Greetings from the Critique Club!
This is indeed a lovely woman that you've captured. The mood is light and playful, the composition is acceptable with the tilt of her head and the bi-coloured hair adding interest and some dynamism to the shot. The light is a bit strong, almost bordering on flat as it was probably shot somewhere during the hours of 11am and 3pm. Be careful of that!
The settings you use mystify me. Why such a high ISO when shooting on a sunny day? And why such a fast shutter speed for essentially a stationary subject? I shoot rodeo at 1/1250 and that's plenty to capture a beast or cowboy in full flight, in crisp detail. Even shooting handheld, I'd be pressed to shoot a subject like this at any faster than 1/200.
But, as pointed out already, the post-processing work is far, far, far too obvious. Nobody's teeth are that white, no matter how much professional work they have had done. And as a result of so much skin-smoothing, she looks waxy, which also affected the bark of the tree. Though I can understand wanting to remove or minimize some lines and wrinkles, in here your model looks like a high-school senior. Surely she is older than her late teens!
I would strongly suggest that,if you are interested in portraiture, that you study the portfolio of  Librodo His many portraits, which often ribboned with scores in the stratosphere...to illustrate, this one scored in the 8s, which is quite an accomplishment  show lines and wrinkles in the face of his subjects...and that is what brings them to life.
Hope this critique has been helpful, feel free to pm me
Susan
Message edited by author 2016-11-23 18:24:05. |
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