Portrait Edit

Hello

I'm starting to get into portraits, and I'd love some critique on my editing. I've only had friends comment, so I'd love some real, honest critique.

Does the editing look OK on this or has it been taken too far?

Original:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/44385477@N08/8​212453827/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/44385477@N08/8​213604498/

I think your skin work is good. You might clone out that vertical bright strand of hair in the upper right.
The crop seems too tight to me.

Qbx wrote in post #15282420
I think your skin work is good. You might clone out that vertical bright strand of hair in the upper right.
The crop seems too tight to me.

Way too close. I don't think you'd be that close in person unless you were about to kiss her. Otherwise, I think your skin work looks pretty good.

Skye:

Nice work!
Her eyes and the mouth are sharp and your skin smoothing stayed in the right areas. The nose might be a little over-smoothed...the vertical line from the tip of the nose toward a point below between the eyes is often kept sharper than the rest of the face treatment. The tip of the nose may have lost just a little bit too much of its original texture [and this is a VERY MINOR nitpic].

I am a fan of the tight crop. Just make sure you mix it up with looser crops if you do a series. Some "conventional wisdom" says to never crop the chin (forehead is ok to crop). I tend to keep the chin, but don't always keep it either.

You've been a member for quite a while...this is an excellent post. [You also captured some great images from Sea World--the dolphins in flying formation is a great shot.]

Welcome to posting on POTN!
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks everyone!
Yeah the crop is probably too tight, but I was more concerned about skin treatment so wasn't focused so much on that aspect.

But that is good to know! I'll keep it in mind

Qbx wrote in post #15282420
I think your skin work is good. You might clone out that vertical bright strand of hair in the upper right.
The crop seems too tight to me.

I didn't notice that. Thanks! Will keep an eye out for little things like that in the future.

cpam.pix wrote in post #15282520
Skye:
The nose might be a little over-smoothed...the vertical line from the tip of the nose toward a point below between the eyes is often kept sharper than the rest of the face treatment. The tip of the nose may have lost just a little bit too much of its original texture [and this is a VERY MINOR nitpic].

Thanks. I was concerned about the nose. I thought I might have lost too much in that area.

Thanks for your input everyone! It's good to hear strangers opinions. Friends and family are nice, but you can't trust them : P