all, it’s true what you guys mention, it is just so poorly done that I didn’t even think that could be the case

I don't think they're sooo poorly done. They're fine photographically.
The cd only version is the weakest, where the focus isn't super crisp on her eyes. It feels more like the sharpest focus is on her nose or the top of her lip.

But for me, the most distracting part of the covers is that her lips are two different colours.

Orange on top. Pink on the bottom.