Here's one example of my favorite photos, shot last winter. Model was sitting very close to the backdrop hence the shadow behind her neck. Main light is bare strobe from really high left and a soft box as a fill. C&C welcome.
I like her expression. It's hypnotizing. The light is good as well, which is soft yet shape forming. I don't think the PP is overdone at all. It's just right.
I think a different bkg color would have popped the red hair more. The lights might be too high: her eyelashes seem to be half-shading her eyes. Dig the concept.
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I like it.
She has a nice face.
The hair looks good.
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This is a nice image. The posing is good, she has a very interesting face, and the processing is fine in my opinion, I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't taken a second glance.
My problem with the image is the lighting. The lighting seems too high, so instead of catching her eye, there's actually a shadow created across the iris by the eye lid/lashes. without that catch, her eyes become lifeless which kills the illusion you seem to be aiming for. bringing down the light (or tilting the face into the light) can solve this problem. A catchlight isn't always necessary, but it would have added to this image for sure.
Also, I would advise pulling the model from the wall. The shadow's become softer and you'll lose that flat reflection from the background.
Definitely liking, definitely room to grow. Tis the story of us all.
Thank you everyone for the C&C! Good comments, and all the opinions are valuable IMO.
My reply:
- I like the level of processing myself. I think you cannot say over-processed when you don't know the purpose of the image. There was none, this was just a lighting study.
- The reason I picked this image is because of the eyelid shadow on the eyeballs and the lack of the catch lights. I kind of like the dead calm stare
- Yes, I definitely should have had separation from the background. Didn't gain anything by the lack of it.
capguy wrote:
Thank you everyone for the C&C! Good comments, and all the opinions are valuable IMO.
My reply:
- I like the level of processing myself. I think you cannot say over-processed when you don't know the purpose of the image. There was none, this was just a lighting study.
- The reason I picked this image is because of the eyelid shadow on the eyeballs and the lack of the catch lights. I kind of like the dead calm stare
- Yes, I definitely should have had separation from the background. Didn't gain anything by the lack of it.
You do make a good point that I should not say it was over-processed without knowing the purpose. Although it does seem to be a bit of a contradiction to say it was a lighting exercise and then apply that much skin smoothing to her face.
I really had to look closely try to figure out if it was a trick/joke you were playing on us, wondering if it was a real person. I mean nothing against the lovely model or your photo skills; the processingjust leaves me feeling that she was very lifeless. My assumption was that you would not be deliberately trying to create a lifeless image of her. I shouldn't have made any assumptions about your goals, but you did ask for C&C without telling us what your goals were.
I didn't take it personally in any way, as I said I'm happy to get the feedback, applies to yours as well.
Actually I learnt something new from you, since I had no idea she would feel quite that lifeless though. Actually her skin is unbelievably smooth naturally and the general softening is very subtle in my opinion; there were only a few places where I needed to strike with stronger softening. Then again, my 40D used to produce quite soft image, at least compared to 5D2.