Too much PP on this?

[wildmaven]

After an engagement shoot last weekend, the mother of the bride-to-be asked if I would take her picture. Still new at this whole portrait thing, I did a really, really bad job. What do you think about the post processing on this picture? She wanted me to get rid of her forehead wrinkle, and to give her a soft, dreamy look.

Before:

After:

Marian

 

[Sw1tchFX]

it delivers, Just use softer lighting next time. It's hard to get a soft look with hard light.

 

[Sideburns]

You did fine, but the eye is weird....did you try to whiten it? I dono...but it looks creepy.

 

[frXnz kafka]

Her left eye looks messed up, and her teeth are a bit glowy. Otherwise I'd say it's a pretty nice edit.

 

[craig]

Excellent edit. Keep in mind that getting that effect out of camera is your goal. Personally I spend about as little time as possible editing my work.

Love & Bass

 

[wildmaven]

I did an unsharp mask on eyes. Probably too much?

Excellent edit. Keep in mind that getting that effect out of camera is your goal. Personally I spend about as little time as possible editing my work.

Love & Bass

I couldn't agree more! Moving from landscape/wildlife photography to portrait photography in a studio is a very stimulating challenge. This picture was from my first set of "free 8x10 for volunteers" shoots. It's really amazing looking through each shoot, as I can see where I'm improving and where I still need work. Continuous lighting is still kicking my butt, but it's getting there.

 

[skieur]

With the advent of digital, rules, guidelines (whatever you want to call them) for portraits have changed. Soft focus when used is selectively applied, not globally and it is important to keep the eyes sharp. This pose was not attractive in the neck area either so I did a rough blur to cover it. There are more sophisticated methods but they take a little more time.

skieur

 

[subimatt]

nice job! I dont think its overdone.

 

[Big Mike]

Nice job, I agree with the first comment...softer lighting is suggested for next time.

The re-edit by skieur: I think the eyes are over sharpened and the blur is a little over done.

 

[skieur]

Nice job, I agree with the first comment...softer lighting is suggested for next time.

The re-edit by skieur: I think the eyes are over sharpened and the blur is a little over done.

Actually there was only a little sharpening added to the eyes and there was not much room to manoeuver in the blurring since less blurring in this case leads to colour problems with the dark areas.

skieur

 

[emogirl]

looks nice, except her right eye looks 'funny'.... the eyes could stand to be a touch sharper, but i think it was a good 'save'.

 

[souljourney]

I think the OP's edit looks much better. The eyes are my only big nitpick in the original edit.

 

[~Stella~]

The eye on the right looks slighty bloodshot at the edges (it might be picking up the red in her outfit - dunno) and doesn't match the right in terms of sharpness. I think you did a good job considering your starting point and I do think she'll be happy with the final results - she looks younger, for one, and she'll like that a lot.

 

[S2K1]

wildmaven-I really like your edit, I think it works well and isn't 'over-processed'.

 

[Anita]

Wildmaven, I really like this photo. I think the crop is too tight. I think if you back off a little about half way between the original and the edit, it would look perfect! I think the reason that eye doesn't look quite right, is because it's not quite in focus like the other eye is. But, if you back off on the crop, then you won't be able to tell.

Great job!