Seeking Critique on Skin Processing

[Tee]

I mostly use the dynamic skin softener plug-in from NIK but sometimes it makes the skin a little wonky. So, I pulled out my handy-dandy Photoshop CS5- Essential Skills by Galer & Andrews that I got for Christmas and decided I was going to, once and for all, learn how to do it myself. After a few trials and errors, this is the first image I feel comfortable enough to post for critique. I'm posting the original SOOC with no adjustments except for resizing and converting to jpeg and the finished image. Too much? Is there enough detail while still smoothing it out? Thanks for looking.


Other general info: f/11, 1/125 ISO 200. Main light above, fill light below 45 degrees up.

P.S. not a fan of the image upload compression but who am I to complain? You should get the gist, though.

 

[kundalini]

The shoulders, particularly the right shoulder looks very odd, as does the left armpit in both images. You have a slight wardrobe malfunction under the right armpit.

 

[Tee]

Good catch on the wardrobe. In regards to the shoulder, can you expand? Skin, pose, etc?

 

[tirediron]

The skin in general doesn't look bad, but I think you need to rework the creases; around the arm-pit, clavicle, etc. I think you've taken out just a little too much definition there, but overall, it's a pretty darn good job.

 

[Tee]

Thanks for the feedback. Looking at it now, I think I need to lower the opacity when I'm in the surface blur mode. I'm trying to find that balance of keeping texture versus smoothing things out. Back to the drawing board I go....

 

[kundalini]

Good catch on the wardrobe. In regards to the shoulder, can you expand? Skin, pose, etc?

Her chest is the brightest part of the image. Even brighter than her face by a slight measure. First knock. However, the top of her shoulders go almost to black. It lacks realism IMO. I can see a darkening, but there is too much of a contrast. Of course, my 2 cents ain't worth a wooden nickel most of the time.

 

[Tee]

Good catch on the wardrobe. In regards to the shoulder, can you expand? Skin, pose, etc?

Her chest is the brightest part of the image. Even brighter than her face by a slight measure. First knock. However, the top of her shoulders go almost to black. It lacks realism IMO. I can see a darkening, but there is too much of a contrast. Of course, my 2 cents ain't worth a wooden nickel most of the time.

I'll always take your two cents. It adds up after a while. I can buy me some more gear. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[DiskoJoe]

The skin looks fine but the shadows on her shoulders are a bit distracting.

 

[MReid]

This girl is a good candidate for the Nik skin softener effect, really just a smidge of that and you would have been good.

Do a shot where the girl actually needs some work and post a before and after to get better, more helpful feedback.