Shot from my first "portrait" shoot. Great eyes

[RMLPhoto]

This is the first time i've shot someone who was actually modeling for me. I don't have the proper lighting and used 3 lamps and the pop up flash with the diffuser but i gave it a heck of a try in my opinion.
It was a spur of the moment shoot at my college and we used a sheet for the backdrop. this is the first one I edited of the series.

I'm new to editing skin for portraits too. Be cruel but helpful. thanks
1a.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg68/Rlamphoto/_MG_0845rs.jpg

and here's the second one
2a.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg68/Rlamphoto/_MG_0842rs.jpg


OKAY HERE ARE THE RE-EDITS*** Let me know if these are any better.
1b.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg68/Rlamphoto/_MG_0845rs-1.jpg
2b.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg68/Rlamphoto/_MG_0842rs-1.jpg

And a try at a black and white shot.
3.
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg68/Rlamphoto/_MG_0829rs.jpg

[RMLPhoto]

Now that i look at it, the picture is a lot lighter online. Her face isn't as pale in the actual picture. but i'm going to stop critiquing it and leave it to you guys.

[A.ROW]

personally I like the shot and she looks great as well...I feel the crop is bit tight for me...and the shadow of the earring is a bit harsh for me...do u have a pic of her looking at her left instead?

[LBaldwin]

You are right she does have great eyes. But your lighting direction is poor. Never light ladies from below (only). Do you see that shadow along her nose and going into her left eye? Not very flattering. Your light is nice and soft so that keeps the hardness down but the shadow does not work.

Keep trying, and see what else you can come up with :-)

[A.ROW]

and by btw...she got great eyes....do u have a pic of her looking straight at the cam as well?

[RMLPhoto]

thanks for the advice guys. the ligthing was bothering me the whole shoot and I see what you mean about the shadows. Lighting is something I'm new to and it's going to take practice but I enjoy it.

Thanks for looking I'll post the next one of the set when I finish it

[DDCSD]

The skin smoothing looks a little overdone. Her nose blends in with her right cheek (camera left) a little too much for me. Good job on the eyes though! Not saying I can do any better, just what I see and looks like a pretty good starting point. :lol:

[RMLPhoto]

thanks i didn't notice the nose. i tried a little less smoothing on the second shot i just added

[Dramatis]

Gorgeous eyes! Nice hair as well though a hair light would have helped to bring out more detail. I'd actually like to see a touch more detail/texture in the skin. As it is the skin is starting to get that plastic look.

[RMLPhoto]

thanks for the advice. i'm new at the people editing aspect

[Flo]

You got the eyes down.spot on.I agree about the over PP.but that is an easy remedy.she is very pretty..

[AngryCorgi]

I really like the second one...the skin tone is interesting, but maybe a little too saturated. The first shot has the nose casting an apparently unwanted distracting shadow from your lower light source and might be the cause of the shadow under her eyes too (maybe from the cheeks?) causing a baggy eye look, but its a good first attempt. Lighting placement/strength is critical to making your shot work. The second one, the shadows are less apparent/non-distracting and looks good. Keep it up!

[RMLPhoto]

thanks for the comments.
Lamps suck as lighting sources and are hardly powerful enough.
As for the skin tone it's mostly a natural tone from makeup at least besides the apparent "overdone PP" but as for the oversatured, i didn't touch saturation at all to try to keep the look more real. For my own files i lightened up on the post processing, but have not posted them up here...yet.

thanks again for the help guys

[PETERSYMES]

You are right she does have great eyes. But your lighting direction is poor. Never light ladies from below (only). Do you see that shadow along her nose and going into her left eye? Not very flattering. Your light is nice and soft so that keeps the hardness down but the shadow does not work.

Keep trying, and see what else you can come up with :-)


I agree totally with the comment about the lighting direction and the resulting shadows.
I am affraid i aslo think the PP is a bit too much and she looks rather like a wax work, how did you do the skin PP?
You are right she has drop dead eyes.

[RMLPhoto]

i followed a tutorial that another member posted for the skin pp. i toned them down and will repost he results as soon as my universitys internet isn't slow

[RMLPhoto]

Alright guys how about some more critiquing on the re-edited pics

[Bill Boehme]

I agree totally with the comment about the lighting direction and the resulting shadows.
I am affraid i aslo think the PP is a bit too much and she looks rather like a wax work, how did you do the skin PP?
You are right she has drop dead eyes.

I agree with your assessment about the PP making it look too much like a wax work.

i followed a tutorial that another member posted for the skin pp. i toned them down and will repost he results as soon as my universitys internet isn't slow

I would take online tutorials with a grain of salt. They are usually one person's interpretation of smoothing and adjusting skin tones, but not necessarily what would be considered a "standard". And, while one of the most important parts of portrait photography is to have eyes that are sharp and bright, it is possible to over apply it. Getting it "right" is a delicate balance and you (or your customers) are the ultimate judge. While in the process of working on an image, it is fairly easy to lose track of the cumulative editing effects because each one, individually, is usually subtle and doesn't produce a radical change. Something that I do as a sanity check is to leave the image for a day or so and then return and make a side-by-side comparison with the original to judge with a, hopefully, fresh set of eyes to see what the overall change looks like. As often as not, I will conclude that I let my editing stray too far from my intent.

[DDCSD]

That B&W looks great.

[RMLPhoto]

thanks guys. any improvement on the retry edits?

[DDCSD]

I do like the re-edits much better. Something still seems off, I don't know if its the lighting or the PP, or just my vision being distorted from seeing the first trys or what it is.

Probably mostly the PP, but it is light years better than what I have been able to achieve so far.

[RMLPhoto]

I do like the re-edits much better. Something still seems off, I don't know if its the lighting or the PP, or just my vision being distorted from seeing the first trys or what it is.

Probably mostly the PP, but it is light years better than what I have been able to achieve so far.

I think i know what you mean. I really think it's her make up. in the original pic as well, her skin has different tones from her make-up.

In the second posts there is one layer of PP on the skin and it's only at 32% opacity.

PP is minimal at this point on the second pics and I hardly messed with the colors cause I didn't want to lose natural looks.