recent portrait

[jemmy]

hi all. i'm loving something about this recent portrait? keen to hear your thoughts..... i think she looks a bit like Princess Mary!? x
thanks for looking.

 

[NJMAN]

Looks good Jemmy! The skin is very bright, but the tone looks accurate.

Not sure how I feel about the red net thing on her head though. One thing that I noticed is that its oof over her eye, but then its very sharp when it goes off to the black background on the left.

Did you add some USM for contrast? The eyes have a very sparkly appearance that sometimes comes from using USM at 40, 60, 1. Also, the hair blends in with the background a bit much.

Overall, I like it. Its got a nice old-fashioned feel to it. Good job.

NJ

 

[Flash Harry]

I like it too but a little more dof is my bag. H

 

[The Phototron]

It's great, but the hot spot near her neck is grabbing attention from her eyes. Burn it.

 

[jemmy]

thanks for your replies. yep, i did use usm this time and have been for a few other recent ones - advice from another forum. i just think it adds more to the shot. i agree that her hair blends into the bground a bit but wanted the black.... working with natural light at the moment but when i get in the studio will work out lights -then again, maybe a reflector could have helped to bounce a bit more light onto her hair and separate her from the background?
the original had no hotspots but i added a couple of light layers to get the bright, light skin.. maybe a bit too much? phototron, if i was to burn it, what settings/brush etc should i use? i have little success with the burn tool generally.
thanks x

 

[The Phototron]

the original had no hotspots but i added a couple of light layers to get the bright, light skin.. maybe a bit too much? phototron, if i was to burn it, what settings/brush etc should i use? i have little success with the burn tool generally.
thanks x

If there weren't any hot spots to begins with, you don't need to burn it. Just selectively erase the adjustment layers around the neck. And use lower opacity brush setting to make the transition less obvious.

Same thing with burning, and you can duplicate the layer you want to burn, and burn on the new duplicate. That way you can adjust the opacity of the burning, or erase certain parts that you screw up on.

Be sure to post the reshoot, she's absolutely gorgeous.

 

[SpeedTrap]

Not sure, but did you adjust the DOF in PS? For some reason it looks unnatural,
Hair at the same depth as the neck is in focus, but the neck is not. It just strikes me as odd and out of place.

 

[NJMAN]

I think the USM contrast worked well in this case. Im glad you did it. And I can probably guess where you got that tip...maybe from ILP?

Nice job again.

NJ

 

[jemmy]

speedtrap... if you look closely, you will see that the hair to her left/ our right is actually sitting in front of the neck - more in line with her eyes... the hair in the same plane as the neck is oof. i used my big 70-200 2.8l for this shot, which i love... nothing done in pp to dof? just some minor blemish healing and some light layers and usm.

njman... yep, ilp idea with the usm and considering i have only ever in the past sharpened the eyes (and minimally at that) i really like what it does to an image.

thanks for looking.

 

[jemmy]

shameless bump P

 

[wildmaven]

Not sure how I feel about the red net thing on her head though. One thing that I noticed is that its oof over her eye, but then its very sharp when it goes off to the black background on the left.

That's what caught my eye, too.

I think if you cropped a bit more from the bottom, her neck wouldn't seem so wide, either.