Working with flash

I think you could have shot it in landscape orientation. There's nothing above her except that painting, which takes away from the picture anyways. Could have left more room at the bottom to show more of the bed and her fingers. A better expression from the person/model would have also helped. She looks a little out of it.

That's my take on the picture!

The only thing that bothers me is the out-of-focus face above the subject. Is there some connection? It's not obvious. If not, it's just a distraction. Was the flash the source of the light on her right side? Maybe too far too the side. The light looks a little cool too.

I agree about the photo above the subject it is very distracting. Definitely recommend removing it. Also what am I seeing on the right side of the nose. Might consider bumping temperature up a bit. With a few tweaks I think you would have a good image.

One additional thing that I would fix is the dark fade on the right side (her left) eye. It kinda looks like she has a black eye if you focus on just the eye, and almost blends into the dark hair. Not critical just something I noticed.

NinjaKix wrote in post #14617414

I like this picture but something seems off to me and I cant put my finger on it. What could I have done to make this better?

If you would turn image editing on I could show you an edit I created from a couple of photoshop masters. Not saying I am up to their class in workmanship/editing skills but I am learning.

Thorrulz wrote in post #14619301
If you would turn image editing on I could show you an edit I created from a couple of photoshop masters. Not saying I am up to their class in workmanship/editing skills but I am learning.

Ok it's on.

Thanks for all the feedback. I figured the painting above her head would be a distraction, but wanted to see if it could work. Also, I had to mess w/ the color temp of her face because she was actually sun-burned. I had a VERY difficult time trying to make it look more natural.

Be careful with the pic in the background, with it so far from the subject it becomes a subject itself. And the dark line separating them both makes that more obvious.

If the colour is an issue then try black and white? Landscape would have worked better.

NinjaKix wrote in post #14617414

I like this picture but something seems off to me and I cant put my finger on it. What could I have done to make this better?

Thanks for the permission to give it a go.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/rickzphoto/7424​834540/

Thorrulz wrote in post #14619992
Thanks for the permission to give it a go.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/rickzphoto/7424​834540/
DSC_0854 by RickZPhoto, on Flickr

What I did was:
The subject is laying her head down on her arms so that will help flatten the face. On a female client you want to preferably "slim" the body & face just a bit.
I first opened the pic in photoshop and copied a new layer. Then used the (Control+T) shortcut and took the overall width down to no more than 95% ffrom 100%. If you do this step women tend to like the photo more due to their face and body tends to look less "fat". I went a step further and opened the new layer up with the liquify filter and stretched the lower chin portion a tad and used the forward warp tool on the right side of the subjects face to reverse the compression that gets introduced from them posing in that manner. Now the most important part of this step and trust me this came straight from Scott Kelby, Don't ever tell them you did it. Let them believe the lie, and they will everytime. Just don't overdue it.

Next I smoothed the skin just a bit. brightened the eyes and smoothed plus darkened the lips.
I used the curves layer to lighten the shadows part of the image. Not much but I concentrated on the left portion of the subjects face and hair.
I created a black and white layer and set the opacity to around 20% overlayed with the luminosity selection.
Now to create a frame within a frame I personally liked, I created a new layer and selected the brush size and color using the upper dark line going across the headboard. I used the brush set to zero hardness because of the scenes settings.

Thanks again for the permission and I think it is a great image even if all you would do is just the 95% rule and the border without any more processing.

sorry but her faces now seems awkward, and I believe she looked prettier in the original image posted here...

rmsprs wrote in post #14620002
sorry but her faces now seems awkward, and I believe she looked prettier in the original image posted here...

That is why I stated that even if you only use the 95% rule and a border it is still a very good image. Face molding and restructuring is subjective and a personal taste that can easily be overdone of course. But anytime there is compression as there is in this photo it can help even things out. It really helps to have other photo's of your subject in various poses so you can go by what their facial shape is in those as well. It give the editer a better idea of when they have gone to far.

I thought it made the face look a bit akward at first also but then realized that if you look at the edited shot by itself the face looks good. It is only when you compare it against the original that it seems distorted. I prefer the edit.

It looks like you applied a reddish tone to the image which makes her skin seem off.

The goal of my edit was to:
Improve skin tone
Brighten her eyes to make them the focal point
Blur the painting in the background to minimize it more.

I'm not sure how successful my edit is, particularly her skin tone but here it is none the less.

Northwoods Bill wrote in post #14620074
I thought it made the face look a bit akward at first also but then realized that if you look at the edited shot by itself the face looks good. It is only when you compare it against the original that it seems distorted. I prefer the edit.

I should also note you never show them the before and after either.
Thanks Northwoods Bill.