Help Me Decide

On Friday I had the opportunity to shoot a model off model mayhem, I'm working on getting some of the pictures post processed now. I want to make sure that I present only the strongest pictures I can because I'd like to get the chance to work with her again.

I need help deciding if this image can make the cut or not.

I like it a lot. The lighting is spot on, the focus is good, color is good, pose is good. The ONLY distracting part is her stomach. The angle makes it seem like it is pooching out a bit.

Maybe you could photoshop the shirt down to meet the jeans? Perhaps try subtly darkening that bit a little to de-emphasize it and add the illusion of depth?

Upping the saturation on her (only, the sky is perfect) couldn't hurt and a bit more contrast to make it really pop.

The image is nice, but I'm not sure she is at her best in this pose. Especially, her breast looks asymmetric, and very artificially prominent, (a result of the combination of her bra and the view angle). I'm not sure she will appreciate it.

Vetteography wrote in post #6213521
I like it a lot. The lighting is spot on, the focus is good, color is good, pose is good. The ONLY distracting part is her stomach. The angle makes it seem like it is pooching out a bit.

Maybe you could photoshop the shirt down to meet the jeans? Perhaps try subtly darkening that bit a little to de-emphasize it and add the illusion of depth?

Upping the saturation on her (only, the sky is perfect) couldn't hurt.

I agree with all of this. Upping the saturation on her skin is an awesome idea and I'm going to give that a shot. The suggestion of darkening the midriff area a bit to de-emphasize it is awesome.

For some reason I can never think of stuff like this when I'm dissecting one of my own shots. I think it's because I get focused on other things that I perceive as an issue and that blinds me towards other problems in the photo.

Thanks a bunch for this input!
Kurt

OL9245 wrote in post #6213532
The image is nice, but I'm not sure she is at her best in this pose. Especially, her breast looks asymmetric, and very artificially prominent, (a result of the combination of her bra and the view angle). I'm not sure she will appreciate it.

I can see what you're referring to. I think I will try lifting the area of her pink shirt on her right shoulder where it meets the line of her breast right where those beads are. I'm not sure if it will help or not, but it would be worth a try, I think visually that might help bring things back in line.

Taking pictures is hard!
Kurt

Twitch1977 wrote in post #6213573
Taking pictures is hard!
Kurt

Taking pictures is easy... taking GOOD pictures is hard.

Me? I'm going to keep trying until, someday, I take a GOOD picture.

Twitch1977 wrote in post #6213573
I can see what you're referring to. I think I will try lifting the area of her pink shirt on her right shoulder where it meets the line of her breast right where those beads are. I'm not sure if it will help or not, but it would be worth a try, I think visually that might help bring things back in line.

Taking pictures is hard!
Kurt

I've tried to treat the unwanted perspective effects with the liquify tool. Not bad for a quick trial. Dont know if its possible to get a decent result on the full res image. I'm posting a ling to my play in a PM since you dont have "editing OK"

I agree with the other comments, but I really do like it a lot!

Alright, did an edit, I dunno if it's really that much better but I hope it'll be passable. I played around with cloning the shirt down over the tummy but I just couldn't get it looking right.

Original is on top:

much better.
Problems are still there, but less obvious. I think the image can do it now.

I like it ( but agree with previous comments) but its hard to say whether its one of the best from the session when we haven't seen the others

Maybe it's my monitor at work but, you got more detail in the shirt with the edit but her tummy is lighter in the edit that the original - where it should be darker yes? The tummy is the only part that bugs me at this point.

You're probably right, I did patching on her tummy to get rid of some blemishes and probably used a lighter patch of skin. I'm going to try darkening it and maybe adding just a subtle hint of a vignette to draw the eye up the torso more.

I was going to do that this morning but after another attempt at cloning the shirt down I set the picture aside in frustration. I picked this picture not really because it was the best of the lot buy I intended it to be a quick edit so I could get something sent to her right out the gates but now I've put more time into it than I would a picture where I had to do careful skin smoothing.

I do really like the picture as it is (with the above changes) and will probably end up sending it. I hope she likes it but now I'm kind of doubting. I think it is still pretty strong though and will probably stand out alright in her portfolio as well as mine.

I also through this one together real quick this morning, not usually for edits like this but I liked the pose in this one but under exposed the shot and still wanted to do something with it. I'm happy how it turned out.

Well the first one is too wide angle for most fashion tastes. And it's looking up from below, making her seem bottom heavy and stretched. Also, cant see the feet, which is not in itself always a bad thing, but the way they are cut off is awkward.

Alrighty, thanks for everyone that gave me their input I really appreciate it. Here's the final version I've decided to go with: