15 year old

[wildmaven]

C&C please

Hanna, who never smiles and who took a very horrible school picture
this year, was so pleased with this photo she wants to use it on her
myspace account. When I first started taking photos, she looked
like every other teenager you see walking down the street: scowling.
I eventually got her to relax and smile. Her mom says this is the best
photo anyone has ever taken of her. (blush!) I think it's too yellow.

Edit: Added this one, which I think is too dark,, but I love her smile:

 

[Big Mike]

It does look a little yellow and I wish she was looking at the camera, rather than off into space...but capturing a smile on a brooding teenager is more important than those issues.

 

[skieur]

You really need to use a fill light on these shots. The shadows are way too dark and hide the very important eyes.

skieur

 

[wildmaven]

You really need to use a fill light on these shots. The shadows are way too dark and hide the very important eyes.

skieur

I agree. I had wanted to do window lighting, as this was in the home, but she just was too grouchy posing there. She was much more comfortable sitting on the couch and I'm still inexperienced working with multiple light sources. Gotta practice practice practice. This was the only halfway decent one near the window:

 

[SusieC]

There is an action I got from a site called Action Central called "Tracey's fill in flash" and it works wonders to lighten up dark eyes. Just a thought!

 

[oldnavy170]

Wildmaven, I think you did an AMAZING job on these photos. All your missing is the editing skills (I'm still learning that too). However I wanted to show you how much better these photos are without the yellow tones.

Keep up the excellent work!

 

[cameramike]

they look way to edited. they look like they were painted not photographed. Not sure what it is but something about the pictures make her face appear either to flat in some areas and in others almost to detailed.

 

[DSLR noob]

yeah it's very untextured, it looks like a painting (edit or no edit)

 

[oldnavy170]

I don't think these are over edited at all. Sometimes teens actually have "Perfect" skin!!!! I think Wildmaven did an amazing job on these other then the yellow tones.

 

[wildmaven]

Thanks, OldNavy! Can you tell me what you did to get rid of the yellow? I tried adjusting it in "color balance" but couldn't get it right.

Here is a side by side comparison between the original (I only resized it, nothing more) and my edited version:

 

[oldnavy170]

I use PS Elements and all I did was use the "fix skintones". Then the program fixes the rest.

 

[wildmaven]

I use PS Elements and all I did was use the "fix skintones". Then the program fixes the rest.

Rats! I wish CS2 had that!!

 

[Sideburns]

I do feel as if you processed her skin a bit too much. especially on the window shot..she's blotchy.
However, she's a really pretty girl, and you showed us this nicely. She actually looks like she's havin fun a bit.

 

[wildmaven]

I agree with the blotchy skin in the window shot. I'm having trouble with smoothing skin without it becoming too blurry. Can anyone help? Here's another attempt:

 

[Anita]

Using Mama's Powder Action would do wonders.