Portrait of Ivana

[raztazor]

Any feedback welcome.

Which one do you prefer? The soft b&w or the original colour version?

[cactusclay]

I think I like the BW better, but her face looks sort of mottled in both, maybe it's my monitor.

[raztazor]

Thanks for the feedback. Ok so after some Photoshop airbursing does this look better? (No.3)

[cactusclay]

I can't see a big difference. The truth of the matter is that without catchlights in the eyes, it looks a bit drab, but if you had that it would be a very nice shot.

[jfrancho]

I like them both, but prefer the color. The b&w makes her face appear a little longer, and that isn't a criticism. I think catchlights in the eyes add innocence to female portaits, and I think that might contradict the expression on her face. Truth is, I don't really like catchlights. It's like pinstriping a hotrod - yeah, it's nice, but is it necessary? I can see what cactusclay means, though. Maybe a little brightness and saturation in the irises would help. I know this is in the critique section, but it is hard to find fault with a photo that so perfectly says "Really? I'm game." Nice job.

[flyfishnj]

Color

[tim]

It needs some softening. I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of playing with it in photoshop. You like? If you want to know how, read "advanced skin softening" in this book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0735714118/qid=1104898472/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-8492772-1787304?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).

http://mrwild.co.nz/unprotected/potn/Image_0383sm_2.jpg

[raztazor]

Tim, I like it a lot as it demonstrates what can be done by skillful post processing and I am going to buy the book you've recommended. I'm in the UK so I can't buy via your link though. Thanks for the tip about the book and posting your version of the photo.

catcusclay, jfranco. I think in hindsight I should have readjusted the lights for this photo as now you've mentioned I do think the eyes are a bit dark.

[tim]

Amazon.co.uk will have the same book, just search by title. I rekon I can do better, I just did a duotone version, plus the skin could do with a little more softening.

[jfrancho]

I absolutely hate what tim did to this photo. However, it is a good demonstration of the technique.

[tim]

Really? It's just removing the pores really, but each to their own. It depends on what you're trying to do with the pic.

[jfrancho]

Like you said, it depends on what you are using the pic for. If it is a for a skin care ad, de-pore like crazy. But, I think softening the skin sometimes flattens the image. Also, no matter how carefully you soften the skin, you are removing other minute features adding to the models expression. Don't take me the wrong way, her skin looks much better in your edit. However, I don't like what it did to this photo.

[D4VE]

I would of been a touch more sublte with the post processing, but I guess it depends what you want to do with the image.
I like the colour and B+W personally, the colour one is nice and bright.

[tim]

Here's a duotone I spent 45 seconds on.

[D4VE]

Very nicely done Tim.

Ivana, is she Russian?

[Titus213]

Sorry, the lady is very pretty but the shadows look like bruises on my monitor. Something wrong with the light direction? Shadows where there shouldn't be any? But as a disclaimer, I don't know a lot about photography. Yet. I like Tim's re-work but the shadows still show.

[tim]

You can remove shadows in photoshop, but it's better to light it properly to start with. I didn't notice them, but someone else I showed it to said the same thing about the shadows under the eyes.

[TSEE]

I've always been partial to B&W portraits of people. However the softened color version looks nice too. Good job!

[RAitch]

Here's my 10 minutes of play... and after saving itself about 3 times to get it under 100K it lost a bit of quality. Sorry!!

Perhaps it's a little too sharp (from triple-saving a JPG) but generally that's how I prefer my B&W portraits.

Using a larger base image would produce a much nicer effect.

[raztazor]

It's seems I've started a creative editing streak.

Titus, you are correct about the shadows around the eyes and this was highlighted by the initial posters. The photo could have been good but is flawed. I've learnt a lot from the honest feedback.

Tim, of the two, I like your 1st enhancement (colour version) and now I've bought the book you've recommended. hopefully should arrive soon. When I compare my b&w version to your b&w I see the flaws in the original photo and think yours is much better.

Raitch, I actually like your bright version but I think you've done what I did which was to highlight the blemishes in the skin when converting to b&w. Which version did you use as a source?

[RAitch]

Blemishes? I don't see any... mind you, I can see her pores, but that's natural looking to me.

I could have fixed that up. When I created my sharpened layer, I could have brushed a mask over her face to reveal the softer layer beneith (much like how I kept the eyes light after I used a softlight layer to boost contrast). If that's what you were aiming for, I could give it another shot. I didn't save the PS file so I'll have to start over... but Psing is fun!!!

I started with the original colour image's red channel. There's more then 1 way to get a B&W image in PS!!! From there I think I added a softlight adjustment layer but then masked out the eyes to keep them lighter. I may have added a second adjustment layer with about a 40% opacity... I can't remember. Then I used an USM filter at about .5 and 350 to bring out the detail. I didn't realize how soft the picture was until I saw it next to an extreme soft layer. From there, all I'd need to do is erase the sharp layer copy around her skin and there you go!!

I'll give it another shot here and I'll post v2 if my baby cooperates.

[RAitch]

Alright, I like this one better. I toned down the sharpness a bit and masked out her skin so it remained unsharpened.

I think this is a nice improvement. Any other comments? It seems every time you redo something in PS it turns out better.
This time I saved the PS file so I can make further adjustments easier.

If anybody else wants some more detailed instructions on how I did this... I'd be glad to help. As long as you share some PS tips in return.

[pradeep1]

Here is my try at this:

[theman]

Looks like the make-up job could have been done a little better, but the composition is wonderful, she is looking at me you know.

[raztazor]

Here is another crop of Ivana. It's the same photo but less cropped. I've taken all the feedback given so far on this thread and created this version which is duotoned and converted back to RGB and then I used a photofilter 81 at 15%. Also prior to resizing it I had softened up face a bit and lightened it as well. Now it has a nice sepia look to it (well on my screen it does)

I think the crop is more revealing (as you can almost see) and the next time I'll remember to move the lights to be lower when the model gets on the floor. :-)

I am still learning a great deal and have enjoyed the feedback. I especially like seeing everyone's attempt to have a go to fix the photo as it provides great feedback for comparison. I hope you like the photo. I kept it at the same dimensions as the original for posting and so it reveals less of the flaws (I think).

[exposingmyself]

:D Hey Tim can you soften up my pores like that tooooooooooo!

[tim]

Sure post a pic, it doesn't take long. Google should have instructions how if you want to do it yourself.