I keep messing with OCF

Here are couple pics I took of my girls. I was trying the "dramatic" light thing. LOL
I also attempted to soften the skin and sharpen eyes through layers.
What do you think?

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mszuminski/6172​190604/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mszuminski/6172​190564/

skin looks a little rubbery in the second maybe too much softening and WB
i would remove the dark spots on the first

I could have lowered the opacity for the skin softening.
I only desaturated the second one a bit. you think the WB should have been cooler or warmer?
Are you referring to the dark spots under the right eye?

1. My eyes tend to go straight to that curl on the dark side of her face. Im not certain that is where you want the viewer to look. Im afraid the skin retouch is a bit much for my tastes. It doesn't look as realistic as it could. When the skin is blurred, it loses a lot of the texture, which then makes it look porcelain. There is quite a bit of noise in the first pic on the dark side as well. I think maybe a reflector used for fill would have helped this one out quite a bit. Throwing just a bit of light on the dark side would still make it dramatic.
2. I think there is a bit too much that has gone absolutely black in the frame. Also the retouch as mentioned above is an issue here too. Her hair above her ear is in focus, but the earring is not. Also there is one hair that is catching light on her nose that interrupts the continuity of the picture. (that's all the nitpicking)
Nice Job though. A few tweaks here and there...
Keep Shooting

Interesting lighting but the fall off is too quick and the dark side is way too dark for my tastes. There appears to be no detail at all in the shadows - and there are a lot of shadows.

Thank you.
Keep shooting sounds like a plan.