Nick (edit)
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by purpleflutterby13:
Weell... I think the editing improved it a lot - the shadows are more interesting, there's no distracting white patch of light to the left on his cheek, and the eyes totally make the image stand out.

At the same time, I think it could be done better - I tried to make up for inexpert meddling with layers and cloning on his left cheek by doing a Gaussian to get rid of uneven patches, and as a result, the skin has a smooth processed feel, whereas a bit more natural texture would improve it a lot. Also, whilst I do prefer the eyes to be sharpened a lot, at the moment you can see traces of oversharpening (particularly in the higher res versions). Though I guess that one could be sorted out with a bit more editing time.

Overall, yes, I'm happy with it, but I think I can do better. But hey, it's all a learning experience :)

The light painter
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by mian3010:
fits the challenge perfect :D

Nick (edit)
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by levyj413:
Yep, his eyes grab me more in this version.

More importantly, what do YOU think?

The light painter
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by katOsu:
hehe, really painting with light ;)

Panda city
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by krnodil:
Serendipitous pandas, how wonderful!

Panda city
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by trevytrev:
sems a bit oof

Sally
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by levyj413:
Like the other one, this is a good start. For a quick snapshot, this would be great as is.

If you want it to "pop," I agree with meyers - punch up the contrast a bit. Ever tried sharpening to increase contrast? Use a large radius, like 50, and a small amount, like 20 (leave threshhold at zero).

Also, as always, select the eyes and lips and sharpen a bit using normal settings (midrange amount, small radius) - try something like 50,1.5,0 AFTER resizing and go from there.

Finally, this is a great chance to play with the soft light layer you and I have discussed (we did, right?). With a very soft brush, select the background and darken it. I'd also reduce the saturation. You want her lovely red hair to stand out, and right now the background looks reddish, reducing the impact. Compare this shot to mine of my daugther's to see how you want contrasting colors:

Nick
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by levyj413:
Very nice shot. I would try three subtle changes and see whether you like it better:
1) Crop to just a little bit above the hat.
2) Select his eyes and from his mouth to his chin, and sharpen some more
3) Darken just a bit on his right cheek (image's left side) - not too much; it's fine to be bright than the other side.

This would be a great time to use my favorite trick of a soft light layer, but painted in black to darken instead of white to lighten. I'd bet you would need a pretty low opacity to make it look good.

Sally
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by meyers:
The light in this shot looks flat. The models hair so low over her eyes suggests a secretive, shy, or reclusive person, which might be enhanced by deeper shadows around the model. As with the other shot, a reflective piece of cardboard or paper in the model's lap would brighten up her face.

Her face looks a bit distorted, as if by a wide angle lens. In my very limited experience taking these types of pictures, I've found that 70mm to 90mm tends to make people look best; not too flat but not stretched either. (For fun, take a shot of someone with a very wide angle lens, say 17mm...).

Hope this was helpful.

Nick
by purpleflutterby13

Comment by meyers:
The (model's) right cheek is a bit washed out. You might want to try bouncing some of the natural light with a reflector, like a sheet of posterboard, to fill in the light on the other side of his face.