Critique

[Evertking]

Hello, just looking on advice on how things are going and what I could have done to make these better.
Thanks

 

[sergezap]

It looks like things gone bad.
Orton effect, it's blurry, colors are muddy and unnatural, there is some posterization.

 

[smoke665]

Pretty young lady!

I like the concept. The dark, heavy colors give me a Victorian feel. In that context the darker aspects of the images works well. However it's easy to lose the subject without some separation. Using a kicker would have helped especially in the second shot.

The skin treatment in the first doesn't put me off though I might have favored less. The halo especially at the nose, chin, neck and hand bothers me. Are you using frequency separation to soften? There's a better way, that eliminates the halo problem.

In the second a little more light into the eye sockets would have added interest. Would also move her more to the right in the frame, because of her looking left.

Edit: in looking at this on my calibrated monitor, there is a general lack of contrast, with almost gray cast???

 

[Jeff15]

Lovely idea but I have to agree with whats already been said

 

[texxter]

Thanks for sharing your images. Lovely idea. Others have commented on the postprocessing, and I wanted to comment on other aspects of the image. From the point of view of wardrobe, I love the choice of blouse and hat... they go well together and help convey a Victorian or Art Deco bygone era. Nicely done. The feathered pendant she is wearing, on the other hand, is visually strong and I think pulls attention away from her lovely face. A simple chain or pearls would probably work well if you wanted some jewelry.

I think the backgrounds have quite a dominant texture - especially the top photo. The softness in your treatment of the model is yuxtaposed with a dominant background in a very cool tone. I wonder what the image would look like with a less dominant, perhaps warmer tone as background.

Finally, I don't know that I like her hand pose - in the first image it's a bit contrived, and in the second it's too casual to go with the old fashioned theme.

I love the idea, her expression and the post, and the improvements are not major issues. Good work!

 

[Derrel]

The backgrounds are very attention-drawing...too much visible texture is being shown in the backgrounds, in my opinion. I think every poster above has hit the things I see as well. Thanks for posting these.

 

[Evertking]

Thanks for the honest feedback. I bought a course and put what I learned into practice. And I'm not sure what the skin retouching is called but.. it starts with vivid light, high pass and the blur and I also learned how to add a fake background. Probably all a bit too much but thanks. Oh and the coloring was called coloring with curves where you desaturate and the use the channels in the curve... Blah blah blah.. guess it's back to the drawing board.
Thanks

 

[Granddad]

Thanks for the honest feedback. I bought a course and put what I learned into practice. And I'm not sure what the skin retouching is called but.. it starts with vivid light, high pass and the blur and I also learned how to add a fake background. Probably all a bit too much but thanks. Oh and the coloring was called coloring with curves where you desaturate and the use the channels in the curve... Blah blah blah.. guess it's back to the drawing board.
Thanks

You have the distinct advantage of a lovely in-house model to practise on.