Portrait for C&C

[Scuba]

So I don't really do portraits but I had to do one for my office website and this is what I came up with. Shot before I had my 5D with my Xsi and canon 28-200mm. Please give me feedback on what I did right and what I did wrong and how I could have done it better.

80mm focal length, f/6.3, 1/250, IS0 400, edited in LR and CS5. Only camera mounted flash with diffuser.

 

[shootermcgavin]

Looks a little soft around the eyes. Not that iso400 is a big deal but on a sunny day I think you could've easily gotten away with 100. Also not the biggest deal in the world but if someone parts there hair to one side normally that is considered their good side and should be towards the camera. Nice way to start portrait wise though!

 

[tingeliM]

Did you retouch the face? It seems like it was a bit over-done. Or then she's got really plastic-looking skin.
That's the only critique I can come up with. It's a very basic portrait that I think is suitable for an office website.
As a portrait and a photo it's quite boring, but I guess in this context it doesn't matter.

 

[Scuba]

yeah I did retouch the face using LR. It does look over done to me as well. She has some acne scars she wanted hidden. I guess I could have backed it off a little....I just used the skin softening in LR. Any suggestions on another way to retouch? As for the boring part...yeah but like you said in context that is what was needed. As for the ISO. I guess I could have gone to 100 but I would have been at 1/60 and I was handheld. There isn't any noise from shooting it at 400 that I can see. What would have been my benefit of going to 100?

How is the crop? lighting?

 

[Derrel]

I would clone out that dark brown pointy object in the upper right hand area, and make it green. Overall, way too much skin softening, but this picture will probably be a hit with her, and with people around the office. Looking at it again, I think I'd also clone out the tree trunk coming out of the top of her head. She looks pretty, and has a good eye contact with the camera.

 

[Sammie_Lou]

I feel like her lips blend in with her face too much, if that makes sense. Maybe you could darken those up a little??

 

[Scuba]

ok I will play with it a little more later today. I will clone out those two things and ease up a little on the skin softening. I will post the 2nd try up a little later when I have time to edit it and am on my laptop.

The lips may be a side effect of the skin softening I will look at that too.

 

[Scuba]

Ok here it is with the suggested changes. I am not the best with this type of editing.....faces so any input would be gladly welcomed.

I had to use the file from LR to edit the skin softening which was before any sharpening in PS so the sharpening may be slightly differnt as I don't remember my original settings for that. I backed off the skin softening significantly in LR, cloned out the branches/object, resharpened in PS and inc the saturation on the lips a little in LR. Let me know what you think of version 2.0 of this image.

 

[Derrel]

Oh YESSSSS! Sooooooooo much better! Virtually PERFECT for a web-site headshot!!! She looks absolutely fabulous! She looks much more real, and less "retouched".

 

[ghache]

Just a little trick for the skin retouching part. If most of her skin is allright, no need to retouch all her face! make a first cleanup of all the blemishes and scar or whatever but do it localy with the smallest brush you can go to cover the part you want to correct. This will do the job in 80% of the time.

 

[MLeeK]

Her makeup is really bad and that's not your doing, however I'd probably try to remove some of the reds and oranges in it to make it look more natural.

 

[Scuba]

Oh YESSSSS! Sooooooooo much better! Virtually PERFECT for a web-site headshot!!! She looks absolutely fabulous! She looks much more real, and less "retouched".

Great thanks! I appreciate the feedback. I need to learn to relax a little on those sliders sometimes.

 

[Scuba]

Her makeup is really bad and that's not your doing, however I'd probably try to remove some of the reds and oranges in it to make it look more natural.

What do you see that is "bad" with her makeup?

 

[MLeeK]

It really isn't the right color for her skin tone and does NOT look natural. Especially noticeable in your first post. The SOOC isn't so bad, but it's still noticeable. It's a warmer, redder tone and she's a very light ivory tone.

 

[Derrel]

Her makeup does not look "natural". It looks like she's wearing makeup. She looks "hawt". But she doesn't look "natural". She has a horrible, 2010's look! Almost like a woman in a magazine or something! She looks like a 27 year-old young professional with good teeth. So, feel free to "uglify" her if you want to. I'd suggest painting in some blue eyeshadow and ruby-red lipstick.