First attempt at a portrait, C&C please.

[grapnell]

Below is my first attempt at a headshot portrait. Please comment on composition, as well as post processing. I did a little bit of processing on the eyes and skin, but tried not to over-do it. Subject is my wife, so please no comments on her personal appearance (This was shot with Canon EF 70-200 F/4 L lens)

 

[jwbryson1]

Her skin tones are a bit cool, I think, and you might consider a reflector to put some fill light on her face. Is the background blurred in PP or did you shoot wide open?

Focus appears a bit soft. Composition is okay but I think the crop is a bit tight.

 

[grapnell]

JW, thanks for your input. I definitely shot wide open, probably should have stepped it down a notch for sharpness. To be fair, the post processing may have affected the sharpness a bit too, as I used a technique for the first time of duplicating the layer, blurring it (selective gaussian) masking it, and then painting back in the skin that I wanted smoothed out... maybe a little too much?

 

[jwbryson1]

JW, thanks for your input. I definitely shot wide open, probably should have stepped it down a notch for sharpness. To be fair, the post processing may have affected the sharpness a bit too, as I used a technique for the first time of duplicating the layer, blurring it (selective gaussian) masking it, and then painting back in the skin that I wanted smoothed out... maybe a little too much?

I use LR and just got PS so I'm not really familiar with these techniques. I'd warm it up a bit, maybe sharpen slightly and also get rid of some of the fly away hairs.

 

[tirediron]

Agree with JW's comments. Make sure your models have a comb handy and use it calm their hair down just before the shot.

 

[ryanwaff]

JW, thanks for your input. I definitely shot wide open, probably should have stepped it down a notch for sharpness. To be fair, the post processing may have affected the sharpness a bit too, as I used a technique for the first time of duplicating the layer, blurring it (selective gaussian) masking it, and then painting back in the skin that I wanted smoothed out... maybe a little too much?

I think that your masking may have been a little bit too lenient. Meaning that you appear to have left the majority of her face too well masked on your Gaussian blur layer, while leaving the nose in focus, as well as the hair on the edge of her face on the right. Its particularly noticeable around the eyes, between the eyebrows and left cheek... Those areas look a bit to porcelain'y.

If you still have the original, try doing the effect again, but when masking, instead of using a completely opaque black for the face, try a middle grey. It should bring back some of the skin texture.