New studio work with Justine

Hey everyone. I had the pleasure of working with Justine about a month ago. The shoot gave me some images to practice some new editing techniques (mainly dodge & burn). C&C welcome.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/65090783@N05/9​563369392/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/65090783@N05/9​563369920/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/65090783@N05/9​563370274/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/65090783@N05/9​560577997/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/65090783@N05/9​560577595/

Great job. I don't have much experience with portrait work, but all of these seem very nice. #3 is my favorite.

Thanks! Some of these images represent a newer style of shooting for me too. I'm always looking to try new things out. The key is to have great talent to shoot so that no matter what you'll end up with something usable.

I like the first two and the black and whites; very nice work. That middle one doesn't seem to fit with the others though. It's a fine image, but doesn't have the polished look of the first two.

They're beautiful shots but, at least for me, the skin is way past over done.

Dr. Lazarus: The middle one was kind of a one-off in the set. I just liked her gaze in that one.

Saea501: Thanks for the feedback. Just out of curiosity, what about the skin exactly makes it look "way past over done"?

Opened up the thread - and POW !!!
the first one is just beautiful; I might not be as masterful as many on this Forum, but to me that first image, as a stand alone, is absolutely stunning.
I'd be thrilled with that.

Ten Ounce wrote in post #16227035
Saea501: Thanks for the feedback. Just out of curiosity, what about the skin exactly makes it look "way past over done"?

There is no texture; it's begun to look plastic. When you see this person in the flesh, I doubt that her skin looks as it does in these photos. Not that it isn't possible but I have never seen anything like that in the real world. I work with a girl that has simply beautiful skin but it doesn't look like this. These images are "too perfect" if you will. My first thought when I saw these was a magazine ad for make up.

Make no mistake, Ten Ounce, most everything you post on here is gorgeous. Take this as a compliment, I'd like to be able to shoot like you, but the difference is I just don't process as extensively.

Carry on, brother........

saea501 wrote in post #16227476
There is no texture; it's begun to look plastic. When you see this person in the flesh, I doubt that her skin looks as it does in these photos. Not that it isn't possible but I have never seen anything like that in the real world. I work with a girl that has simply beautiful skin but it doesn't look like this. These images are "too perfect" if you will. My first thought when I saw these was a magazine ad for make up.

Make no mistake, Ten Ounce, most everything you post on here is gorgeous. Take this as a compliment, I'd like to be able to shoot like you, but the difference is I just don't process as extensively.

Carry on, brother........

Magazine make-up ad was the exact look we were shooting for with the first 2! haha The goal was to make it look super clean while still retaining some texture. In the high res file there is still tons of texture there. I don't edit all of my work like this but I wanted to be able to see if I can produce a similar look if a client called for it. I appreciate the comments and feedback.

I agree the skin looks somewhat plastic and needs a little texture. However, the shots are very good and the last b&w is killer!!

Great shots. Especially the first.
The second really does look like a cosmetics ad. It's very well done. I don't mean this as any sort of criticism, but I've occasionally wondered about this type of portrait photography for the same reasons that saea501 pointed out. It seems like the idea is to find a beautiful model with high cheek bones and great jaw structure, then light her so that none of those things can be seen in the photographs.

Just for kicks, here is a before an after with a closer crop for reference. The image on the left is completely unedited, RAW file that came straight out of camera. Right is the same image as above, just cropped in closer.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/65090783@N05/9​562359335/

Matt M. wrote in post #16227597
Great shots. Especially the first.
The second really does look like a cosmetics ad. It's very well done. I don't mean this as any sort of criticism, but I've occasionally wondered about this type of portrait photography for the same reasons that saea501 pointed out. It seems like the idea is to find a beautiful model with high cheek bones and great jaw structure, then light her so that none of those things can be seen in the photographs.

Thank you! As for your question, the idea behind the image really started as a test of sorts. I pulled inspiration from the internet of various beauty images that were featured in Vogue, W Magazine, Elle, etc and set out to try and replicate them. I do this pretty often as can be seen from various images on my Flickr page. It's not the type of image you would shoot of just anyone but it's nice to be able to know how to do it in the event you have a paid client that is looking for that.

We got a variety of images during this session (which can be seen on Flickr as well) to highlight those other features as well. I appreciate all the feedback, good or bad!

Great work, your lighting / pose & processing are right on. It's nice to sometimes to step outside our comfort zone.

Great shots, really nice lighting. I agree with others on the skin processing is a bit overdone. However sounds like that's what you were aiming for.