Model Shoot looking for some critiques

shmne

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Well at 6am today I had the test shoot to see whether or not I get hired. It went really well, she loved how I handled myself, and even though I didn't have a flash or for that matter the snazziest equipment that I grabbed some great shots.

This shot here is one of the better ones, though a bit of a diamond in the rough if you don't know how to fix it up =] So some of the questions I have are, is this to much PP? Too little? Did I miss any major snags?

The shot is meant to show off the model and not the PP, so it needs to look as if there isn't anything really done to it besides color / contrast correction.

closeupreddress11.jpg



closeupreddress11.jpg
 
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I'm not convinced by the skin tone reproduction. Her face looks a bit blotchy to me, which may have been caused by your PP (saturation boosts and contrast adjustments can have these effects; turning what would be a smooth, continuous tone into a blotchy mess *grumbles* oh, how often I've had to wrestle with that one...). Some softening would probably help matters.
 
I agree with the above. And also it appears you tried to clean up a straight hair over her right eye. That looks very bad in my opinion. Was that just a healing brush? If so, I would use a smaller brush.
 
On my calibrated monitor the skin tone in the PP'd image looks too yellow. In the unedited image the skin tone looks to be more flesh/pink/natural.
 
On my calibrated monitor the skin tone in the PP'd image looks too yellow. In the unedited image the skin tone looks to be more flesh/pink/natural.

Thanks for bringing that up, I haven't calibrated my monitor in way to long now :x The color sadly looks spot on with mine :(

Also I'm fixing the skin tone blotch problem, apparently I accidentally painted over the skin with a black brush in overlay :X

As far as hair removal, I do that by making a selection of the area surrounding the problem hair then just sliding it over with a feathered edge. That spot you were talking about turned out to be part of the black brush mistake...

Thanks for the notes so far! I'm trying to fix them up now and I'll upload the new one as soon as I feel I've made enough progress. Really appreciate it guys
 
what the h is up w/her forehead hairline...As a model she needs to get that cleaned up & go thru the pain of pluckin' those darn hairs out. The photo is ok, but the colors are really strange to me (it's the green). As well, the car wheel in the corner has got to go.

The pose is a strange as well, because when ppl. raise their arm in such a way you can basically read their body fat or physique type w/out having to see the rest of her body--a straighter arm and POV could change all that. When will models learn that they need to be selling something besides pretty--have her determine the emotion and sell it, be it, whatever. Smiles just don't cut it unless they're being sold or are totally genuine (e.g., children playing).

have a good one
3Eo
 
what the h is up w/her forehead hairline...As a model she needs to get that cleaned up & go thru the pain of pluckin' those darn hairs out. The photo is ok, but the colors are really strange to me (it's the green). As well, the car wheel in the corner has got to go.

The pose is a strange as well, because when ppl. raise their arm in such a way you can basically read their body fat or physique type w/out having to see the rest of her body--a straighter arm and POV could change all that. When will models learn that they need to be selling something besides pretty--have her determine the emotion and sell it, be it, whatever. Smiles just don't cut it unless they're being sold or are totally genuine (e.g., children playing).

have a good one
3Eo

I haven't compared the photo on my computer to the one I uploaded until now, and I'm actually having troubles with the colors. I'm trying to convert it to web safe every time I do it doesn't look bad, but once I upload it the colors go crazy. The uploaded one has an insane color shift...

What car wheel? This was shot in a park, and the direction we were facing the background is a forest. I think you are referring to that little glint in the bottom right? I'll take that out, I need to clean up those hairs too =\

I actually really appreciate that you caught the bad positioning, that didn't cross my mind at all.

She was a freebie model :( and I found out last night that she actually isn't a model at all... being as I've never shot with a model before I didn't really notice these things. They just wanted to see how I'd handle the situation.
 
3758165461_18fe2d80c6_o.jpg


The quality is a bit closer, I uploaded it to flickr instead of imageshack and that made a little difference. Just losing saturation now.

I cleared up her skin a little bit but now at least I know what to look for a bit more when picking photos :)
 
On my calibrated monitor the skin tone in the PP'd image looks too yellow. In the unedited image the skin tone looks to be more flesh/pink/natural.

Okay, so on my LCD monitor (not the best for colors) it looks like even the bark has a greenish tint to it. Which happens to me, when I boost green saturation in things.

I wonder if in order to make the eyes more green you saturated the channel for the whole image? You're probably a lot better than that (it looks like it), but I'm asking just as much for me as I am you (I can never get eyes to look that great).
 
Actually the key to getting amazing eyes is to duplicate the image, add a mask so only the eyes show, then apply curves to it. This will whiten and brighten your eyes a lot :) I'm still trying to figure out why my colors are coming out so odd. I actually didn't do any saturation boosting, contrast boosting, or any major color shifts. I have a feeling because the original image lacked saturation that once I darkened the image with a curves contrast curve the colors got distorted.

I'm toying around right now manually calibrating each color range -_- hopefully the final will be a bit more precise.

Looking at the image again, I think I made her face to soft now :( I'm going to bring back some texture in it.

I really appreciate the feedback guys, it helps a lot since I don't know exactly what to look for. I have an idea, but there is so much to remember that after only 4 months of this type of work I keep getting things crosses :X

*Edit- I forgot an important step to eyes, make sure to add depth. With a white brush on a fresh layer, maybe 10% opacity, paint in a swirl following the iris on the top, then as you get lower switch to a black brush. This will make your eyes feel like you can fall into them! Something I forgot to do on this one
 
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Even the last edit is way too yellow. You also smoothed all of the freckles from her face, but then right before the image ends on the bottom, there is a harsh line of freckles that you missed.
 
I would agree, the last edit is too yellow. I opened the last edit in PS and went to the Yellow in Selective Color, where I subtracted -24 Cyan, and then went to the Neutrals and added +7 Magenta, and the color balance on the flesh tones,hair,and tree bark was markedly improved.
 
I would agree, the last edit is too yellow. I opened the last edit in PS and went to the Yellow in Selective Color, where I subtracted -24 Cyan, and then went to the Neutrals and added +7 Magenta, and the color balance on the flesh tones,hair,and tree bark was markedly improved.

I'm trying this out now thank you! I'm just tweaking it a bit more, I think I'm getting there now.

Thanks for spotting the harsh line of freckles, I almost completely missed it since I've been focusing so deeply on her face.
 
This will be my last update :) I appreciate all the help and I think I'm starting to pin the problem down now.
Her right eye has a blotch of make up, I need to remove. I took off the little bit of cover up I put on it because it looked wonky either way

closeupreddress15.jpg


I'm content for now where this is at, I decided to crop it because I felt that it is much stronger this way. Plus after considering what 3eo had said it will help that problem.

I am far from happy with this shot and I feel like I could push it farther but I have spent to much time just focusing on it, and ignoring my other shots to work on :p I appreciate the help everyone and thanks =]
 

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